CV Maker

The client

CV Maker is an online tool and resource platform that helps job applicants all over the world to level up their CVs or resumes. Designed for users with limited design knowledge, CV Maker offers a wide variety of templates and tips, increasing a candidate’s chances of securing their next job.

The challenge

CV Maker approached BB Agency to help them stand out from the crowd and create a more memorable brand experience. Initially, this meant a visual identity refresh and update — but after our extensive UX research and testing revealed some enormous opportunities for improvement in their product, we got to work on a building the totally new CV Maker, head-to-toe.

The solution

Synthesizing our customer research and usability data, we defined a series of key insights for CV Maker and recommendations for how to improve the overall user experience, the core functionality of the product, the pricing model and the brand look and feel.

We designed a new visual identity, CV Maker platform, website, CV templates, and a comprehensive design system for all touchpoints.

Strategic brand development

Based on our customer research, data analysis, and user interviews we’ve defined our key personas. These personas proceeded to form the basis of the new identity. We knew that the brand needed to communicate to people of every race, ethnicity, age, socio-economic status, and national origin.

CV Maker’s visual identity has been completely transformed with a new typeface, colour palette, and illustration style to breathe life and personality into the brand.

We’ve considered both digital and print applications including social media, ads, posters, billboards, and CV templates; helping CV Maker to prepare for the next phase of its brand development.

Research and customer experience.

Customer Research
We carried out a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis based on data within customer’s CVs and follow-up interviews. Using this data, we created four user personas for CV Maker allowing us to better respond to the different challenges and goals of their typical customers. These personas proceeded to form the bedrock of both our strategic brand development and user experience design.

Usability Reporting
As well as understanding the customers on an emotional level, we collated and analysed extensive information about how people were using the website. This included retention and referral data, charting typical user flows, creating heatmaps of the most engaging areas of the site, and examining the stages of the process where users most often quit.

Key Insights
We defined a series of key insights for CV Maker and recommendations for how to improve the overall user experience, the core functionality of the product, the pricing model and the brand look and feel.

The new CV Maker.

In a matter of months, we completely overhauled the resume building tool; modernising the experience, designing hundreds of templates and introducing a host of new features such as interactive previews, drag and drop interactivity, industry-specific phrase suggestions, and customizable blocks. Grammar checking and tone detection were added to aid non-native English speakers, and low-density templates were designed to help those with less work experience to fill the page more confidently.

We also expanded the CV Maker offer, adding a jobs board, application tracking, personal microsites and more.

Bringing it all together.

The UX issues on the homepage have been addressed with a new layout, offering users a preview of the product before they commit.

We adapted CV maker’s pricing model to offer a free version as well as the premium subscription, to retain more customers and limit abandonment at the paywall.

On top of these enhancements, the visual identity has also been completely transformed with a new typeface, colour palette and illustration style to breathe life and personality into the brand.

Systemizing everything.

We created a comprehensive design system consisting of guidelines on photography, CV templates, cover letters, typography, colour usage, iconography, components and modules. This will allow CV maker team to maintain their visual identity across all platforms and touchpoints.