The purpose of the design is to inform people of the theory of 2012, to both prove and discredit the theory.
The audience is people who are curious or apprehensive about this theory. This could be anyone anywhere, any age, but mostly targeted toward young adults who are susceptible to end-of-world theories.
The message is to not always believe what you hear or read, but be prepared in the event that predictions may come true
The competition is other websites who have a more biased opinion in the matter, and use scare tactics to make people believe what they say.
The context is online, most likely toward the time of 2012 when people are most skeptical
I want to have a very exciting yet unintimidating voice. While ancient people have predicted the end of the world, we must inform ourselves before taking drastic measures.
Exciting, scary, fun, mysterious, informative
The response would be less of a panic, an increase of skepticism