Graphic Design Portfolios & Resumes

By Sarah-Jean Murray

I have browsed the internet for portfolio and resume design inspiration many, many times. I have read countless posts showing fun and innovative resumes. I have seen so many crazy, over the top resumes and portfolio designs that I've lost track. Why do designers do this? The most important thing I've learned in class is from a design professor who absolutely adores crazy and colorful things. His designs are over the top and gorgeous and he's not afraid to break boundaries. However, when it came time for the class to create their portfolio sites he said something very important to us,

"Let the work speak for itself."

As designers, we are tempted to throw as much skill and talent as we can manage at potential employers. We want them to notice our work and notice how good we are at it. However, crazy resumes and portfolios are not the way to go. The most beautiful, innovative designs I've seen are from designers who use their resources to make their work the most important thing. They realize that potential employers are not there to look at their website but to look at their work. They want to see how you develop ideas and create innovative solutions to design problems.

I'll break down a couple of examples of good and bad resumes and website designs and explain what is perfection and what is not. In this post I'll break down some resumes and then later in the month move on to portfolio sites.

Bad Resumes

This is a fantastic design piece, however this is a bad resume. There is so much information on the page that the eye doesn't know where to look. A resume should have a sense of flow and a sense of hierarchy however this doesn't highlight any specific points and the information gets lost in the design. I'm not saying that a resume should be thrown together in a word document but it should be clear and easy to understand. Obviously this designer is really good at what she does, however the important information that a potential employer would be looking for is not clear. Resumes are no place for an infographic.

Again with the infographics. Employers will not want to dissect everything on your resume to make sense of the information. It's too much work, they'll move on to the next resume. Most recruiters only look at a resume for about 20 seconds. Of course this will vary between job types, but that is a very small amount of time to gather information. How much information about this person will they be able to read in 20 seconds?



Good Resumes

Easy to read does not mean boring. You can make your resume clear to understand but still insert a little bit of personality into it. Take this example, the information is separated into clear columns, The most important information is at the top and there is fantastic use of type throughout the resume. You want to use the type to create hierarchy information and highlight important information. There is a good use of white space throughout the document so nothing is too cramped and there is a good break up of text so that the information is not running together.

Another clear, easy to read resume. Again, just because the resume is clean and easy to understand does not mean it's boring. This designer has displayed that she understands layout and typography really well and uses color to emphasize certain points of the resume. The only problem I could potentially see with this resume is that the blue might fade out a lot if it gets copied which could make the type hard to read. However, the overall design is very strong.










So the next time you get the temptation to throw all of your design talent onto your resume, stop. Think about what the most important information is and what you want the recruiter or potential employer to get from your resume. You only have a short amount of time to make an impression. Make it count.