CSS Winner is a web design gallery where each entry is evaluated by a jury across several criteria. The Site of the Day mark is awarded to the site that stood out from other publications on a given day. The jury rated Sponge D&D's design and functionality at 7.6, usability at 7.5, and content at 7.3. The overall score was 7.5. At that time, the bureau's portfolio contained 377 works.
On the platform, the bureau is presented as a creative agency with main offices in Odesa and New Jersey. Its specialisation, as stated in the description, is branding and digital development. For a Ukrainian studio working in the international market, such a showcase is no less important than the awards themselves: it shows clients from other countries what the team does and how its projects look in real conditions.
A string of recognitions in spring and summer 2015
The win on 13 June was not an isolated one. On 24 May, the bureau's site received the Website of the Day mark on CSS Design Awards with a score of 7.80—one of the highest results in the series. Five days later, on 29 May, the work became Site of the Day on the CSS Nectar gallery, and on 3 June it received a mark on CSS Light. Then came the win on CSS Winner and Site of the Day on BestCSS on 20 July. On 27 July the site won on CSSReel, and on 8 August it received Site of the Day on Awwwards with a score of 7.03.
Awwwards is considered one of the most famous international platforms for web design, so a mark there is usually regarded as recognition on a global level. The score on CSS Winner is higher than on Awwwards, but differences in scales and jury composition make direct comparison of the numbers impossible. More important is that over several months the work passed through several independent juries and each time received a mark.
The people and profile of the bureau
The founder of the bureau remains Bohdan Hnatiuk. On the bureau's CSS Winner profile, 21 nominations, 6 'stars' and 9 'sites of the day' have accumulated. This is the best indicator that can be verified in the public domain, and it speaks of systematic work rather than a one-off success. In 2014, in an interview with Innabits, Sponge executive director Kyrylo Soliar spoke about processes in the studio, while lead designer Serhii Semernov described working on the bureau's branded store SPONGE STORE. Later, Semernov became art director of Sponge D&D.
Sites that receive such ratings usually go through several stages of refinement. Menus, navigation and responsiveness are checked by the jury alongside the visual part, so a high score for functionality and usability indicates not only a pretty picture but also a workable product. In the case of Sponge D&D, the jury rated both indicators at almost the same level, which is rare in competitions of this type.
An autumn award in Russia
The summer recognitions were a backdrop to a more impressive result in the autumn. At the Golden Site 2015 award, the Sponge site took first place in the 'Digital Agency Website' category. The award evaluates sites according to Russian and international practice, and winning in a relevant category confirmed that the bureau's work also gains recognition beyond galleries where design is typically celebrated.
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