BCL Legal is a well established, respected recruitment service, trusted by employers and candidates to consistently match the right people to the right roles. They operate through specialist regional teams all over the country and their people know their local legal networks in detail. So wherever you are and wherever you want to be, BCL will ensure your move is perfectly aligned with your aspirations.

The Challenge

One of our well-established clients, BCL Legal, asked if we could help modernise one of their two websites, as they felt they were starting to look a little dated. The goal was to create a brand new look and feel without drifting from their brand identity. Another challenge was that due to the complex nature of their multi-system backend, very little of the sites functionality could be changed.

Their standalone WordPress blog also required a complete visual overhaul, with certain features brought into the main Yii PHP site. Finally, their second site, BCL Graduates, was to be amalgamated with the new BCL Legal website and the old URL retired.

The Objectives

As the functionality couldn’t be changed, the focus was to be dominated by design from the offset. We arranged for our Project Manager and Designer to attend a series of meetings with BCL to help initially gauge how they wanted the new site to appear and as the meetings progressed we ended up with a series of wireframes and website templates that BCL loved.

As development began on the main site, the design work for the WordPress blog began simultaneously, following the exact same procedures as the main site. This allowed the developers to begin work on finalised designs without having to wait for templates they would not have to apply immediately, which helped to greatly speed up the development phase.

The Team

James Project Lead

Rob Strategy & UX

Elliot Tech Lead

Andrew Quality Assurance & Testing

What We Did

Information Architecture

We used an online program called ‘Lucid Chart’ to create a digital map of the BCL Site. This allowed us to maintain the layout perfectly and ensure that nothing was forgotten while we worked on the wireframes. The complicated nature of the large site meant this was a labourious job, but the planning was worth it.

UX, Wireframes & Proto-typing

Working with BCL, James and Rob drew up some wireframes which were then recreated online with Axure. This process ensured the BCL team’s needs for the design were met in the best possible way.

Design

The wireframes were then made into a fully functioning site by our lead developer on the project. Many small but important aspects were incorporated into the design of the BCL website to maintain the theme of the company and create the best possible user experience.

Added ability to highlight your favourite jobs for quick reference in future.

Detailed Job search allows users to narrow down the search criteria to fit anything from location to legal specialisation

Favourited jobs appear in a personal shortlist which is accessed using cookies meaning users don’t need to sign in to see them.

Quick access widgets added across the site allow users to navigate to point of interest tucked away on other pages.

Results

Following the redesign, the already popular website has had over 95,000 individual users due to the simplicity and improved usability of the design. Although the back end remained the same and existing structures remained intact for ease of use for BCL, feedback from visitors was extremely positive regarding the new site, especially the simplification of the application form, which no longer requires users to go through the long, arduous job sign-up process. In fact, job streamer registrations are up by 59%.

Also, with the removal of the old mobile site in exchange for the improved responsive website, BCL have seen a significant increase in mobile traffic to the site.

“The guys are great, they have a brilliant working relationship with our team and can be relied upon to deliver every time.”

Emma Anthony, BCL Legal

Get In Touch

Whether you have a specific need or just want to discover what’s possible, we would love to hear from you. Contacting us is super easy:

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