Best of Houzz Awards

A Houzz community award for home design & remodeling professionals.

Best of Houzz is a community-based award given at the beginning of each year, determined by the prior year's work. These awards are based on the saves and reviews of millions of Houzz users all over the world. The two awards are given to home renovation professionals who have contributed beautiful content to the Houzz community and who provide excellent customer service to their clients. Because the rules on how to win the badges run parallel, it is possible for professionals to win both the design and service Best of Houzz Award.

The overall objective of the community award is to motivate home professionals on the Houzz platform to showcase their high-end work through photography, designs, and client 5-star reviews.

The Solution

I built up the Best of Houzz awards program with the Senior Manager of Sales Enablement, which stands today as a 360 experience. As this award influences both sides of the business (homeowners and home renovation professionals) I had to problem-solve for different audiences for the various touchpoints. Not only did these touch points need to educate the home renovation community on what Best of Houzz is, but also motivate professionals to earn the award, and for homeowners to want to hire these pros.

Best of Houzz Process

The Deliverables

Updated Badges,
Winners Promotional Kit,
Winners Showcase Page,
Evergreen Landing Page,
Social Media Assets,
Product Banners,

Team

Becca Cauzza, Global Senior Manager, Sales Enablement
Andrea Novo, Sr. Designer / Design Lead
Yeseul Son, Designer & Illustrator

A graphic with a dark background featuring gold and colorful outline elements of a trophy, a house, a soccer goal, and geometric shapes. Text in the center reads "Best of Houzz" in white.

Woman looking at smartphone in a kitchen, holding a fabric sample, with various tile and fabric swatches on a white countertop.

Smartphone displaying an Instagram post celebrating the 2023 Best of Houzz Winners, placed on white hexagonal tile flooring.

The Badge of Honor Campaign

In the home remodeling business, every task is a triumph. String together enough wins and you never know what you’ll celebrate next. That’s what Houzz is designed for. We help homeowners and professionals achieve the experience they need to earn success, however they define it. From the new dad finding the perfect builder for his family home, to the seasoned designer going above and beyond to update clients, Houzz helps all kinds of people to work smarter and take pride in their progress.

For those wins that really went the extra mile, cue the ultimate industry badge of honor: “Best of Houzz”.

Text displaying the words 'Celebratory,' 'Energetic,' 'Spirited,' and 'Premium' in black on a dark background.

Why Winner Matters

Winning Best of Houzz shows that home professionals’ clients genuinely value the work and the experience provided. It’s a trusted badge that helps build credibility, attract new clients, and set you apart in a competitive industry.

The Best of Houzz Badges

Five digital award banners from Houzz, recognizing best of 2023 in various categories: design, photography, service, design and service, and photography and service, each with colorful background patterns and green and yellow accent labels.

Color palette with color names and hex codes, including purple, orange, green, pink, blue, black, lilac, peach, spring, rose, sky, golden, and trophy colors.

Celebrating the Best of Houzz Winners

Tablet displaying Houzz website with home improvement articles and project options, placed on a white surface next to a white stylus and a trailing green leafy plant

Computer monitor displaying the homepage of Houzz website with the text 'And the 2023 Best of Houzz winners are...' on a desk with a lamp, glasses, keyboard, mouse, a large potted plant, a clock, camera, and printer.

Two digital award banners with geometric gold outlines and abstract patterns on a dark background. Each banner displays the message "Congratulations, 2023 Best of Houzz Winners!" along with a gold trophy icon featuring a white house symbol.

Person holding a smartphone displaying a congratulatory message for the 2023 Best of Houzz Winners, with a graphic of a house icon on the screen.

A laptop on a small table displaying a webpage about Houzz, featuring sections on design, service, and photography with colorful illustrations.

Responsive webpage for Houzz Pro with sections on design, service, photography, awards, benefits, and projects, featuring images of people, home interiors, and construction scenes.

WINNER’S TOOL KIT

Helping home professionals celebrate their victory with a special promotion and materials.

A person holding a smartphone with a graphic display showing the "2023 Best of Houzz Photography & Service Winner" award. The screen includes icons and text about the Best of Houzz design and service awards for 2023.

