The Welcome email template: three first steps and one button, 640px wide. Written for customers, but three first steps is three first steps.
HIRING
& RECRUITING!
A job post people stop scrolling for, a careers page with a page per role, a form that keeps the applications, and a confetti GIF on day one. One brand, one file, no recruitment agency.
The broadsheet hiring classifieds post template: a newspaper nameplate, the main role as a display advertisement and a column of small notices. The same Creative studio kit is applied and the spot colour and name change.
WANTED!
THE BRIEF
Paperplane needs a junior designer by spring
Paperplane is a small branding studio in Brooklyn: Brands with a point of view. It is not real. It is the Creative studio example brand kit inside PopCraft, orange and violet, so you can follow along with exactly what we used.
They need a junior designer and, while they are at it, a part-time studio manager. Last time they hired, the job post was a screenshot of a Google Doc, applications arrived in four inboxes and one DM, and the new hire's first day began with nobody remembering to say hello. Design studio. Embarrassing. This time, every piece looks like Paperplane.
2
hiring post templates
1
careers page, a page per role
3
welcome-to-the-team GIF cards
0
screenshots of Google Docs
THE STORY SO FAR
As reported in the small ads
The whole hire, from post to welcome, told the way the classifieds template would tell it. Each notice names the template or feature behind it.
The Paperplane Gazette
An example studioClassified · Situations vacant
SITUATION VACANT. Junior designer, Brooklyn studio, four days a week. Must like orange. Apply by the 30th.
→ Hiring post · LinkedIn size
ALSO WANTED. Studio manager, part-time. A person who can find the good scissors. Details within.
→ Classifieds post · square and 4:5
FULL PARTICULARS of every role, the pay, the hours and the people, may be read at our careers page.
→ Careers page · a page per role
APPLY IN WRITING by form only. No phone calls. Portfolio links gratefully received and actually read.
→ Form · kept in a database
POSITION FILLED. Welcome to the team, R. Our thanks to all 212 applicants. Yes, really, 212.
→ Welcome GIF · 480 × 480
STEP 1
A hiring post in the studio's colours
The Hiring post is deliberately plain: the role, the team it sits in, and where to apply, on a 1200 × 627 canvas that LinkedIn and X both like. A NEW badge does the shouting. Apply the brand kit from ⋯ › Brand kit… and it is Paperplane orange; type Junior designer, Studio team, 4 days and paperplane.studio/jobs into the three text fields.
Export a PNG and post it. For every other network and size, the social media use case has the rest.
The hiring post template, 1200 by 627 for LinkedIn and X. From ⋯, Brand kit… opens; the Creative studio example kit (Paperplane, orange and violet) is applied, and the post takes its colours and fonts.
STEP 2
Or set it like a 1950s newspaper
The Broadsheet hiring classifieds post is the one people screenshot. It is a newspaper's classified page: a nameplate, a Situations vacant bar, the main role as a display ad with the work, the place, the pay and the interview spelled out, ringed in red pencil, and a column of small notices for the other roles. Black ink and one spot colour on newsprint, square with a 4:5 cut.
It was written for a four-person software company in Lisbon, so the sample ad mentions tree-sitter. Change it. The kit swaps the spot colour and the name; the joke survives any job.
The broadsheet hiring classifieds post template: a newspaper nameplate, the main role as a display advertisement and a column of small notices. The same Creative studio kit is applied and the spot colour and name change.
STEP 3
A careers page, built from a table
Paperplane starts from the Careers page template, applies the kit, and writes the hero: Come make brands with a point of view. The rest is already there: why join, how the team works, the values, the perks, the open roles and how hiring goes, at desktop, laptop, tablet and phone.
The roles are a collection called Roles: a table with the title, team, location, type, salary, a summary, what the job does, what it asks for, and an Apply link, one row per role. The open-roles list is bound to it, and the Role screen is a page for each record, at its own address. Next spring, a new role is a new row, not a new page. The publishing page shows what goes online.
The website template with nothing selected. Collections in the Design panel opens the file's content: a Posts collection with a title and a reading time for each record, and under each field's name the token a text says it with. A record is added and its title typed into the new row.
The Careers page template in Design. Both screens are in view at every width, then the camera moves to the open roles on the desktop Careers screen, which list the Roles collection, and to the Role screen: the job, what it asks for, the pay and an Apply button.
STEP 4
An application form that keeps what it gets
Each role's Apply button links wherever its row says, so if you already use an applicant tracker, paste its link and you are done. Paperplane does not, so they keep it in PopCraft: on a role's page, draw the form: name, email, a link to your portfolio, a few lines on why. Select each layer, open the Design panel's Web section and pick a form control. Mark the email Required, and send After sending to a thank-you screen.
Then connect a database. In the clip it is Neon, set up in a click, and the submissions are rows you can read. Supabase works the same way. The integrations page covers both. Not on the list: CV uploads, applicant stages and rejection emails. That is an applicant tracking system's job.
The coming-soon page, published, with its email sign-up marked as a form and a Neon account connected. In the Publish dialog, under Database, New Neon database is clicked: a project named after the site is made in the Neon account and its database attached, and it is listed. Three visitors then sign up on the site (sent by the recording, as the site sends them). Submissions is clicked and a table shows the three, newest first, with when each was sent and its email.
