Every new name brand using .design is exciting news for us at .design HQ, but we were particularly thrilled to learn about agoda.design launching. This is because it was actually moving from agodadesign.com to agoda.design! Cheers for a more succinct, interesting, readable, and designful URL like agoda.design!
The site moved from agodadesign.com to agoda.design and was already full of content and engaging from the start.
Of course, our community of designers and businesses using .design is now over 100,000 strong, and only a small percentage of them are name brands like Agoda. We track our name brand usage because it shows the credibility that we have all built together. The only reason that Agoda feels comfortable using agoda.design, or Airbnb continues to grow airbnb.design into a vibrant destination, is because of the wider community of .design’ers. Like any company that has mastered content marketing, they are speaking to their target audience of designers and design-minded creators where they are already at: on .design domains.
Agoda.design clearly fits into the pattern of large companies using a .design site to recruit for their design departments. However, they do not just fall into the pattern set by such notable companies as Facebook and Uber, but they lead (see facebook.design, uber.design). This is because they go beyond the pattern set by others, which tends to showcase a company’s goals, how the design department contributes, and introduces actual designers. Agoda.design speaks to the practical sides of employment too! They mention their benefits, their corporate focus on health and wellbeing, and how a position at Agoda will help you develop your career. They sell you not only on the big picture idea of working at Agoda but help you imagine how it will impact you on a daily, practical level.
Parts of the site link out to a legacy recruiting site for the rest of the country. It is clear from that site that the agoda.design site was necessary to speak to designers in a language and mode that they appreciated. While the legacy site is built out and functions for all Agoda departments, the agoda.design site bolsters the design department’s ability to claim design excellence. The agoda.design site is functional, thoughtful, and beautiful in a way that the legacy site simply is not.
We’re excited to see Agoda make the switch to .design. They are already leading the growing trend of using .design to recruit. Assuming the Agoda.design is successful at recruiting, they may have the opportunity to make some fundamental changes to how the rest of the company recruits and those legacy systems involved!