Defence Careers

is a Force for New Zealand

DIGITAL ART DIRECTION

Lead Design

Interaction Design

Art Direction & Brand

Digital Design

Strategy

Defence Careers is the recruitment hub for the New Zealand Defence Force. As one of the first experiences a new recruit will have with the Defence Force, the site needs to quickly and effectively build confidence. So in 2017, Clemenger BBDO was tasked with overhauling the recruitment strategy and rebuilding the careers website from the ground up.

I came on-board in late 2017 as the lead designer for the project. By that time, much of the UX, strategy and wireframing had already been completed, so it was my job to take the project into the next phase of visual and interaction design.

A force for you, so that you can be a force for New Zealand.

People are at the core of the Defence Force. And to attract the best people, it’s important to see and understand the world through their eyes. The revised recruitment strategy aimed to bring the world of the military, and contextualise it in the lives of potential recruits. Instead of “This is the Defence Force”, it becomes: “This is what your life could be like in a Defence Career”.

So what is it, and who is it for?

My Big Idea was a nationwide ideas competition focused on creating positive change for Australia. Taking the form of a digital hub, we asked Australians to submit ideas on ways to improve aspects of the country, based on what the community said it cared most about.

The top 100 ideas went to a judging panel, with 12 winners being brought to life with support from some of Australia’s leading organisations.

BRANCHING SITEMAP

Three services, one Force

A unique challenge of this project was how to handle the three different services - Army, Navy, Air Force. Not only do each of these services have their own brand, but they also each require a dedicated hub on the careers website. This hub would have custom content, imagery and a filtered list of jobs specific to that service.

So to make sure the website still had a focal point, we created a default section labelled simply ‘Defence Careers’. This hub acts as a foundation for the rest of the site, where each of the services is equally represented but also gives users an easier entry point into the site.

BRANDING + UI

Simple, bold, flexible

The careers platform needed to balance four brands in one - Army, Navy, Air Force, as well as the default multi-service hub. Because of this, it was important to design a digital style guide that was flexible enough to support each brand, but also provide a cohesive visual touchpoint across the website.

I decided to implement a mainly monochromatic colour palette, only using each brand's primary colour to signify calls-to-action, interaction states, or other points of interest in the page. These splashes of colour are also used as a navigational cue to reinforce where the user is in their journey.

To avoid the website becoming overly flat and two-dimensional, we introduced the silver fern pattern to be used sparingly on large dark backgrounds. This pattern is used also used as a fallback for when no images are set in the CMS.

IMAGERY

Balancing lifestyle and military

Typically, the military conjures up visions of guns, warships and explosions. But moving forward into content strategy, one of my goals was to make sure the site always felt human-focused.

Wherever possible, we made the conscious decision to stay away from any kind of stereotypical depiction, in favour of imagery that showed real people in their everyday lives in the military. This photography and the scenarios we show should help potential recruits envision what their life could really be like in the Defence Force.

VOXPOP PHOTOGRAPHY

Making it genuine

To better inform the initial website content, we decided to run a vox pop in Geelong, interviewing members of the public to find out what they think are society’s most important issues.

In addition to gather gathering useful data and insights, we also captured our interviewees with professional photography from Dave Rosendale. This imagery would later be used throughout the My Big Idea platform to represent topics, briefs, and challenges.

CMS MODULES

Modular from the ground up

With the website look & feel established, I set out to create an assortment of modular interfaces to be built into the CMS. These blocks needed to be flexible enough to provide a varied range of layouts, but also minimal enough to be built in our short production timeline.

CAREERS

Finding the right role for you

Unlike other careers websites where jobs are shown on an 'availability' basis, roles in the NZDF are always available to be browsed. Potential recruits are able to research through all possible roles in the military, with the ability to filter by specialisation, service, interest - or simply search by keyword directly.

Every role has a dedicated page that not only showcases various aspects of the career, but also provides essential information such as training, salary, benefits, and entry requirements.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Taking the leap

Once recruits are ready to hit that "Apply Now!" button, they must create a Defence Careers profile to continue with their application. This user account not only tracks their progress through the application - which can often be a lengthy process - but also keeps them in the loop with the latest recruitment news, upcoming intakes, and any events they may be interested in.

ACCOUNTS AND APPLICATION

Taking the leap

A unique challenge of this project was how to handle the three different services - Army, Navy, Air Force. Not only do each of these services have their own brand, but they also each require a dedicated hub on the careers website. This hub would have custom content, imagery and a filtered list of jobs specific to that service.

ACCOUNTS AND APPLICATION

Taking the leap

A unique challenge of this project was how to handle the three different services - Army, Navy, Air Force. Not only do each of these services have their own brand, but they also each require a dedicated hub on the careers website. This hub would have custom content, imagery and a filtered list of jobs specific to that service.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

This bun is still in the oven!

As of November 2018, this project is currently still in development, but is scheduled to launch early 2019. While unfortunately I had to leave before seeing the website through final development, I am excited to see the final product in the coming months!

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