Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Calling Graphic Designers
- Thread starter Smurfysmiles
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Lauren8211
Super_Ideal_Rock
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tropiqalkiwi
Shiny_Rock
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Yay! Pink Paper - and don''t forget to pick out your signature scent!
As a fellow designer my serious advice is to use your resume to show off your typography skills as much as possible. I wouldn''t go crazy and have it look like an art project either, but it does need to look like you didn''t do it in any basic program.
Don''t go crazy with colors either, most designers I know prefer simple black ink on really nice paper. I would say paper quality/texture is where you have the most room to play around artistically, but at the very least keep away from plain bond paper.
As a fellow designer my serious advice is to use your resume to show off your typography skills as much as possible. I wouldn''t go crazy and have it look like an art project either, but it does need to look like you didn''t do it in any basic program.
Don''t go crazy with colors either, most designers I know prefer simple black ink on really nice paper. I would say paper quality/texture is where you have the most room to play around artistically, but at the very least keep away from plain bond paper.
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Smurfy- I would have to say that it depends on WHERE exactly you are applying. Since I am a designer, and the jobs I have applied for recently have been jobs at creative agencies, I've really allowed myself to get very creative and personal with my resume. I think it helps an artist really stand out and be memorable. Granted, you will always have that one agency who would have rather seen a very traditional resume.. but I know that, personally, I would never want to work for an agency that didn't appreciate my own creativity and style. I can vouch that I have had VERY pleasant responses to my resume. When I was looking for jobs, I went through the online design directory in the city I was searching and emailed people my cover letter and a .jpg of my resume. I had several people email me back and tell me that there were no positions available, but that if there were, they would certainly give me an interview based on my creative resume. One guy told me that if he had had a position available, he would have HIRED me based on my resume. The creative agency I last worked for enjoyed my resume, gave me an interview, and hired me on the spot because of my ability to "think creatively on my own" and "bring unique new ideas to the table." When it comes to art, I am in the mindset that it is almost always okay to step outside of the box. The cool thing about my resume is that the background image was a very artistic image taken of a store window near Harrod's Department Store the last time I was in London. I normally get to EXPLAIN my resume, which is a great conversation starter, and I also get to showcase my love of travel and photography. If a woman is interviewing me, or if the interview was for a position at a magazine or something, I would include fashion in that list.
Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know! Hope this helps a little. Good luck on the job search!
Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know! Hope this helps a little. Good luck on the job search!
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Just read what tropicalgal wrote, and I have to say.. It really does just depend on what kind of job you are applying for. I went a little wild with mine, some people didn''t call me back, but some people really liked it, and those are the kind of companies I would want to work for anyway. I would say that if you are applying for a job in a more corporate setting, try to avoid going too wild, but if you are applying for a design job at say, a record company, I would say go all out. It''s okay to showcase your own style.
... Okay, I will shut up now
... Okay, I will shut up now
Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Wow that really helps a lot! At my college they told us NOT to do this which I always found a bit strange. I think I might have to play around in photoshop today with my resume for sure. I might post the background just for some feedback if I'm brave enough
Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Date: 1/19/2010 11:15:49 AM
Author: ArtistJess
Just read what tropicalgal wrote, and I have to say.. It really does just depend on what kind of job you are applying for. I went a little wild with mine, some people didn''t call me back, but some people really liked it, and those are the kind of companies I would want to work for anyway. I would say that if you are applying for a job in a more corporate setting, try to avoid going too wild, but if you are applying for a design job at say, a record company, I would say go all out. It''s okay to showcase your own style.
... Okay, I will shut up now
Well I am applying at anything and everything although I would prefer to work somewhere where I could have more creative license to do what I want. Right now I''m working in QA, however before this, I worked at a company designing the covers for mint tins. Before that I edited video in a newsstation. I got my degree in multimedia so I have a pretty wide range of skills to use. However I should mention that I am pretty horrible when it comes to print layouts
Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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I found this great article if anyone is interested
http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/04/29/the-graphic-design-resume-guide/
The Graphic Design Resume Guide
Your graphic design resume is going to be just as important as your portfolio, if not more important than your portfolio when it comes to job hunting. This is because most people will examine your resume before they open your portfolio book, meaning your resume is going to be your first impression! You have to remember that the people you will be sending your resume to go through tons of these every day so yours has to be immaculate and memorable, or they wont even bother looking at your portfolio.
