Curtis Lazure | Design and Creative Lead + Senior UX Designer at Nexus Communications
- The Ask
- Create a career site that is tailored to Giant Eagle’s banner requirements while using updated brand guide and best practices.
- My Role
- Designer, UX Designer, Account Lead
- My Team
- Project Manager, Graphic Designer, Account Manager, Strategist, Copywriter
- My Tasks
- Graphic Design, UX Design, Research, Testing
- My Tools
- Adobe Photoshop, Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Iphone, Android
- My Timeline
- 3 Months
- The Deliverable
- An updated, responsive career site design that will be assembled in Phenom
Learn
Through stakeholder input, client interviews and background research learn what the client is looking for in terms of functionality and aesthetics.
Re-Design
Create a career site with banner specific pages with easy access to key information and launch points with new IA, Flow, visual design and content refresh.
Enhance
Using the Giant Eagle brand, develope an enhanced version of the career site with updated EVP, Tone of Voice and messaging
Stylize
Using wireframing and design software, create a Hi-Fi Prototype
Hand-off
Working with 3rd party development team to create a seamless asset hand-off
Project Overview
Top shelf opportunities are always in stock.
We need to create multiple pages that had a consistent theme, with subtle nods to each banners specific colour treatments and identity.
The site needed to consist of a main page under the Giant eagle brand establishing the banner jump points as well as introducing a newly launched EVP.
The new site would be mobile responsive. My role was to research and provide information architecture recommendations, design wireframes, direct user flow by role type, reduce friction points for applicants, lead the visual design, and work with a 3rd party developer to test features and functionality.
32K+
32 000+ employees across the United States
480
480 Locations across the U.S.
$8.9B+
$8.9+ Billion dollars in annual revenue
Project Goals
How might we organize the site to make to inform candidates of the roles offered within Giant Eagle as well as showcasing how and why they are an employer of choice
- Use the Giant Eagle brand as the base for the design
- Display their EVP and community involvement
- Filter unsuitable candidates
- Provide realistic job previews to set candidate expectations
- Provide clear user flow to explore various roles
- Reduce friction points to the ATS
Format
• Content Management System
• Mobile
• Accessible
Pages
7 deep scrolling pages
Development Time
<3 months
Hearing from Employees
Intake questionnaires helped in discovering the benefits/differentiators of working at Giant Eagle. Short questionnaires were circulated across departments gathering intake from multiple perspectives.
Questionnaire Example
Retail Specific
- Provide 2-3 key descriptors about what it is like to work at Giant Eagle on a daily basis?
- What types of roles do you want to fill from banner to banner?
- What departments do you want to highlight from banner to banner?
- What kind of person thrives in a Giant Eagle work environment?
- Tell me about the demographics that are associated with each role or position.
- Provide 4-5 characteristics in terms of personality, energy, aspirations, etc.
- Provide 4-5 reasons why you think people choose to work at Giant Eagle? What do they like about it?
General
- The grocery market is very competitive – what key differentiators set apart Giant Eagle from others both inside the office segment, and beyond?
- Tell me about the people culture in Giant Eagle offices as compared to your key competitors?
- What kinds of investments is Giant Eagle making in terms of people, process, technology, or otherwise?
- What are some of the biggest myths/misconceptions that should be dispelled regarding positions with respect to Giant Eagle?
- Please feel free to include any other information that is relevant and was not requested above.
Defining our Broad Scope Personas.
Todays workforce is comprised of Millennials, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and Traditionalists
Traits and Experience
• Undergraduate Student
• Passive Job Seeker
• New to labor market, highly educated, low professional experience
Personal Habits
- Likely to see a job ad on social media sites (LinkedIn, Instagram, FB)
- Likely to view site on mobile
- Likely to refer a friend via email to job listing if they feel they know someone more qualified
Wish List
- Mentorship & Coaching
- Training incentives (educational reimbursement perks)
- Work-life balance
Motivation: Career Advancement, New Role, Full-time Employment
Behaviour: Exploratory
Needs: Wanting more information on Giant Eagle
Looking for: Why work there, Career paths, and what it takes to succeed
I currently work part-time in retail and will be graduating in a year with a degree in IT. I aspire to obtain a leadership position in head office one-day but unsure which industry and/or organization I want to work with.
Traits and Experience
• Management, Mid-Late Career
• Active Job Seeker
• High School Diploma, 25 years of store manager experience
Personal Habits
- Likely to seek for a job on online job boards (Indeed.com, LinkedIn postings) or word of mouth
- Likely to view site on computer
- Likely to tell friends and family about job openings
Wish List
- Salary, Benefits (dental, optical)
- Vacation
- Recognition Program
Motivation: Role focused within their area of expertise, Full-time Employment
Behaviour: Quick to apply for a specific role
Needs: Knows the role they’re looking for, may seek transient role
Looking for: A quick and easy path to apply for a specific role
I’m looking for a new opportunity as a store manager to build a strong team that can deliver an excellent guest experience. I’m hoping to find an employer who can trust and support the ideas I’d like to implement on the floor.
