Step 1 - Research

The websites that I will be researching all advertise job vacancies. My client, however, focuses on vacancies for 'creative' jobs - which narrows down the market and target audience.


Here are a selection of websites I have researched that advertise job vacancies:

http://www.totaljobs.com/ 

http://www.manpower.co.uk/ 

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/ 

http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk/ 
 

One recurring theme within these websites is that they all have a search function - which is necessary to look through the vast list of vacancies. They also use simple, complimentary colour schemes - most of which involve orange (commonly regarded as a colour of trust). After looking through these websites I have identified the needs of my client, the primary need of course being a list of job vacancies that can be searched through to filter out jobs the users are not qualified for. 


Other needs include:

• Easy-to-use navigation (this must be coherent and obvious to the user).
• Simple design that does not distract from the main aim of the website.
• The fonts chosen need to be legible, clear and appropriate.

I then looked into these websites in more detail in order to gain a better understanding of the target audience and promotion methods:


TotalJobs.com

Looking at the 'Total Jobs' website I can see that the fonts used are crisp & clear as well as contrasting from the background. There are numerous categories set up for each different job sector, which will help the user to narrow down the list of jobs they will have to look through.


The website displays good information architecture principles; it uses geo-stational navigation in the header but also makes use of tabbed browsing with jobs by sector, location or popular searches. The colours used are bright, friendly and inviting.


In conclusion 'Total Jobs' does meet the needs of the user but at the same time it is not entirely specific to a 'creative' person.


Manpower.co.uk

The 'Man Power' website shows a different design style to the 'Total Jobs' website, both with it's use of contrasting pastel colours and how the user navigates to a particular job listing. Again, tabbed navigation is present but it utilizes a drop down when the user hovers over it. This helps make the site look less cluttered.



Jobsite.co.uk

The Jobsite's design is simple and appears easy to use. They also use a very similar colour scheme to the 'Man Power' website (blue and orange) - again these are commonly regarded as calm and trusting colours. However, I dislike the general organisation of content and the navigation system. It also doesn't look as inviting as the other two websites.