Recruitment website design for Ellis Mason

Website design with kerpow! #worksuperhero

Client: Ellis Mason

Completed: April 2019

Superhero-themed image with the message “Making the right match. Everytime. #worksuperpower” and a “multi-tasker” label

Teal launch graphic reading “BOOM! We’ve launched, visit www.ellismason.com” with a “Let’s go” button

Child in a red superhero mask and cape beside the headline “Ellis Mason Recruitment. Let’s discover your super power.”

Hand holding a smartphone displaying the Ellis Mason recruitment website homepage

Child in superhero outfit with arms outstretched under the headline “Calling all admin super heroes. We think administrators rock.”

Insight

Our brief was simple: rewrite the rules of recruitment website design.

Ellis Mason is a Hertfordshire recruitment agency, placing candidates at every level across a wide range of office specialisms. With years of industry experience, they know their market inside-out — and they were bored of looking like everyone else. Their old site felt dated, and the “grey template” approach that dominates recruitment websites just didn’t reflect who they are. They wanted something sharper, braver, and far more memorable.

Branding

From day one, we led with concept. Great recruitment website design isn’t just about layout — it’s about building a story people remember.

Ellis Mason’s standout strength is how they see candidates: not as CVs, but as individuals with personality, potential and character. That sparked the idea of uncovering strengths like “superpowers” — alter egos, hidden talents, that defining edge. It’s the thinking that shaped our brand design and became the creative backbone for the brand and website, giving life to #worksuperpower.

The rebrand

The Ellis Mason logo had a subtle refresh to work harder in digital use — mainly to sit neatly in the header (it previously lived in a square that dominated the layout). We kept their established colours and fonts, and put the emphasis where it mattered: imagery, messaging, and the overall feel.

We developed two tiers of imagery:

Hero “superpower” shots to anchor the concept and create impact.

A secondary set of metaphorical images to represent specific skills and traits — a juggler for multitasking, a neon “Do something different” sign for motivation, and so on.

While Union 10 can commission bespoke photography, this project used curated stock imagery. That still takes craft: the homepage hero (a girl punching forward) had the right stance, palette, and attitude — so the concept landed instantly.

Website design

The website brought the concept to life — pairing copywriting and visuals in a bold, energetic layout that still feels professional.

We designed a bespoke “superpower” icon (with a flash detail) to signpost specialisms, and introduced subtle comic-book cues through dotted textures, flashes, and punchy CTA panels. The key was balance: enough fun and personality to feel different, without losing the credibility Ellis Mason needs as a recruitment agency.

Website development

Effective Recruitment website design also needs the right functionality — job feeds, filtering, and search.

Ellis Mason already used Firefish Software as their CRM, and it worked well for their recruitment process. The issue was flexibility: it didn’t give us the creative freedom needed for the main website experience. So we took a best-of-both approach:

WordPress powers the main site, giving full control over design and content.

Firefish remains for the Jobs section, keeping their existing workflow intact.

We built flexible page templates so the team could create landing pages quickly (ideal for PPC and social campaigns), and we made site-wide CTAs easy to manage by building a single control point — one update, reflected everywhere. It’s a small detail, but it’s exactly the kind of thinking that makes a bespoke build more efficient day-to-day.

Support and maintenance

As always, we trained the Ellis Mason team so they could manage content confidently and keep pages optimised for SEO. We also supplied a Brand Guidelines document covering logo usage, iconography, colours and typography — plus ongoing support for social and marketing collateral when needed.

Written by Jane Comar + Reviewed by James Hofton

Last updated: January 14, 2026

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