Due: Friday 2/13
Use Adobe InDesign and Illustrator to create a visually compelling resume for print.
Description
For this project, you’ll begin to develop a personal brand that will help you market yourself to potential employers, clients, or graduate schools. With a unique logo, well chosen typography, and sharp color scheme, you can give your business cards, resume, and personal website a customized, put-together look. We’ll focus on the resume, but think about this document as setting the tone for a comprehensive professional identity.
One important note: your resume is often a first impression. Because of this document’s importance, always get a second or third opinion on how much stylization/design is enough or too much for the position you’re applying for. (Note: the SJU Career Development Center has drop-in hours for quick resume advice!) Some conservative employers, like government agencies, might be overwhelmed by a resume that is too different from the crowd. A visually compelling resume will have the most impact for positions that want young, creative applicants: multimedia journalism, writing, digital media design and production, social media, promotions, public relations, and marketing communications.
Project components
The visual resume project has multiple components with separate deadlines. Submit each component to complete the project. Missing components will affect the whole project grade, even if the final resume you submit is “A” work.
| Project component | Due date | Format(s) required | Where to submit it |
| First draft of visual resume with personal logo | 2/6 | PDF file, one page | Discussion forum on Blackboard |
| Peer critiques | 2/6 | Discussion forum posts and class critiques | Discussion forum on Blackboard |
| Final version of visual resume with personal logo | 2/13 | .indd and .pdf (for the whole resume) .ai (for the logo only) |
Project 1 assignment dropbox on Blackboard |
| Project narrative | 2/13 | .doc or .docx | Project 1 assignment dropbox on Blackboard |
Project narrative
Write approximately 500 words (two pages double-spaced) to document the process of completing this project and to analyze the choices you made in the final version. Discuss why you chose a particular font pairing, the thought behind your color scheme, the logic behind revisions, or how your layout is intended to direct your audience’s attention. Be accurate and concise in this narrative: use the terms from White Space to show that you are developing a design vocabulary.
Requirements
- Your resume should be one page, single-sided. No exceptions!
- It should be laid out for print (CMYK color) on letter-size paper using InDesign. You can choose your margins.
- The design should use two or more colors. Black can count as one of your colors.
- The design should use two or more fonts.
- The resume must include a personal logo created in Adobe Illustrator in CMYK color settings. This logo can feature text elements or not.
- Guide the reader’s eyes through your design by creating hierarchy (through font choices/weights, headers, layout, etc.) and unity (through color, repeated graphic elements, font choices, etc.).
- Choose logical filenames for all of your project components. Be sure to include “v1” in the first draft and “final” in the final draft filename.
- Include accurate, well-phrased content in your resume. Your grade for this project will primarily come from the design, but the content is a consideration. Check the Resources page for guides on writing a resume.
Examples
When most people think of creating a resume, they think “Microsoft Word.” The difference between a resume created in MS Word vs. a resume created in InDesign is night and day! InDesign gives you total control over your layout and overcomes the limitations of working in tables, as you would likely have to do for sophisticated layouts in MS Word. The best way to see the difference is to look at some examples. Goodbye “single column of black text and black bullet points in Time News Roman.”
