Entered a system that was fundamentally broken. India had more than 4.5 lakh design professionals, but hiring for design was still treated like hiring for sales or operations. Keywords mattered more than portfolios. Speed mattered more than cultural fit. Design talent was being mismatched, undervalued, and misunderstood. What the ecosystem needed was not another job board. It needed a system designed for design.
After the new identity and platform were launched, the shift was immediate.
1. Designers trusted the process because it spoke their language.
2. Hiring teams saw better shortlists with clearer intent.
3. Retention improved because placements were made with context, not guesswork.
4. And most importantly, design hiring started feeling intentional, not transactional.
That is the power of system-led branding.
When clarity becomes visible, trust becomes natural.
India has over 4.5 lakh designers across disciplines.
But hiring systems treated them as interchangeable resumes.
Most recruiters lacked design literacy.
Most job portals optimized for keywords, not thinking.
The problem wasn’t talent availability.
It was the absence of a recruitment system built for design.
The brief was complex.
Create a platform designers trust.
Create a service companies rely on.
It had to work across 40+ design disciplines, multiple industries, and varying seniority levels.
The solution couldn’t feel like HR.
It had to feel like design.
Our analysis revealed a core truth.
Designers don’t fail interviews.
Systems fail designers.
Key gaps were clear
portfolios were not evaluated contextually
cultural fit was ignored
recruiters lacked design understanding
speed was prioritised over quality
We positioned HireDesigners as India’s first recruitment agency by designers, for designers.
Our strategy revolved around three principles
Purpose: respect design thinking and process
Design: build modular systems that scale
Tone: honest, confident, and community led
The goal was not volume.
The goal was relevance.
The identity was built to feel decisive and neutral.
Confident without being loud.
Structured without being rigid.
A grid-based system allowed the brand to adapt across 40+ disciplines while staying consistent.
The identity behaved like a framework, not a logo.
Design should never fade into the background.
The color palette was intentionally bright and bold.
It signaled
energy in a crowded market
clarity in noisy hiring conversations
presence across industries
Color became a declaration.
Design matters here.
HireDesigners was built on five core elements
Design literacy, recruiters who are designers
Portfolio context, not keyword filtering
Cultural fit, not role filling
Modularity, scalable across disciplines
Transparency, honest conversations
These elements created a hiring system designers could trust.

a community of 300,000+ designers formed organically

coverage expanded to 40+ design disciplines

partnerships grew to 500+ companies

retention rates improved as matches became intentional
The system didn’t just place designers.
It elevated how design was hired.
Post rebrand, the impact was immediate.
HireDesigners became more than a recruitment agency.
It became a lens on design careers, studio culture, and industry realities.
For Beryl, this project proved that even hiring systems can be designed with empathy and intelligence.
HireDesigners shows that design hiring cannot be automated blindly.
It must be contextual.
Human.
Designed.
When recruitment respects design, teams perform better and cultures strengthen.
Recruitment is a system problem.
Design thinking brings structure, empathy, and clarity to that system.
By applying design principles to hiring, HireDesigners created trust on both sides of the table.
Each layer was built to scale with the ecosystem.
brand strategy and positioning
naming and category definition
visual identity and grid system
website UX and platform logic
community and content framework
With over fifteen years of experience building complex systems, Beryl understands how to apply design thinking beyond products.
Our approach blends branding, UX, psychology, and systems thinking to solve real industry problems.
Designers don’t need shortcuts.
They need understanding.
HireDesigners reminded us that when systems are built with empathy, communities grow naturally.
All recruiters are designers, not generalist HR professionals.
More than forty disciplines across digital, product, spatial, and visual design.
Because design outcomes depend heavily on team dynamics and thinking styles.
Yes. The system is modular and built to grow across industries and geographies.
Because resumes alone cannot evaluate thinking, process, or creativity.

Sharda Containers

Oona

Watson
At Beryl, we don’t just build brands. We design systems that shape industries. If your challenge is complex and human at the same time, we would love to collaborate.