What matters here for the magazine is not the accolade itself but the environment in which it is awarded. CSS Light and CSS Winner are among the English-language web design galleries where sites are selected and rated by their own criteria. Featured of the Day means the site was chosen by the editors as noteworthy on a particular day. The platform placed Geeks Empire in five categories at once: Art, Blogs, Games, Internet and Cinema. For a portal that brings together different layers of geek culture, such a distribution looks accurate.
The portal was made by the Ukrainian studio Sponge Digital & Design, founded by Bohdan Hnatiuk. On CSS Light the site is described by the short formula “Site for geeks.” The studio created the work for a friendly community and maintained it on its own. According to the Cyclopedia directory, since 2013 the project has been run by the company—meaning it is not a one-off commission but long-term work.
CSS Winner Score
Six days after publication on CSS Light, the site was shortlisted by CSS Winner. The final score was 7.0, with the jury awarding 7.1 separately for design. In the work description the platform provides on its page, it says:
We have developed a website about the geeks culture
The phrase is short but captures the essence of the project precisely: the site is dedicated to geek culture, and the theme dictates its entire presentation. The CSS Winner nomination is not the only one this month for the bureau, and it should be seen in the context of what was happening with the studio’s other works.
What Happened to the Studio’s Works in Spring and Summer 2015
Sponge’s own site also received accolades. On 24 May it became Website of the Day on CSSDA, on 3 June it received Featured of the Day on CSS Light, and on 13 June it became Site of the Day on CSS Winner with a score of 7.5. On 8 August Awwwards, one of the most famous international web design awards, named it Site of the Day with a score of 7.03.
Other studio projects were released in parallel. The Foundator site was shortlisted by CSS Winner on 11 July and received Site of the Day on BestCSS on 21 July. The studio’s American site was shortlisted by CSS Winner on 3 August and noted on One Page Love, and on 10 August it received Site of the Day on BestCSS. Thus Geeks Empire was part of a steady stream of recognition, not a one-off success.
Showreel and Year-End Results
The gaming and media portal was not limited to its website. The showreel for its video channel received Best of at Ukrainian Design, the Ukrainian design competition, that same year. In the same competition in 2015, the studio’s own site was also recognized, receiving Best of, as was the KTK channel logo, likewise awarded Best of. The studio itself continued to work on client projects, including a presentation for the kdigital.tv media platform.
The year’s results were summed up by awards in the Russian-language internet. On 22 October 2015, at the Golden Site 2015 ceremony, the studio’s own site took first place in the Digital Agency Website category, while Foundator came second in the Financial Media category.
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