WIF 2008 - webdesign international festival - France

The “VisioBapi” surprised the jury of WIF2008 by its originality … No wonder if the Team Rigaud obtains the price of young hopefuls. Back on this “team” like no other, made up elsewhere as a person: Louis Rigaud …

wif : Louis, you’re a fourth-year student of decorative arts at Strasbourg. How did you come across the Wif Webjam?
Louis : I found the advert for the WIF competition by chance while surfing the web. The pre-selections fell on the same day as my exams, so I thought: I’ll register and see if I’ve got the energy to take part.
I asked around to see if any of my friends were interested in taking part in these pre-selections but they were all in the same boat as me – after a week of intensive work preparing for the exams, everyone just wanted to sleep, sleep.

wif : And those pre-selections? How did you get through them?
Louis : I didn’t know anything about the spirit of the competition, if it was quite technical, quite professional or quite artistic. I do internet sites like I do anything else – it’s not my speciality, just a way of doing what I like. I didn’t really know if this competition was for me. And the “Water is Life” theme was so open and really inspiring, I took a few hours to think about it and look for some leads. Then I slept a little. Then I got down to work – the general structure and navigation first of all, then the intro, and then the different pictures/pages of the site. I didn’t manage to finish it all, which is a shame, but never mind. I wanted to use traditional techniques (paintings, drawings) to try and make myself stand out, and I think it worked.
Of course, I was very pleased to be one of those selected for Limoges.

wif : And the WIF itself, so it was a first for you here in Limousin.
Louis : The WIF event was super, the organisation was perfect and the conferences really varied and interesting, especially the meetings with the other competitors. Very enriching.

wif : You were competing on your own. I suppose your way of managing those 24 hours was very different from that of the other teams
Louis : The final was tiring. I decided not to sleep and to finish what I wanted to do this time. And I held up well. I managed to finish all the pages and the soundtrack. I didn’t push myself too much, apart from the last hour when a bug appeared when I was supposed to put the site online – I had to take out the timer function that made the messages arrive in dribs and drabs and made the site more narrative and lively. I was disappointed, but those are the silly wretched rules of programming.

wif : Congratulations on the award you received. To be the hallowed Young Hopeful, did you expect that?
Louis : At the prize-giving, the people on my table were already looking at me as the best young hopeful before the results were announced. I was very pleased to be selected, of course, and the young hopeful prize is encouraging, it means recognition. And to have Étienne Mineur’s recognition as well, all that really did make me happy.
This prize has been particularly useful for getting myself known. I’m very pleased with it but for all that, I hope I’m not going to shut myself away in the web world.

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