Hearing from the Employer
Intake questionnaires and interviews were conducted with key stakeholders on what they hoped the applicant experience would be, deficiencies with the current site and expectations to guide the redesign.
- Provide 2-3 key must haves for the relaunch that the current site isn’t delivering on.
- Describe any pain points that applicants may be experiencing when looking for employment at Giant Eagle using the career site.
- What features/styles work with the current site that you’d like to see migrated over?
- Please summarize what you feel isn’t working with the current site (look and feel, ease of navigation etc…)
Career Site Discovery Intakes
Key Priorities
- Realistic Job Preview: Provide imagery + content that reflects the role expectations so that prospective candidates can ‘see’ clearly how they will contribute to the strategy
- People-first Culture Preview: balance a focus on strategy and product with a focus on people through storytelling on career pathing, blog content, people-first imagery, etc.
- Easy Navigation: Maintain current UX for applicants who come to the site ready to apply
Measure of Success: Receive more qualified candidates (e.g. less minors and/or serial applicants)
- Start
- Greater emphasis on core tenants of strategy (e.g. Digital, Fresh, Pharmacy, IE&D, Neighborhood-feel)
- Increased personalization (e.g. blog content, Career pathing stories – ‘My Giant Eagle Journey’, etc.)
- Explore greater use of video + updated image library
- Continue
- Navigation and overall UX (e.g. ability to easily search roles)
- Enterprise approach with a clear call-out to the banners/brands
- Spotlight key job families (Pharmacy, Warehouse/Supply Chain, IT)
- Stop
- N/A – treat career site as an ‘evolve’ to build on existing best practices
Design
Our Guiding Principles
- Minimize copy
- Incorporate a mix of high impact visuals complimenting the brand
- Adopt a user-centered design approach
- Develop simplified journey maps
- Integrate EVP messaging & creative
- Explore best/next practices (chatbots, visual job descriptions, live
hiring manager) - Rework Copy to better reflect Giant Eagle Tone of Voice while adhering to SEO best practices
Information Architecture
Organizing the Content
Our team initially explored two separate site structures using the following ‘how might we’ statements. Card sorting exercises helped our team group and categories the various sections we hoped to offer to candidates.
Getting the Content Right
We continued this exploration through various iterations, numbering wireframes and page sections for easy reference and annotation, and to allow both our stakeholders, and copywriters, and developers to refer to specific sections by number.
Establishing the Styles
ITC Avant Garde was chosen to be highly accessible to site visitors and best align with the constraints of the CMS the site would be developed on.
The brand palette provided direction but would require some adjustment to meet AODA contrast compliance.
Photography that complimented the brand palette would be prioritized.
Iconography using a light outline format would be chosen to compliment the clean colourful look.
The colour palette was developed to compliment the umbrella brand and introduce the TMVP (Team Member Value Proposition) brand.
Photography
Iconography
Iterating on the visual design.
Multiple designs were explored by our team and tested with the client.
Final Design
The updated version of the career site eliminated the use of people in it’s photography, opting instead to showcase various Spin Master characters in an office setting.
A much bolder use of colour was introduced to compliment the playfulness and energy depicted within the brand.
Smart, AODA compliant banners were created with a fresh look showcasing real employees using the Giant Eagle Brand
Pillar statements were introduced higher up in the page answering the question “why work here?”
Multiple, easy to find jump points were moved higher up in the page allowing applicants to find what they’re looking for much easier and faster
Value statements and core beliefs have more prominence – as well as displaying their pillar statements and that “Together We Succeed”
Developer Hand-off
Our team prepared all the hand-off materials in accordance with the developers’ specs and answered any questions about the design or functionality of the website. In working in tandem with the development team we were able to meet client expectations within the CMS platform while trouble shooting and solutioning any problems that occurred.
Final Thoughts
All client requests were met and a more elegant, user friendly career site was delivered. The look and feel of the website is more in-tune with their brand both in terms of visual aesthetics and tone of voice. Functionality and usability has also been enhanced to create a much easier path for applicants to find what they’re looking for in terms of roles or departments. The site design is now streamlined and persona-driven, offering candidates the ability to see the Spin Master enterprise at-a-glance and easily apply to available roles across the globe. Candidates can explore departments and roles with additional detail, and the ability to apply is always present.
Connect with me at: curtis@clazure.ca
LinkedIn
705.207.0625