BestCSS is an English-language web design gallery that selects one site each day to receive its Site of the Day mark. For a designer and developer, such an accolade means attention from the professional community rather than a mass ranking: the work is seen by colleagues from different countries and comes to the attention of clients who look for contractors through portfolios. The platform's entry records that the mark was awarded on 20 July 2015, with the description reading: “Website and portfolio of creative bureau Sponge D&D”.
Spring and summer in one chain
The July accolade was not the first of the season. The agency's website began its journey through international galleries with Website of the Day on CSSDA on 24 May 2015, where it scored 7.80. Five days later came Site of the Day on CSS Nectar; on 3 June the site received a daily mark on CSS Light, and on 13 June it became Site of the Day on CSS Winner with a score of 7.5. All these platforms operate on a similar logic: a site is submitted to the judgement of professionals, and selection is carried out by the gallery's editors or a competition jury.
The series continued after BestCSS. On 27 July the site won on CSSReel, and on 8 August it entered Site of the Day on Awwwards with a score of 7.03. Awwwards is one of the best-known international platforms for web design, where work is evaluated on design, usability and creativity, so a mark there is considered one of the industry's benchmarks.
The BestCSS mark in July 2015 also fitted into the wider context of the agency's work that season. Around the same time the studio was releasing other projects. The Geeks Empire website received a daily mark on CSS Light on 23 June and a nomination on CSS Winner on 29 June. The Foundator website, which BestCSS featured the day after Sponge, had been nominated on CSS Winner two weeks earlier, on 11 July.
The team and domestic recognition
The agency's founder, Bohdan Hnatiuk, ties the studio to work on websites where design and development go hand in hand. In August 2014 executive director Kyrylo Soliar spoke about the studio in an interview with Innabits, while lead designer Serhii Semernov was at the same time director and co-owner of SPONGE STORE. Semernov later became art director of Sponge D&D. This continuity has allowed the agency to maintain a recognisable style year after year.
Within Ukraine the agency's work was also recognised. In the UD competition the Sponge D&D website received the Best of B-1 category in 2015, while the KTK logo in the same series was awarded Best of C-I-2. These awards show that interest in the studio was building not only abroad.
Autumn and the Golden Site
The season's main Russian recognition came in the autumn. On 22 October 2015 the Golden Site award named the Sponge website first in the Digital Agency Website category. That same evening the Foundator website took second place in the financial media category, and in the developer ranking the agency placed 17th–19th with 9 points. This award was the culmination of a season that had begun with the BestCSS mark on 20 July.
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