I have talked with many art directors, designers and read an array of articles on the topic of resume design and you would be surprised at how the smallest glitch could sink your chances. Below I will go over everything you need to know regarding putting together a successful graphic design resume.
Graphic Design Resume Paper
People often get caught up in the design and content of their resume and forget one of the most important parts! The paper you use for your graphic design resume can tell your potential employer a lot about you. Choosing paper for a design project is an important job for most designers and if you overlook this you will have one strike against you right away. If you do choose a good paper for your resume it will get you bonus points. It will show your employer you have thought about every detail, and that you have done your research on papers.
You don’t want to use standard computer printing paper from an office supply store, so I would recommend looking at paper mills such as Neenah Paper, who offer some really great resume papers. I ended up buying two different versions of their Classic Crest line of papers for my resume.
Your Resume Layout
You are a graphic designer, so this is the chance to show what you can do in a tasteful manner. You probably don’t want to go overboard with a resume, because the information on the resume in the end is the most important part. With that being said you can still showcase your design skills, by adding visual elements, using a grid, playing with typography, color choices and so on. So don’t design your resume in Microsoft Word!
Graphic Design Resume Typography
This is another important aspect of your resume, so you need to be very careful with the fonts you choose! I would stay away from display fonts and free fonts and instead go with some classical fonts.
Probably the most important font to avoid in a design resume would be Times New Roman! Even Helvetica can be frowned up sometimes, because its bee branded so much as the “designers font” that some people consider it overused (at least in resumes).
Readability is very important so don’t make your type too small ( No smaller then 10-11 points ). Remember the readers need to be able to quickly and easily scan your resume. I would also suggest using serifed fonts for body text since its easier to read and don’t use very light colors.
If you HAVE to submit your resume as a Word doc, once again avoid Times New Roman at all costs!
What to Include in Your Graphic Design Resume
Below is a list of everything I would include in a graphic design resume in order of importance.
Name and Contact Info
You want to display your name in a very noticeable location along with all your contact information. It may be a good idea to put graphic designer some where in the resume as well in case some on needs to quickly figure out what type of resume your is.
Personal Statement (also known as your objective or mission statement)
This where you would write a brief statement about your goals, desired position and how you can benefit your potential employer. I’ve seen a lot of variations here; Some resumes have a generic objective, some have more of personal statement and some resumes don’t even have this section and instead go right to the experience section.
Your Experience
list you job experience here and make sure to include the job title, employment dates and a brief description of what you did and or accomplished. You can also add the location of the job if you want, but I don’t think its as important as the other information.
Education
Below is a list of information that should be included in the education section
* Your Degree and Major (e.g., BFA in Graphic Design)
* Date of Graduation (Month and Year)
* College You Attended
* Location of Your College (City and State)
Capabilities
This is an area where you can write things such as: extensive experience dealing with clients, experience managing multiple projects at once and so on.
Software Skills
List your software, coding and other design related skills and organize them into categories if you have a lot of different technical skills.
Awards
If you have won any awards, contests, been featured anywhere or have had any shows make sure to mention them here.
Organizations
Employers love to see that you are involved in the design community so if you belong to any design organizations then list them!
Interests
This isn’t really necessary, but if you are applying for a job and want them to know you have interests related to the job this would be a good place to mention them. I would keep this section at the very end of the resume.
References
I would not list references directly on the resume but rather state: References available upon request. Just make sure that you have the references if they do ask for them!
What not to Include in Your Resume
* A super generic “objective” at the top of your resume
* Obscure interests that do not relate to design
* Potentially offensive material. I will leave this one up to you guys because I don’t want to get in the way of anyones beliefs or views, but be careful mentioning or including work related to politics, war, religion and so on. Its impossible to gauge how some one will react to sensitive topics, so sometimes its better to be safe then sorry.
Final Preparations
* Have people with resume experience read over your resume to try and catch errors.
* Check for consistency with formatting, such as do all bulleted sentences end with periods, or do some have periods and some don’t?
* Spell check the crap out of your resume again!
http://www.youthedesigner.com/2008/04/29/the-graphic-design-resume-guide/
The Graphic Design Resume Guide
Your graphic design resume is going to be just as important as your portfolio, if not more important than your portfolio when it comes to job hunting. This is because most people will examine your resume before they open your portfolio book, meaning your resume is going to be your first impression! You have to remember that the people you will be sending your resume to go through tons of these every day so yours has to be immaculate and memorable, or they wont even bother looking at your portfolio.
