Designing an engaging careers site for Ding

Ding careers

Careers website

Ding, an international mobile recharge service, was beginning a phase of expansion. They needed a dedicated careers site, something that reflected their personality, and also allowed them to tell their story. Ding Careers was born.

1. My Role

Designer and photographer

I was involved with the Ding development and HR team from the very beginning. They gave me full control to come up with a design that reflected their brand. I visited their offices for two days, to talk to the employees, brainstorm and take candid shots around the office to capture the spirit and energy of the company.

2. KICK OFF

The feeling

At our team meetings, I had discussions with a selected group of employees from different departments to discuss how they saw the company and what they would like to see reflected on the site.

We brainstormed, white boarded ideas, and came up with a direction we were all happy with. My conversations with the employees added to my understanding, since these employees were also customers.

3. DESIGN EXPLORATION

Conveying fun without being fake?

The number one word that came out of the meetings with the Ding team was ‘fun’. I had even picked up the good vibe in the office when I visited and really wanted to get across the friendly atmosphere without coming across as fake. The site and images had to come across as authentic, with a good spread of people with different backgrounds.

When I felt I had enough information, I began making sketches of many concepts which grew into interesting layouts.

Header concepts

I presented my concepts to the team along with moodboards and got overwhelming feedback on the desired direction.

Layout concepts

4. Visual style

Palette and typography

I stuck to Ding’s original branding guidelines, but pulled out some interesting elements, like their punchy pink. I created some complimentary colours and lowered the saturation for solid backgrounds. I didn’t want the site to be screaming with bright colours, so I used colour sparingly throughout.

The typography was already in place through their branding guidelines, so I was happy to use Brauer Neue Black typeface for headings and Roboto for body text as it has a similar X height to Brauer.