Two newcomers and an established player in the design field took top honours in the recent Macromagic Web design competition. The competition, to design a site for the Khanyisa Trust on the East Rand, was won by 23-year-old Gillian Hebron, who runs her own design studio, Virtuoso Designs.
An elated Hebron, who launched her "one-woman" company in Randburg in 1999, was awarded first prize - a R10 000 Macromedia Studio MX package sponsored by Daxdata.
The competition was held at the end of last year, with entrants invited to design a Web site to boost exposure and communication for the Khanyisa Trust in Edenvale. The judges included industry leaders from M-Web, Key Web Services, Intoweb Design and Macromagic.
"I thought it was a great idea for a charity to get a quality Web site by means of a donation - and the prizes were great for the winners, thanks to the kind sponsors," says Hebron.
Self-taught Web designer, 21-year-old Andrew Scott, took second place. Scott launched his own design and networking operation, Infinity Network Solutions, 10 months ago.
Scott says he has been designing Web sites since the age of 16, when he had his first Web site company, Nettastic SA. "I left school the same year and have been working ever since and this is the first real shot I`ve had at getting some qualifications behind me in this field," he says.
Scott`s prize is a R6 985 CIW site designer course sponsored by Macromagic.
Established player Gerald Yapp of In-Detail Design Studio in Sunninghill won third prize - a course entitled "Effective Use of the Internet" sponsored by Macromagic. Yapp started In-Detail advertising and design 13 years ago, at the age of 19, making the company one of the oldest local design studios.
"There are precious few of these types of competitions around these days and it`s a nice way to gauge our skills and expertise in the marketplace," says Yapp.
The top three entrants all said they had attempted to give a personal feel to the Khanyisa site, with special emphasis on simple design and ease of use. The winning designs can be viewed at www.ciw.co.za.
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