Give A Grad A Go is a recruitment agency that specialises in the recruitment of graduates and young professionals. The company is bold, vibrant and playful but their brand identity was starting to look dated and was holding them back from attracting the right talent.
They challenged us to create a new visual brand that would attract their target audience and represent the business.
- Lead time:
- 8 weeks
- Sector:
- Recruitment
- Target Type:
- B2B & B2C
- Services:
- Brand Identity, Digital Marketing, Website, Recruitment Portal
The brief
Give a Grad a Go challenged us to overhaul their brand identity to produce a flexible visual framework for their team. They needed a fresh new identity that would accurately represent the business and their values to the market. The client was ready to use brand and good design to connect with their audience and become the agency of choice to employers and candidates.
Give a Grad is a vibrant brand and it was important to capture this as part of the new identity. People should intuitively feel what Give A Grad is like to work with just by interacting with their brand.
A targeted brand
A challenge that many recruitment agencies face is the need to balance 2 different audiences on their website: the candidates and the employers. This challenge was particularly relevant to Give A Grad A Go due to the broad gap between the personas and the young demographic of candidates. The new brand needed to be cool and lively to attract candidates but still demonstrate competence and performance to employers.
The website project included a detailed user journey mapping process to ensure that both audiences were directed to the relevant content based on their goals. From a brand perspective, we used colour signposting to create a visual distinction between content for the 2 audiences.
Logo
The main visual of the logo uses a speech bubble as a metaphor for Give A Grad A Go’s open and friendly communication style. Drawing on inspiration from brands such as Whatsapp, the speech bubble is familiar within Give A Grad’s target audience and represents approachability and the ‘keeping in touch’ culture.
The use of lowercase letters in the logo creates a personable feel in contrast to the corporate image presented by many competitor brands.
Shape and form
We created a series of fun shapes to compliment the shape of the new Give A Grad logo. The shapes represent the young and friendly nature of the company and act like physical stickers. We encourage adding and overlapping the stickers when applying the brand to break up layouts and create depth. The goal of the shape and form is to create a playful visual look that is unique to Give A Grad. We provided guidelines on how they should be used for the best outcome and to ensure consistency of application.
Patterns
We created 4 core branded patterns that are a nod to sketchbook aesthetics. They are a great visual tool for Give A Grad to add texture to large areas. They pair well with the curated brand shapes and together, elevate simple content into something fresh and interesting.
Colour palette
We created a colour palette containing a mixture of vibrant dark and light colours that produce a fresh and engaging feel when combined. We delivered a set of colour pairing guidelines to enable the Give A Grad team to consistently apply the brand colours while also retaining a broad and flexible colour palette.
Gradients
We created colour gradients to provide a fresh and modern way to break up content. The gradients are easily identifiable as Give A Grad A Go’s and create a digital feel to the brand identity. They can be used to fill shapes, backgrounds and sometimes text and are a great way to create an edge and draw attention in a design.
Typography
We selected rounded fonts that fit well with the rounded shape and form of the brand. The typography has a bright and fun feel to it which reflects the company culture and values.
Imagery
We use imagery to add a human element to Give A Grad’s new brand. People are at the core of what they do and this needed to be reflected throughout the site. We curated an image style that is professional and friendly, yet fun. Images should mostly be set in a business environment and avoid the typical corporate style eg. candid headshots on a plain background.
Logo
The full logo can be simplified down to just the speech mark icon for use cases in which a horizontal logo would not work such as a favicon or profile picture.
Brand Guidelines
We formalised the new brand identity in a brand book to enable Give A Grad to faithfully implement the brand.
Easy implementation
We delivered a compact brand that was simple to implement but provided a high level of flexibility.
The broader project
Alongside their brand, Give A Grad A Go also commissioned us to redesign and build their website and jobs portal. We implemented the new brand across the client’s digital ecosystem, improving the user experience and helping them to reach a new part of the market.
‘We’ve had a brilliant experience working with Plug & Play — I wouldn’t have trusted this project to any other of the agencies we initially spoke to.’
