BestCSS is one of the English-language web design directories. Every day the editors select one work and publish it in the Site of the Day section. You cannot get in by application or payment; the editors' opinion decides. For a studio, such an accolade means that the work pleased people who look at hundreds of sites a week, and it is a good reason to talk with new clients.
In the description on BestCSS, the project is named briefly: “Foundator by Sponge Digital & Design.” The subject is stated as:
Information site about trading and investment
is dedicated to trading and investment, that is, trading on financial markets and putting money to work. The audience comes to such a site for materials and tools, not for visual effects, so the main task of the design is not to interfere with reading and searching. The work on it was more about structure and clarity than about a showcase.
Nomination before the award
The path to BestCSS began earlier. On 11 July 2015, the project was nominated on CSS Winner, another directory that evaluates sites and gives awards. The score was 7.4, and in the directory's description the work is called “Site about investment strategies.” Among CSS Winner's awards are the Nominee, Star and Site of the Day nominations, and the first of these means the jury's attention but not yet the highest mark.
Foundator appeared on BestCSS the day after the same directory named the bureau's own site as its site of the day, on 20 July 2015. Thus, within a few days, two of the studio's projects ended up on the same platform, and it was a notable surge of attention to Sponge's work for the industry.
The studio itself already had a serious track record by then. The bureau's site received recognition in several directories at once: on 24 May, CSSDA marked it with a score of 7.80; on 13 June, CSS Winner named it site of the day with a score of 7.5; and on 8 August, Awwwards, one of the most famous global directories, awarded it Site of the Day status with a score of 7.03. Another studio project, Geeks Empire, received the CSS Light award in June and then became a CSS Winner nominee.
Silver in Moscow
The year's biggest recognition came in the autumn. On 22 October 2015, at the Golden Site 2015 awards, Foundator took second place in the nomination whose official wording is:
Information site, blog, financial media
The Golden Site annually selects the best Russian sites by industry nominations, and in 2015 dozens of works competed in this one. Silver in a category where financial publications and blogs compete means that the project was judged one of the best among specialized publications.
At the same ceremony, Sponge took first place in the “Digital Agency Site” nomination, and the Estetico project came third in a category related to education and blogs. The studio also entered the developers' ranking, where it took a place in the 17th to 19th range and scored 9 points. This ranking takes into account results in competitions and shows the studio's place among its peers.
What happened next
The bureau finished the 2014/2015 season in the industry ranking of the VRK in 21st place with four points, and in December 2015 the picture continued. On 19 December, CSS Winner named the promotional site for the company Kvadrat as site of the day, and on 21 December, CSSDA awarded it a special prize with a score of 7.60.
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