I have talked with many art directors, designers and read an array of articles on the topic of resume design and you would be surprised at how the smallest glitch could sink your chances. Below I will go over everything you need to know regarding putting together a successful graphic design resume.
Graphic Design Resume Paper
People often get caught up in the design and content of their resume and forget one of the most important parts! The paper you use for your graphic design resume can tell your potential employer a lot about you. Choosing paper for a design project is an important job for most designers and if you overlook this you will have one strike against you right away. If you do choose a good paper for your resume it will get you bonus points. It will show your employer you have thought about every detail, and that you have done your research on papers.
You don’t want to use standard computer printing paper from an office supply store, so I would recommend looking at paper mills such as Neenah Paper, who offer some really great resume papers. I ended up buying two different versions of their Classic Crest line of papers for my resume.
Your Resume Layout
You are a graphic designer, so this is the chance to show what you can do in a tasteful manner. You probably don’t want to go overboard with a resume, because the information on the resume in the end is the most important part. With that being said you can still showcase your design skills, by adding visual elements, using a grid, playing with typography, color choices and so on. So don’t design your resume in Microsoft Word!
Graphic Design Resume Typography
This is another important aspect of your resume, so you need to be very careful with the fonts you choose! I would stay away from display fonts and free fonts and instead go with some classical fonts.
Probably the most important font to avoid in a design resume would be Times New Roman! Even Helvetica can be frowned up sometimes, because its bee branded so much as the “designers font” that some people consider it overused (at least in resumes).
Readability is very important so don’t make your type too small ( No smaller then 10-11 points ). Remember the readers need to be able to quickly and easily scan your resume. I would also suggest using serifed fonts for body text since its easier to read and don’t use very light colors.
If you HAVE to submit your resume as a Word doc, once again avoid Times New Roman at all costs!
What to Include in Your Graphic Design Resume
Below is a list of everything I would include in a graphic design resume in order of importance.
Name and Contact Info
You want to display your name in a very noticeable location along with all your contact information. It may be a good idea to put graphic designer some where in the resume as well in case some on needs to quickly figure out what type of resume your is.
Personal Statement (also known as your objective or mission statement)
This where you would write a brief statement about your goals, desired position and how you can benefit your potential employer. I’ve seen a lot of variations here; Some resumes have a generic objective, some have more of personal statement and some resumes don’t even have this section and instead go right to the experience section.
Your Experience
list you job experience here and make sure to include the job title, employment dates and a brief description of what you did and or accomplished. You can also add the location of the job if you want, but I don’t think its as important as the other information.
Education
Below is a list of information that should be included in the education section
* Your Degree and Major (e.g., BFA in Graphic Design)
* Date of Graduation (Month and Year)
* College You Attended
* Location of Your College (City and State)
Capabilities
This is an area where you can write things such as: extensive experience dealing with clients, experience managing multiple projects at once and so on.
Software Skills
List your software, coding and other design related skills and organize them into categories if you have a lot of different technical skills.
Awards
If you have won any awards, contests, been featured anywhere or have had any shows make sure to mention them here.
Organizations
Employers love to see that you are involved in the design community so if you belong to any design organizations then list them!
Interests
This isn’t really necessary, but if you are applying for a job and want them to know you have interests related to the job this would be a good place to mention them. I would keep this section at the very end of the resume.
References
I would not list references directly on the resume but rather state: References available upon request. Just make sure that you have the references if they do ask for them!
What not to Include in Your Resume
* A super generic “objective” at the top of your resume
* Obscure interests that do not relate to design
* Potentially offensive material. I will leave this one up to you guys because I don’t want to get in the way of anyones beliefs or views, but be careful mentioning or including work related to politics, war, religion and so on. Its impossible to gauge how some one will react to sensitive topics, so sometimes its better to be safe then sorry.
Final Preparations
* Have people with resume experience read over your resume to try and catch errors.
* Check for consistency with formatting, such as do all bulleted sentences end with periods, or do some have periods and some don’t?
* Spell check the crap out of your resume again!
