Web designer Shift has five Webby trophies to its name – giving it credibility on the world stage. By Christine Nikiel

A spring coil sits atop the reception desk at web designer Shift’s Wellington office. It has various uses: a letter holder; something for staff to fiddle with while talking to the receptionist. But the silver coil is, in fact, one of the five highly prized Webby awards – Oscars for web designers – that the company has won since 2005.

The company is pretty relaxed about its honours, says creative director Brian Smith. “We’re modest. We’re a bit ‘Aw, shucks’ about them really.”

Modesty will only get you so far in the fast-paced world of web design, however, and the company’s award-winning clients aren’t so understated in their praise. Tourism New Zealand (TNZ)’s website www.newzealand.com has won Shift two Webby awards in a row. The organisation regularly receives emails from visitors who say it’s one of the best sites they’ve come across, says TNZ’s chief executive George Hickton. He appreciates the company’s pragmatic yet creative approach to work.

“They are a very capable design and development agency ... very clear and easy to work with [and] pragmatic. Because our business is tourism, which lends itself well to the web, we’ve been able to do some pretty cutting-edge work with Shift.”

Hickton reckons the interactive map and travel planner on TNZ’s site were the first of their kind worldwide, definitely around before the days of Google Maps.

Shift’s other Webby-winning sites are the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Encyclopaedia of New Zealand Te Ara, which was recognised as an Official Honouree at the Webby Awards, an accolade reserved for the top 20% of entrants. Media company APN’s New Zealand Herald site was also named an Official Honouree as one of the top 12 online newspaper websites, and the Automobile Association site was one of 10 given Official Honouree status in the associations category.

The Webby awards have helped give the company credibility among clients, says Smith – even though Shift had to explain to them what the first award actually was.

So what makes the company such a winner? Even in these tough economic times, Shift hasn’t canned goodwill gestures, such as staff drinks on a Friday, and support for the staff netball and indoor soccer teams. “We think it’s worth investing in those things. It’s very easy in these times to say the cultural things must be the first to go. We take the view that it adds to the culture.”

Set up ten years ago by former TV producer Selwyn Feary, now Shift’s chairman, the company was the first in New Zealand to focus solely on web design. Until its multimedia giant Optimedia bought it last February, it was the only remaining independent.

The company won’t reveal its turnover, but Smith says Shift has more than doubled in size over the past two to three years. That’s largely due to the Auckland market, which could be served by three staff members six years ago, compared to close to 40 needed now. Like many, however, Shift is suffering from the economic slowdown and late last year had to make a handful of staff redundant, as major clients put projects on hold.

When Smith attended his first Webby ceremony, he discovered the awards have their quirks. There’s only one trophy, so each winner has to hand it back after making their acceptance speech. And those speeches are limited to just five words. It was 2005, the year of global Lord of the Rings mania, so Smith got creative and accepted for Shift with the words: “New Zealand, more than hobbits.”