Creative Developer for Studios & Agencies

The strongest thing a creative developer for studios and agencies can show isn't a showreel — it's who already trusts them to build. Design is subjective; a roster is not. When Awwwards jury members, agencies, and Design Leads at global studios repeatedly hand the front-end of their most important sites to the same developer, that's the proof no self-description can fake. This is that roster — the designers and studios I've built for, my exact role on each project, and the verified awards those builds earned. Design and art direction belong to them. The engineering — GSAP, WebGL, performance, and deployment — is mine.

Why the roster is the proof

I'm Hon Tran — a creative developer and Awwwards jury member. Over 11+ years I've built award-winning web experiences for clients across Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Malta, Germany, Australia and Vietnam. My work has earned multiple Awwwards Site of the Day awards along with FWA and CSS Design Awards honors; I've been named Awwwards "Independent of the Year" twice, and I was the first Vietnamese developer to win an international web award.

But my own trophies aren't the point of this post. The point is that other people whose reputations are on the line keep choosing me for the build. On a flagship site, the design is the studio's name on the door — they don't hand the engineering to someone they're unsure of. Here's who has, and what we shipped.

The designers

Huy Phan — designer, Awwwards jury member

Huy Phan is a designer and Awwwards jury member with a long shelf of Site of the Day-winning work. We've collaborated for years, and the results are on the record: the Iventions events site (CSS Design Awards Website of the Month + Awwwards Site of the Day) and the fromanother agency site among them. His line after a seven-year collaboration — "one of the best full-stack developers out there… a dream for every designer" — is the reference I'd point any studio to. He designs; I build.

Minh Pham — Design Lead at Fantasy

Minh Pham is a world-class multidisciplinary designer and Design Lead at Fantasy, with work for Ford, UFC, Lincoln and the NFL. I was the creative developer on his portfolio — GSAP, Three.js and WebGL — which won Awwwards Site of the Day with a developer score of 7.77. He owned the vision; I rendered it at full fidelity and made it move.

Mat Voyce — kinetic-typography artist (UK)

Mat Voyce is one of the UK's best kinetic-typography artists (FT, Pepsi, UEFA, Nike). Working through Uncommon Studio, I built his portfolio — it won Awwwards Site of the Day and a GSAP Site of the Year nomination, the latter being GreenSock's own jury recognising the motion engineering specifically.

Hoàng Nguyễn (Hoàng Moe) — designer, GEEK Up

Hoàng Nguyễn is a Ho Chi Minh City designer and Co-Founder / Design Coach at GEEK Up, with strong Behance reach and a following as a design educator. I built his personal site — the reading UX, theme system and motion. No awards here, and I won't invent any; a respected designer trusting me with his own site is proof enough.

The studios & agencies

Uncommon Studio (Australia)

Uncommon Studio (Oliver Muñoz) is the Australian studio I've shipped award-winning work with repeatedly. I built the studio's own site (Awwwards Site of the Day + the Awwwards Developer Award + FWA), the Mat Voyce portfolio, and the Mark Woodland founder site — front-end, and on Mark Woodland the server setup and deployment too.

fromanother

fromanother is an artist-led creative agency working across Asia and Europe. I was the developer on their site, which won FWA of the Day plus Awwwards Site of the Day and the Awwwards Developer Award — the Developer Award again singling out the front-end engineering.

SERIOUS.BUSINESS (Munich, Germany)

SERIOUS.BUSINESS is a premium B2B branding studio out of Munich, an Awwwards Agency-of-the-Year nominee. I've collaborated with them as a developer — most concretely on the Iventions build, which took CSS Design Awards Website of the Month and an Awwwards Site of the Day. Premium branding studios choosing an external developer for the build is exactly the white-label model most agencies run.

Iventions

Iventions designs and produces premium events and spaces. I built their website (with SERIOUS.BUSINESS and Huy Phan) — CSS Design Awards Website of the Month, a Website of the Year finalist slot, and Awwwards Site of the Day + Developer Award.

Hylix (Netherlands)

Hylix is a Netherlands-based company whose website I built and deployed — front-end development and deployment. No awards to claim here, and I'll keep it plainly stated: a solid, shipped, fast site is its own kind of proof, and not every good build is an awards submission.

What I actually do on these builds

Across every project on this list, the split is the same and the credit stays honest:

The studio / designer owns	I own
Design & art direction	Front-end development
The client relationship	GSAP motion systems
Brand & creative concept	WebGL / Three.js / shaders
Content & copy	Performance (Core Web Vitals)
—	Server setup & deployment (where needed)

I don't design your site and I don't take your client — I build, under your brand, to the standard your name requires. That's the white-label relationship most studios and agencies actually want, and I've written up how it works in white-label creative development for agencies and how to vet a partner in choosing a technical partner for creative studios.

Why designers and studios keep coming back

Three reasons show up again and again in these collaborations:

• Fidelity. Designers hand me a file and get it back, exactly, in the browser — then moving at 60fps. "Close enough" doesn't survive a designer's own site.
• Recognition that de-risks the choice. Awwwards Developer Awards, Site of the Day, FWA, a GSAP Site of the Year nomination — verifiable, peer-judged, and (since I sit on the Awwwards jury) I know exactly what the panels reward.
• I own the whole path to production. Motion, performance, and — where a project needs it — server and deployment. The studio stays a studio.

FAQ

Who is Hon Tran?

A creative developer and Awwwards jury member with 11+ years building award-winning web experiences. Twice named Awwwards "Independent of the Year" and the first Vietnamese developer to win an international web award.

What does "the developer, not the designer" mean here?

On every project listed, the studio or designer owns the design, art direction and client relationship; I own the front-end engineering — GSAP, WebGL, performance, and deployment where needed. The credit is deliberately honest.

Can I verify these awards and collaborations?

Yes — every one is public. The awards are listed on Awwwards, FWA and CSS Design Awards, and each case study links the live site so you can profile the build in DevTools yourself.

Do you work white-label under an agency's brand?

Yes. Most of the roster above is exactly that — I build under the studio's name and never approach their client. See white-label creative development for agencies.

Let's add your project to the roster

If you're a studio, agency or designer looking for the creative developer that peers already trust to build their most important sites — let's talk.

• See how I work and start a project on the hire page.
• Browse the full body of shipped, awarded work in the projects archive.
• Ready to talk? Let's talk →

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Written by Hon Tran — creative developer, founder of hontran.dev, and Awwwards jury member. 11+ years building award-winning, performance-first web experiences (GSAP, WebGL, Next.js) for clients worldwide. Twice named Awwwards "Independent of the Year" and the first Vietnamese developer to win an international web award. hontran.dev · Behance.