STEP 5
Publish once, point everything at it
Click Publish, type paperplane-jobs, and the careers page is online. The hiring posts point at that address. When the junior role is filled, delete its row and publish again: the role's page goes with it, and the previous version is still there if you need it back.
The website template in the editor, signed in. The Publish button in the top bar opens the Publish dialog. An address is typed, Publish is clicked, the files upload, and the dialog shows the site's link with Version 1 marked Live. The published site is then opened on its own: the landing page shows, and clicking Pricing in its navigation goes to the pricing page.
A website that is already published as Version 1. The headline is changed on the canvas, the Publish dialog is opened from the ⋯ menu and Publish again makes Version 2, which goes live. Make live on Version 1 puts the earlier version back; Take offline stops the site; Make live on Version 2 puts the new one online again. The site is then opened on its own and shows the new headline.
STEP 6
Day one: say welcome properly
The new hire starts Monday. Before she has found the good scissors, the studio chat gets a Welcome to the team card: a 480 × 480, four-second looping GIF with confetti tumbling round the words. There are three: Welcome to the team! in confetti, Glad you're here! as a quiet line drawing, and Welcome aboard! in cut paper.
Change the words to her name, export a GIF, drop it in Slack. The animated GIF cards page has the hundreds of others, including Congrats on the new job! for the colleague who is leaving to go somewhere else.
The Welcome to the team confetti GIF card in Animate, 480 by 480. Space plays it: confetti tumbles round the words and the message hops.
DAY ONE, CONTINUED
The rest of the welcome
THE CARD
AWW!Great job, team! GIFs for when the first project ships. They come in confetti, kinetic type and pop art.
THE CERTIFICATE
TA-DA!The Certificate print template, for surviving probation. Print it with ⌘P.
The Love you more card in its Doodle theme, in Animate. The export button in the transport bar opens Export animation; GIF is picked as the format, showing its shared palette, dither and loop forever settings and the summary of the size, frame count and estimated file size.
The newsletter email template with its page selected. The web export is opened and Email HTML is picked; Export downloads one HTML file made of nested tables with inline styles, with a picture for each part a table cannot say. Opened in a browser on its own, the file shows the newsletter as a mail client would.
WHAT YOU SKIP
A small hire, before and after
| THE USUAL HIRE | IN POPCRAFT |
|---|---|
| A screenshot of a doc, posted as the job ad | The Hiring post, in the studio's brand |
| A careers page builder or a job board listing | A page per role, built from a table, published |
| Applications in four inboxes and a DM | One form, one database |
| A stock GIF of a cat on day one | A welcome card with her name on it |
FROM ZERO
Six moves from vacancy to welcome
- 1
Apply the brand
The studio's brand kit on every hiring file, so the post and the page match. - 2
Write the post
The Hiring post: one role, where it sits, where to apply. 1200 × 627 for LinkedIn and X. - 3
Set the classifieds
The broadsheet classifieds post: the main role ringed in red pencil, the others as small notices. - 4
Build the careers page
Start from the Careers page template: roles as a collection, a page per role, an Apply link per role, or a form and a database to keep it. - 5
Publish and share
One address for the careers page; the posts point at it. - 6
Say welcome
A welcome-to-the-team GIF in the group chat, and a welcome email if you want one.
BEING HONEST
It is not an ATS.
PopCraft makes the posts, the careers page, the form and the welcome. It does not track candidates, schedule interviews or post to job boards for you, and the careers template sends Apply wherever you point it. For a studio hiring twice a year, that is plenty. For a company hiring two hundred, keep your ATS and use PopCraft for the bits candidates see.
ASKED & ANSWERED
Questions, answered
Is there a careers page template?
Yes: the Careers page. Why join, values, perks, the open roles and how hiring works, then a page for each role with the job, what it asks for, the pay and an Apply button. The roles are a collection you edit as a table, and each role's Apply link is a field on its row, so it can point at your applicant tracker or at a form of your own. A new role is a new row.
Where do applications go?
A published form sends somewhere only if you attach a database: Neon or Supabase, connected from PopCraft. Then you read the submissions there. PopCraft is not an applicant tracking system: no stages, no scorecards, no emails to candidates.
Can people upload a CV through the form?
The docs describe text fields, choices and buttons as form controls, not file uploads, so plan on asking for a link to a CV or portfolio instead.
Is the classifieds post written for a design studio?
It was written for a four-person software company in Lisbon, with the pay, the equity and a paid pairing afternoon spelled out. Every word is text you change; the newspaper layout, the red pencil and the small notices stay.
What sizes are the hiring posts?
The Hiring post is 1200 × 627, which suits LinkedIn and X. The broadsheet classifieds post is square with a 4:5 cut for Instagram.
Can I send the welcome GIF in Slack?
Yes. The welcome cards are 480 × 480, four-second loops sized for messaging apps. Export as GIF and drop it in any chat.
THE MANUAL, FOR THE DETAILS
WANTED! YOUR TURN.
Job posts, a careers page you build from a table, and the welcome card for day one. Free to start, in your browser or on your Mac.