Team's simple Web site design focuses on fundamentals
A team of university students' elegantly simple Web site won first prize in the open category of the BSPU/SCMP Web Design Competition this year.
The team of four called 'Web Seals' was made up of University of Hong Kong students David Lee Keng-fai and Bryan Li King-bong; and Chinese University of Hong Kong students Ken Wong Kin-cheung and Tony Sung On-loy. The team are all 19-year-old first year students.
Mr Lee and Mr Li study business administration (information systems); Mr Wong studies accounting; and Mr Sung, information engineering.
In January, Mr Lee and Mr Li became interested in the competition.
They formed the team with ex-schoolmate Mr Wong, and Mr Sung, who was keen on programming and design work.
Team leader Mr Lee said he and Mr Li took up the job of forming a business proposal, while Mr Wong formed the financial plan. Mr Sung was the Web designer and engineer.
The given theme of the Web site was 'My e-Commerce Plan'. The four expanded on an idea they had thought of before to create 'e-trust No 1 Corp', a consultation firm providing assessment and solutions to build trust in the world of electronic commerce.
Mr Li said: 'We made the plan as if we were working on a real project and it was real company we owned. I think it is because we did it so realistically that we won the competition.'
Aside from consulting professors and e-commerce professionals, they kept reviewing their ideas and refining their plan, keeping the good while getting rid of the bad.
Mr Sung said: 'As our target audience was executives, we always told ourselves to keep only the most useful and relevant information and make the site as simple as possible.
'Even though I knew many techniques, I wouldn't use them unnecessarily.'
Mr Lee believed the business plan was the most important thing and the team focused on the Web site's fundamentals rather than on superfluous trimmings.
The two months of building the Web site was neither easy nor smooth.
The four team members were in the middle of exams and rarely found the time to meet up together.
They usually met online and sent files to one another using speedy broadband Internet services.
Mr Wong said: 'Approaching the deadline at midnight was unforgettable.
'We discovered so many bugs - errors in the program - after we uploaded our Web site. We had to keep debugging until the last second, and we made it!'
However, Mr Lee said their presentation to the judges went badly and it was depressing.
Luckily, their confidence was restored when the judges gave them another chance to present their site and they won the first prize.
Mr Lee said: 'We hope to form a dream team so that we can enter the world of e-commerce in the near future.
'Winning the competition has given us more bargaining power, and most of all, recognition and confidence.'
The second prize in the open category went to ServiceDB.com made up of Edward Hui Wai-kin, Au Yeung Man-kit and Cindy Chan Shuk-ping.
Third prize went to fantasia, made up of Chau Duen-Horng and Chau Po-hon.
Graphic: WEB19GYO
Graphic: BSPUGYO
Graphic: SCMPGYO