Six smartphones displaying social media posts with colorful backgrounds, showcasing awards for the 2023 Best of Houzz in various categories, including Design, Photography, Service, and Service Winner, with a purple, orange, green, and pink split background.

A black fabric tote bag with a gold geometric pattern and colorful star shapes hanging on a wall, with text that reads "Best of Houzz, 2023 WINNER."

A computer screen showing a video call between a smiling older woman with gray hair and glasses, and a smiling younger man with short brown hair, against pink background.

Collection of colorful circular awards and trophies with geometric patterns, including one with '2023 WINNER' and 'Best of Houzz' text, displayed on a dark background.

Collage of digital presentation slides showing colorful graphics, mobile app interfaces, and professional layouts for a creative project or campaign.

The Design Concepts

Collaborating with the copy team, the design team developed two concepts for the 2023 Best of Houzz Awards.

Concept 1 | Structure

“Connections are what this business is built on. But today, it’s not just who you know that helps—it’s how you know them. For millions of homeowners, remodelers, and designers, Houzz is how. By connecting homeowners to pros and pros to the tools they need, every match made on Houzz proves it’s more than the sum of its software. It’s a place where collaboration happens and productivity is all part of the plan. And when those pieces connect just right, they lead to work worthy of a second look with ‘Best of Houzz’.”

This first concept was based on our interpretation of the write-up, and was influenced by the line work of architectural plans, and the geometric shapes found in furniture and home interiors. Within the illustrations of abstract lines are iconic furniture and home features. Wanting to bring in the high-end celebratory vibe, the design’s color palette caters to the mature home renovation pros, but incorporates pops of colors and showcases the Best of Houzz badges.

Concept 2 | Banner Year

In the home remodeling business, every task is a triumph. String together enough wins and you never know what you’ll celebrate next. That’s what Houzz is designed for. We help homeowners and professionals achieve the experience they need to earn success—however they define it. From the new dad finding the perfect builder for his family home, to the seasoned designer going above and beyond to update clients, Houzz helps all kinds of people to work smarter and take pride in their progress. For those wins that really went the extra mile, cue the ultimate industry badge of honor: “Best of Houzz”.

This second visual concept was based on the design team’s interpretation of how home renovation professionals showcase their triumphs and successes through metals, accolades, and badges. We wanted this direction to feel very cheerful and celebratory. Ultimately, this concept was not used, but saved for future use as the visual concept skewed younger than our demographic’s age.

Best of Houzz Development Over the Years

The Growth of Best of Houzz

In 2020, I had the opportunity to help manage and elevate the Best of Houzz Awards. Becoming more involved and collaborating with the Sales Enablement team, the awards program grew to where it stands today as a 360-degree experience with some trial and error. With the learnings gained, the Best of Houzz Awards scope now involves many moving parts, including several landing pages, social media campaigns, product advertising, editorial articles, videos, and pro profile badges, as seen below.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

While managing the creative side of the Best of Houzz Awards, I also streamlined the cross functional collaborative process. Working with so many teams, the process needed very organized, clear, and efficient. This meant setting up guidelines, check-ins, meetings, timelines, and due dates for all teams.

Award Logistics

The project’s stakeholders, the sales enablement management owned the logistics of the award program.

Brand & Campaign Design

Partnering with the stakeholders on the logistics end, design owned the overall campaign look & feel and the consistent implementation on all touchpoints,

Brand & Campaign Copy

Also part of the creative team, the Copy team owned the over all campaign messaging on all touch points.

Localization

As Best of Houzz Winners are spread through out the world, the localization team ensured consistency and accuracy of all copy for all local touchpoints.

Engineering

With the guidance and wireframes of the brand team, the Houzz Engineer Team developed and built several types of landing pages needed.

PR & Marketing

Serving as a secondary stakeholder, the PR team ensured the brand consistency of the program within the overall ecosystem of Houzz.

The Touchpoints

One of the biggest pain points of the Best of Houzz Awards was staying organized with so many moving parts. By organizing all assets into touch point buckets, all involved teams knew what they owned. This also helped teams organize what content was needed, and how include the creative teams (design and copy) on deliverables to achieve their goals.