30 Stunning Design Styles For Your Recruitment Agency’s Website

So you’ve decided you need a fresh, new design for your recruitment agency’s website but where do you start? Where do you get inspiration from? Competitors? Websites you use in your personal or business life? Client sites? There are so many options out there but we decided to make it a little easier by giving you a run through of some website design styles that you should take a look at before moving ahead. Some design styles will suit some sectors more than others so balance your personality and tastes with what your clients and candidates expect. 

One admission is that there are more than 30 design styles here but 30 seemed like a nice round number and I’ll probably add to this over time anyway. 

Asymmetrical Layouts

This style breaks the traditional grid structures we typically see with websites and in everyday life, giving you a rather dynamic feel. It can be a little jarring as we’re like seeing things laid out in a symmetrical way. It is definitely attention grabbing and eye-catching. Think of sections and images shifted slightly to one side, separating the page into an odd number of sectors. 

Here’s some examples

Bento Box

Compartmentalised layouts for organised content presentation. I’m not sure how well this would work for the whole of a recruitment website but it could be used in parts. I’d suggest using this style on pages such as blogs, image galleries, work for us sections, team pages, etc. Anything that mixes a lot of images with little text sections. 

Here’s some examples 

Broken Grids

I’m not really a fan of this style, it reminds me of early 90’s websites. And although I have a lot of respect for the very beginning of the internet and the frontier-like sense of adventure they had, I’m just not a fan of this style which is very reminiscent of the era. I think it’s just a bit messy and haphazard but have a look at least. Essentially it’s over lapping blocks of text and images

Here’s some examples 

Brutalism

It was a breakaway trend, emerging from the boredom and frustration of standardised website design. It’s characterised by stark, asymmetrical, nonconformist visuals, and a distinct lack of hierarchy and order. Colour wise they tend to use black for the majority of the site with an accent colour for highlights. I see it used by a lot of design agencies so maybe worth a shot if you recruit for media owners, advertising agencies, media agencies, etc. 

Here’s some examples 

Colour Blocking

As it says on the tin, large, contrasting colour blocks for visual impact. Try and picture 4-5 blocks lined up, all different colours or coloured blocks laying on top of each other. Pretty versatile and works across most sectors in my opinion. Just pick a colour palette that suits your industry and I don’t see any issue why this wouldn’t work in any niche. 

Here’s some examples

Corporate Elegance

You can’t really go wrong with this style. It’s a little conservative and it does run the risk of blending in with so many other recruitment agency websites but sometimes blending in isn’t a bad thing. It’s refined visuals, luxurious colour schemes (think deep, royal blues, greys, rich luxurious reds and black), and subtle animations. Brilliant for more conservative industries such as finance, accountancy, insurance, luxury, etc. 

Here’s some examples

Data Driven

I guess it goes without saying but we want to see statistics, charts, and infographics to showcase your recruitment agency's expertise. Great for, of course data led industries such as finance, data, technology, etc. Maybe some dark green, contrasted with a little green, black, Matrix style animations, etc. 

Here’s some examples 

Duotone/Tritone

A limited colour palette of two or three shades for a striking visual effect. Most websites verge into 4-6 different complementary colours. Anymore than this and it just looks messy and confusing. This style always gives me a bit of a punk or jazz feel for some reason. Works well with sport, fashion, art, music if you recruit for any of those industries. 

Here’s some examples 

Flat Design

A little staid for my liking and it always reminds me of template websites. Simplified elements, bright colours, and long shadows for a friendly aesthetic. Have a look if you like but I wouldn’t recommend it as it can look cheap, basic and boring unless you have a great graphic designer. I’d hate working on a website like this with a good designer. 

Here’s some examples 

Gamification

A lot of recruitment agencies are already using gamification tools to stir a little competition between their consultants and reward them for the most daily phone calls, most interviews booked in a week, etc. This brings the trend to your website, making your website more interactive and engaging your audience with little mini-games. I’m not fully sure how well this would work with the recruitment sector and it might simply distract candidates and clients but it’s an option none the less. Maybe one reserved for those recruitment agencies that actually recruit for the gaming or gambling sector. 

Here’s some examples

Geometric

Personally I love this style. You’ll see the bold use of shapes, patterns, and gradients for a contemporary feel. Now it’s a designer's dream and a developer's nightmare. These websites will always look stunning and grab the users attention but they can be tricky to develop for and making sure everything lines up on various mobile devices can prove hard. Sector wise I think architecture, real estate - anything that reminds you of shapes and lines. Maybe construction at a push but it may feel too modern and contemporary and may push the boundaries a little too much.

Here’s some examples 

Glassmorphism 

I was speaking with Daniel Fox at The London Rec Expo, who heads up marketing for Mercury. We were actually discussing glassmorphism and that conversation prompted this blog post - so thanks Daniel! It’s translucent elements with blurs and subtle gradients for a frosted glass effect. Would work well for application UI or websites that specialise in the recruitment technology for example. It’s a corporate version of retrowave. Also reminds of a combined Microsoft and Apple style. 

