Juice Personnel: Fresh WordPress Design and Build

A refreshingly different WordPress site for a Wakefield recruitment agency

Refreshing the Juice Personnel brand

The challenge

Wakefield-based recruitment agency, Juice Personnel, was about to celebrate 20 years in business. The forward-thinking agency had launched several innovative brand campaigns over the years but needed a website refresh to take the team into its third decade. An important factor in the design was dividing the user experience between clients and candidates and using appropriate language to appeal to both in various site sections. Juice also recognised that most of today's candidates apply for jobs through the main job sites and needed a system that promoted the available options and supporting services rather than gathering and processing applications.

Juice teamed up with us (Feel Created) to create a refreshed online presence that ‘spoke’ primarily to their clients (and separately to candidates) in simple, straightforward language that was clear on direction. We worked together over several months, in partnership with local photographer Andy Plues, to create a dynamic site demonstrating the agency’s commitment to providing a refreshingly different approach to recruitment.

The solution

We took care of the creative direction following several conversations during the project’s discovery phase. The new look pared back the colours used within the original site, placing them strategically to draw the eye to key content and action points. A tone-of-voice workshop involving the entire Juice team formed the basis of a consistent tone across the site. Our dev team translated each design and copy element approved by the Juice team into a custom WordPress framework with Gutenberg content editor.

Custom WordPress Functionality

Better data structure and navigation

As with most of our sites, custom WordPress, was our framework of choice for the Juice build. The team required a simple, portfolio-based site with the ability to add, sort and manage job listings. Job seekers landing on the site needed to be able to search through and filter results easily. A common need for sites today is the ability for in-house teams to update and manage content within an on-brand framework. With a custom WordPress content management system (CMS), the Juice team could easily manage the site and can continue to do so in future.

Before handover to the Juice team, we also utilised the CMS internally. We added copy to the live development site, tweaking and adjusting it until it worked harmoniously with the design. Most teams find it beneficial for us to lay down the main pages with copy and photography, giving them a template to work on when creating new pages. CMS training was also carried out with the Juice team before launch to ensure they could make the required adjustments from the start.

Gutenberg Block Editing Capabilities

Completely flexible on-brand page elements

The Juice CMS included the Gutenberg block editor feature. Gutenberg allowed the team to create pages and page elements that complement the copy, highlighting and showcasing key points via count-up timers, graphics and animations. A frequent complaint of clients is that their existing website doesn’t allow them to update content easily and consistently. We built branded page elements to give the Juice team peace of mind that anything they add does not deviate from the Juice brand. While Gutenberg is described as a block editor, it’s anything but ‘blocky’. We like to think of it as a series of page ‘elements’ that interact seamlessly with each other to create a vibrant look and feel.

Gutenberg Patterns Functionality

Easy duplication of common pages and elements

For pages such as job listings, it made sense to use Gutenberg Patterns. Patterns act as a ‘template’ page, in which all the page elements are pre-set. For Juice, it acted as a starting point for job listings. Since they all contain the same elements (title, role, salary, closing date etc), Patterns made it easy for the team to quickly add multiple job listings with subtle variances in the copy. The team could still edit these pages as they wished while achieving a consistent, on-brand look. Consistent call-to-action blocks were also an important feature in this area, directing potential candidates through to the right Juice team member.

Tone of Voice Development

Creating a consistent brand tone

The Juice team wanted the new website to sound honest, supportive and approachable – just like them. We set up a half-day tone of voice (TOV) workshop, involving the entire Juice team. Each team member had input into developing a set of brand characteristics that defined the agency’s voice. Following the workshop, we created a branded TOV PDF for internal or external copywriters and content creators to follow. Using the TOV guidelines, we wrote website copy that brings the Juice brand personality to life.

An interesting factor in the copywriting for this website was the need to define separate client and candidate areas. Primarily, we were speaking to the client, but certain pages were directed at candidates, so we changed the tone and content accordingly. Previously, the website copy had been directed at candidates. Changing the positioning was a subtle but effective measure in improving the consumer experience.

The result

Our collaboration with Juice had a fixed deadline – the agency’s 20th anniversary! We worked together, and with local photographer, Andy Plues, over a short timescale to create the new, responsive website that Juice required. The website is now well-positioned to attract clients and candidates, directing them quickly to the correct person within the team. The Juice team is free to go about their daily recruitment business without having the stress of too much website management time. It’s easy for them to add and update content and job listings, taking them into the next decade in style.

Read what Kelly Smith from Juice Personnel had to say about the project here.

Read more Feel Created case studies here.

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