Side × Gemeos

Side is Randstad’s online temp staffing platform. It connects 2,000+ companies with 300,000 candidates across France. After being acquired by Randstad in 2023 and going through a full rebrand, Side trusted Gemeos to redesign its website.

Webflow Redesign in 8 Weeks for Randstad Group’s Staffing Platform

Side is Randstad Group’s online temp staffing platform, connecting more than 2,000 companies and 300,000 candidates across France. After Randstad acquired the brand in 2023 and rolled out a full rebrand, Side needed a website that matched its new identity — and it needed it fast.

Gemeos handled the full redesign: art direction aligned with the new branding, collaborative UI design with the marketing team, a structured Webflow build for Growth autonomy, and SEO/GEO strategy. Delivered in under 8 weeks.

Industry

Services

Artistic Direction

Development

SEO

UX/UI Design

Art Direction

A new positioning translated pixel by pixel

Following Randstad’s acquisition in May 2023, Side redefined its brand identity. Our job: bring that rebrand to life on their website with precision and consistency. Using the assets provided by the Side team, we laid the foundation for a digital visual system — typography choices, color palette, image treatment, illustration style — directly aligned with the new brand identity. Every design decision was validated in collaboration with the Marketing team to ensure the result matched the Randstad Group while preserving Side’s DNA: direct, human, and experience-driven.

Concept 1 — Centered Hero

The headline spans the full width of the page, centered, with no image opposite it. The fold stays clean and type-driven. The next section brings back the blue photo/stat split. The most minimal layout. And the one that puts the message front and center.

Concept 2 — Split Hero + Video Placeholder

Two-column layout, but the right side features a video frame instead of a photo. The stats section uses a horizontal photo strip before the blue block. A layout that leans more into product demonstration.

Concept 3 — Split Hero + Photo

The hero section splits into two columns — headline on the left with neon yellow highlighting, Side profile photography on the right against a light background. The next section flows into a black client strip, then a split photo-and-stats layout in electric blue.

Look&Feel

Summary

Art Direction Web Design Development SEO

Gemeos delivered a showcase website that met our standards, while still working within a pretty tight timeline. Their process was efficient, and they were available, attentive, and very responsive throughout the project. They’re a highly complementary and very capable duo. Highly recommend!

Thibaud Bertrand

Head of Marketing @Side

UI Design

Mockups built with the team, not for it

The design followed an iterative, collaborative approach with Side's Marketing team. Instead of shipping everything at once, each section was shaped, presented, and refined in short cycles. The result: a site that reflects Side's exact business challenges — two distinct audiences (companies and Siders), three offers that needed clear prioritization, and a straightforward journey for every profile. The navigation, product pages, industry landing pages, and resource pages all got the same level of attention, inside one cohesive design system from end to end.

Summary

Art Direction Web Design Development SEO

Thibaud Bertrand

Head of Marketing @Side

Webflow Development

Clean integration. Scalable. No technical tradeoffs.

The migration to Webflow was handled like a full engineering project. Every page was built using Webflow best practices: strict class naming, semantic HTML structure, asset optimization (compression, lazy loading, WebP formats), and a component logic system built on native Symbols and global Webflow Variables.

The DOM was optimized to minimize render-blocking. Animations were handled in native CSS wherever possible to reduce JavaScript dependencies and protect WebPerf scores. A custom video player was integrated for client testimonials — no autoplay, in line with current UX standards.

The technical result:

Criterion	Gemeos Approach
Class structure	BEM-like, consistent and documented naming
Components	Symbols + global Webflow Variables
Assets	WebP, lazy loading, automated compression
Animations	CSS-first, JS limited to complex interactions
Maintenance	Full ownership for the Growth team
Scalability	Architecture designed to support new pages without a redesign

Summary

Art Direction Web Design Development SEO

Thibaud Bertrand

Head of Marketing @Side

SEO / GEO

A technical foundation built for search engines — and for LLMs

The SEO work started before launch with a full audit of the existing architecture. A complete 301 redirect plan mapped every old URL to its new destination, preserving all of Side’s hard-earned SEO equity. The site’s semantic structure — Hn tags, breadcrumbs, alt attributes, meta descriptions — was reviewed and standardized page by page.

On the tracking side: GA4, Facebook Pixel, Hotjar, and Google Tag Manager were integrated and tested before launch, with full QA to confirm there were no tracking duplicates or data loss between the old site and the new one.

SEO Action	Detail
301 Redirects	Complete old → new architecture mapping
Semantic Structure	Normalized Hn hierarchy, alt text, optimized meta
Tracking	GA4 + Facebook Pixel + Hotjar + GTM
Pre-Launch QA	Tracking tests, crawl checks, redirect verification

On the GEO side (Generative Engine Optimization), the site was structured to stay readable and usable for generative search engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity. That means a clear content hierarchy, Schema.org microdata (Organization, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList), and content that answers the exact questions LLMs use to build their responses. The goal: make sure Side gets cited and ranked when a candidate or employer asks an AI about the best online temp staffing platforms.

Summary

Art Direction Web Design Development SEO

Thibaud Bertrand

Head of Marketing @Side