Here’s some examples 

Glitch Art

Deliberate distortion of visuals for an edgy, tech-savvy feel. I’m thinking of crypto and blockchain recruitment businesses. Maybe robotics too. 

Here’s some examples 

Grid Lines

I really like the style and have toyed with using it on my site. Essentially think of a Mondrain painting but without all the colours. It’s typically blocks of different sizes, with thick black lines in between. I think it stops people skipping over content, they're more likely to check the content of each box to see if it’s relevant to what they’re looking for. 

Here’s some examples 

Hand-drawn / Sketch Style

Adds a personal, human touch and a sense of warmth. Similar to illustration but think more non-digital art supplies but on a digital canvas. Pretty unique and I never see any recruitment websites venturing into this area. Would suit a small, lifestyle recruitment business that wants to sell based on a personal touch. 

Here’s some examples 

High-Contrast

Strong contrast between text and background. Brilliant for readability and accessibility. Basically pick two contrasting colours and use them as the text / background colours. Done. 

Here’s some examples 

Illustrative

A very playful, childlike style. It was all the rage a few years ago and still very popular. I think pretty much every SaaS company in the world chose this style at one point. It did become a little overused so try to be more creative and move away from that particular SaaS style. Think of custom illustrations to convey concepts playfully and make a unique statement. You’ll definitely need a brilliant graphic designer to achieve this style. I would want someone who has spent their childhood doodling and studying art at school to really get this right. 

Here’s some examples 

Isometric

We’re talking 3D-like projections of objects and scenes for a captivating visual dimension. You’ll need large images for this style, with each object or scene taking up nearly half of each page section. Works well in tech, electronics, telecoms, energy, retail, commerce, in fact a fair few sectors.  

Here’s some examples

Large Typography

I love this and wish I used it more on my website. Easy-to-read font sizes, particularly for mobile users. We’re just talking big text everywhere. You have to be very good with words to deliver this well. If you do opt for this then I would recommend hiring a very good copywriter. 

Here’s some examples 

Layering

A great way to add depth and texture to a 2-D screen. It’s all about adding one layer on top of another, for example you have your background colour, then add a shape image on top of this, then add a photograph image on top of this, then add some text on top of this. 

Here’s some examples 

Maximalism

It has everything! Over-the-top visuals, rich textures, and a "more is more" philosophy. Very similar to brutalism but busier. It’s dirty, gritty, rough and a bit dangerous. I’m not sure recruitment is quite ready for it yet. 

Here’s some examples 

Memphis Design

Retro influence with bold patterns, clashing colours, and quirky elements. I’d avoid it if you work in a corporate sphere or if you’re a large recruitment agency. I’m talking shapes, triangles, circles and squares, white, bright pink, turquoise, yellow, pretty messy, scattered, all over the place. Any business that is pushing the envelope in their particular niche, Suited for businesses who are really doing something different, not just saying they are. 

Here’s some examples 

Microinteractions

Small, delightful animations on buttons, icons, etc. to enhance the user experience. I’d expect this from most websites made in the last 5 years really. It’s nothing special, think of fade ins and fade outs of components as they enter or leave the view, enlarged images when you hover over them, animated buttons when you click them and so on. I think most recruitment websites should look at this option no matter the over style you choose. 

Here’s some examples 

Minimalism

I’m a big fan of minimalism and it’s the direction I tried to go with when it came to Abstraction Labs, at least initially. I then added a bunch of content for SEO purposes and it’s turned into cluttered minimalist, if that’s a thing? Anyway, think clean lines, ample whitespace, a real focus on typography and content. There shouldn’t be lots of content and the content should be laid out in a sparse and pleasing manner. Colour wise we’re looking at just a few colours, typically white, black and one highlight colour. 

Here’s some examples 

Minimal Nostalgia

A nod to the advertisements of yesteryear and when I say yesteryear I’m pretty much talking about anything from the 1920s-1980s. I could only really see this working with a select few industries and not sure it’s really relevant for recruitment firms but if you’re in a niche such as FMCG, advertising, music then it could work well. 

Here’s some examples 

Natural & Organic Textures

Lots of earth tone colours, browns, greens, mellow yellows, soft pinks, dark oranges and so on. A great option for companies that recruit for sectors such as beauty, environmental, renewable energy, agriculture, etc. 

Here’s some examples - https://dribbble.com/search/organic-website-design 

Neo-Brutalism

Great options for more design led industries such as media, marketing, advertising, sales, etc. You’re looking at raw, bold design with a focus on functionality and stark contrasts. It’s big bold colours and a lot of them, orange, lilac, lime or neon green, pink, etc. We’ve got squares, maybe black and white images to contract against the array of colours. Great for verticals such as marketing, data, human resources, talent acquisition, etc.  

Here’s some examples

Neumorphism

More suited to applications rather than websites due to the layout and the design focus on elements and components such as buttons, switches. Soft, subtle UI elements with embossed or debossed effects. Think ultra modern, futuristic, soft palettes, gentle purples, light blues, dark greys. Would love to see it more on websites but rarely do. Would work well in industries such as tech, design, maybe ad tech, e-commerce potentially, maybe marketing. If you recruit for digital creatives then this would be a great option.