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Yeah, I think it''s safe to say that your resume should really reflect the TYPE of job you hope to get. My resume is a little more on the "art projecty" side, but I think that''s okay. I''ve heard good and bad things about taking that route, but, personally, have had nothing but good come from doing it that way. And how funny that your school would try to steer you away from doing it that way. My school actually had a class (which I took) solely for creating unique resumes. I would say (and this is probably a given for you at this point..) apply at a TON of design places, even if they aren''t advertising available jobs. If nothing else, they will keep your name on file. When I was looking for jobs a year ago, I sent my resume to a company the next state over. They never contacted me back. Two days ago they called me out of the blue and offered me a really great position. I politely turned it down because I love the job I''m working right now, but I thought it was interesting that a year later they were calling me.
I will see if I can find a copy of my resume and post it. I would love to see what you come up with.
I will see if I can find a copy of my resume and post it. I would love to see what you come up with.
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Okay, I agree with almost all of that article.. except the part about Helvetica. Some people are such Helvetica haters I personally like Helvetica.. but maybe I'm a part of that stereotype that causes people to hate on it so much. It IS very typical, though, I will admit.
I like the idea of putting "references available upon request".. that's what I did on mine. Except mine said, "References and Portfolio CD available upon request."
I personally like Helvetica.. but maybe I'm a part of that stereotype that causes people to hate on it so much. It IS very typical, though, I will admit.I like the idea of putting "references available upon request".. that's what I did on mine. Except mine said, "References and Portfolio CD available upon request."
Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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I certainly agree. I know my web portfolio has that art projecty type of design. It is based off colored pencils, I attached it. I had to block out a lot of stuff so I don''t get in trouble for sharing information but you get the general idea of it
And then my actual portfolio portion of the page has a flash revolving album type thing. I really need to update this site as well, I think the last blog post was from a year ago, oi vey
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Okay, I uploaded a small version of my resume.. just to give you an idea of how far you can really go. Before your design eye goes wild with edits, let me defend myself and say that I created this in school a few years back. There are a million things that I''ve learned in the work-world that I would edit if were looking for a job NOW, but just don''t have the time or need at this point.
I can''t say it enough, though. Don''t be scared to showcase YOU in your resume, because I think that''s what a lot of agencies are looking for.
I can''t say it enough, though. Don''t be scared to showcase YOU in your resume, because I think that''s what a lot of agencies are looking for.
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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It really is strange. You have no idea how many times I''ve tried for the grungy/rock and roll kind of look you have going on your resume because I love it so much! But I just have ever been able to pull it off, le sigh. I''ve always been better creating more clean lines type of thing. A blessing and a curse I guess
Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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princesss
Ideal_Rock
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ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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It''s really funny because my first job out of school was for a really high-end digital media company. They really hated when I''d go off on a tangent in my own little grunge world so I very quickly learned to appreciate the value of whitespace and very clean lines. But I got BORED and antsy there.. (and also the company failed which was a bummer) so I quit and now I''m working for a photojournalist creative agency. The guy that runs it LOVES my grunge style. Can''t get enough of it, and really hates the corporate look. He things corporate design is so stuffy and has no personality. I personally like to be creative and "grungy" a little more, but obviously there is more of a demand in this world for the more corporate look. Like I said, it''s all about where you are. Everyone sees design in a different way. It''s the same reason some people like Dali and hate Brunelleschi and others have taste that is exactly opposite. The tricky part is throwing in target audience to the mix because that is a lot of eyes and opinions.
Did any of that make any sense? I just realized I''m off on an art tangent..
Did any of that make any sense? I just realized I''m off on an art tangent..
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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It made total sense. I worked for a company for a whole 2 days before it crashed but it was so fun! We were making an iphone application that combined wikipedia and google earth. So I got to make a menu with a paris theme and another with a world fair theme and a couple others, it was very cool.
ArtistJess
Shiny_Rock
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Smurfysmiles
Ideal_Rock
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Date: 1/19/2010 12:12:37 PM
Author: ArtistJess
That sounds really fun!
Okay, and I contacted the mods. Maybe they will blur out my last name or something
hehe.
I learn how to do something new on here every day though!
hahaha
if you could see my version of grungy right now you would probably laugh
ArtistJess
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Smurfysmiles
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Smurfysmiles
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Past, Present, Future: The Meaning of Three-Stone Engagement Rings
Past, Present, Future: The Meaning of Three-Stone Engagement Rings - 04/14
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