Here’s some examples

Organic Shapes

A fancy term for circles, ovals, waves and curves. It’s very playful and soothing. They add movement, without distracting you from the text. There’s a tonne of great, free organic shape generators out there that can help create SVGs you can use on your website. A universal style that could work for any niche. 

Here’s some examples

Panavision

Could probably be lumped with retro but a very cinematographic and 1950’s retro style. A pretty niche design style and you won’t find too many sources out there or you’ll need to do some digging at least.  

Here’s some examples

Parallax Scrolling

Bridging the gap between a design style and a style component but I love parallax scrolling but it can be very hard to do, code wise. It can also be tricky ensuring it works well across all screen device sizes. Parallax scrolling is a technique whereby as the user scrolls down the page, the site’s background images move past the view more slowly than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth.

Here’s some examples

Retro

Pretty much any design style from 1980’s back to the dawn of time I suppose. Most recently we’ve seen a big focus on the 1980’s so focus on that era. 

Here’s some examples

Sci-Fi

Maybe a possibility for anyone who recruits for the media, specifically the TV & film industry or maybe space recruitment. And yes space recruitment is a thing but they probably call it something more professional than “space”, like “aerospace” or something. We’re talking bright colours and metal tones, maybe with a hint of 80s retro. Or maybe more contemporary sci-fi so black, dark blues, greys, greens with grids, geometrics patterns, tables, dials, etc. 

Here’s some examples

Scrapbook Aesthetic

This style probably first emerged 10-15 years ago and has started to come back again as we always see with trends. Basically it looks like a scrapbook with sections, pieces of text and images seemingly “pasted” all over the page. Think yellowish pages, faded colours reminiscent of a fairy tale book, mixing photographs with illustrations. 

Here’s some examples 

Swiss Style

I’m a big fan of the Swiss style as it plays with minimalism and one of my favourite watches is a Mondraine - think of the traditional Swiss railway clock. We’re talking precision, grids, clearly defined lines, organised layouts, and neutral colour palettes.We’re going to throw in big headers and clever use of space. It can be a little cluttered in places but I want to see some empty space on the page too. If you’ve ever read the magazine Monacle then that’s very Swiss style. 

Here’s some examples

Text Only

A very daring style and I would really advise having a brilliant web designer and copywriter to fully do this justice, otherwise it will just look cheap and unprofessional. The website simply focuses on text and nothing else, so your content needs to be engaging to grab the visitors attention and keep them interested. It might also damage possible SEO gains by not including images but when done well it’s worth it. This would work well in any industry that focuses on content, so recruitment agencies with editorial niches would be a brilliant choice. 

Here’s some examples

Ultra-Minimalism

Seems a bit cheeky to include this here as we have already discussed minimalism but as you can guess ultra-minimalism is even more minimalist than minimalism. You get the idea. 

Here’s some examples

Y2K

I was actively using the internet from around 1998 onwards so I was there when this design style first came around. I tend to find design styles always come back every 20-40 years. This style started making an emergence again a few years back and is still cropping up today. Personally I’m not a big fan and I don’t really think it would work for most recruitment agencies. Also I can see this fad disappearing within the next couple of years so I think it would be a risk choosing something like this. 

Here’s some examples

Not an overall design style but style components…

Experimental Navigation

Traditionally websites carry their navigation bar at the top of the website but I’m starting to see website designers play around with this idea and move the navigation to the side of the screen or maybe have a large image in the centre of the screen with navigation links around it. 

Horizontal & Vertical Text 

The large majority of websites stick to horizontal text as that’s what we’re used to in our everyday lives, books, magazines, road signs, shops and so on all use horizontal text to communicate with us. An option is to mix horizontal text with vertical text. 

Kinetic Typography

In layman terms - moving text. I think this is a must have for most websites. Use it sparingly though. There are a load of different types such as typewriter text, fade in / fade out, text that slides into place, horizontal and vertical scrolling text, hover effects that morph the text, 

Here’s some examples

Drag Interaction

Making your website more interactive. Drag interactions allow website visitors to access different sections, components or pages by dragging the view port to one side. 

Cinemagraphs 

Cinemagraphs are high-quality videos or GIFs that run on a smooth, continuous loop. They could be at a high speed rate, so a series of still images showing for a half second each on a loop or a 2-5 second video on loop. They’re an easy way to add some classy distinction. They’re arty and I love them! 

Here’s some examples

Colorblind-Friendly

Colour palettes that accommodate different types of colour blindness. All recruitment sites should allow for this as accessibility is a cornerstone of the internet and should be a pillar of the recruitment sector. 

Mobile-First

All websites, including recruitment websites should be built first on mobile, then building up to large desktop screens. That’s how we do things at Abstraction Labs. This design style prioritises the experience on smaller screens.

Animation & Transitions

Smooth animations to guide the user and enhance interactions.

Dark Mode

Clients will often be visiting your website during the hours of 9am-5pm but candidates are often visiting after work, so an optional dark mode toggle is a great option.

If you need help with your recruitment website design then just reach out for a chat with us.