Illustrator | Project II

INSPIRATION
The Girl Effect


Water Changes Everything

How to Be an Educated Consumer of Infographics: David Byrne on the Art-Science of Visual Storytelling

DESIGN BRIEF
Assignment: Graphic Resume

RESOURCES:

Pinterest Visual Resumes
25 Examples of Super Creative Resume Design

Create a Visual – Graphic Resume

Visual experiences are winning our time and attention!

Your resume is a calling card to your future and clearly communicating your qualifications to potential employers is essential.  In the digital age, everything is changing and the standard resume is no longer standard. Your website will become your online identity and you online resume needs to read differently. First impressions can last forever and creating a visual presentation that stands out is important. More often than not, if your resume hasn’t caught someone’s eye within 30 seconds, they’re no longer interested.

An infographic resume has the chance to:

  • Stand out of the stack
  • Showcase your creative skills

The 500 Year Evolution of the Resume

The 500 Year Evolution of the Resume 

YOU HAVE 6 SECONDS TO MAKE AN IMPRESSION: HOW RECRUITERS SEE YOUR RESUME

Recruiters spent 80% of their time looking at six data points:

  • Name
  • Current title and company
  • Previous title and company
  • Current start and end dates
  • Previous start and end dates
  • Education
  1. Keep important data point’s clear and simple
    Creativity and simplicity can make a big impact.
  2. Create a hierarchy that presents information in a way that is easy to find and understand. Create visual cue’s such as big numbers and headings.  You want it to be easy to read and just enough detail that leaves the reader wanting more.
  3. Focus on graphic design principles.
  4. Make it Easy to Understand
    Resumes follow a specific format with your name and contact info at the top, followed by a summary of your skills, your work history, and your education.
  5. Tell a Story
    Make sure your resume tells a story—that positions you as the best candidate for the job.
  6. Pick the Right Colors
    Color is king but treat it like royalty. Don’t design with crazed splashes of color —which may detract from your story. Chose your color palate wisely. Striking contrasts or harmonious complements can work but don’t overlook a monochromatic color scheme that can make a big impact.

Resume Redesign
Can Beautiful Design Make Your Resume Stand Out?

Text is more than just words on a page. Think of color palate, shape and form on a page. Research differences between ‘Before’ and ‘After’ resume images like the resume makeovers below from Loft Resumes.

before-and-after-resume-examples-580x461

THINGS TO CONSIDER

  • Fonts and Families

Focus on the difference between fonts and typefaces.

  • Readability

A few things to keep in mind—serif fonts are easier to read than sans-serif fonts on a typed, hard-copy resume don’t go any smaller than the size 11.5, and balancing text with white space is essential (e.g. don’t crowd the page!).

  • It’s Your Choice BUT…

Generally, it not a good idea to put a photo on your resume. The human eye is naturally drawn to photos, and in this case of your resume design, the profile photo. Researcher has shown that the resume prevented recruiters from looking at more important data such as experience and education.

PROJECT DIRECTIVE

Look at the Pinterest ‘Graphic Resumes’ board for a variety of resume examples.  Identify examples that you like and don’t like and take away inspiration for your own design.

Completely REDESIGN your current resume as a visual infographic resume.  Consider text as a visual element of your resume as well as a verbal one.  Text, placement, color, variation of size, even the proportion of text to white space affect the visual impact of your resume.

  • Post ‘before’ and ‘after’ images of your resume to Flickr AND create a NEW PAGE called Illustrator Project II with the parent page of PROJECTS where you will put all your research, inspirations, sketches and iterations, old resume and FINAL resume. If  you don’t have a current resume, quickly create a traditional resume.

Requirement Summary:

  • A maximum of ONE photo (small) can be used only if it is converted to a graphic in Illustrator with Image Trace and Live Paint. All work must be done in Illustrator
  • Logo can NOT only be created from text only. It must use multiple Illustrator tools and procedures. (If you already have a logo from project 1, you CAN use it.)
  • Your full name should be on the resume.
  • You must use a minimum of TEN TOOL/TECHNIQUES and explain what they are and how you used them in your word document.
  • You CAN use reuse some of the items in the tutorials you completed.
  • You may NOT use any tools, graphic creators, existing vector art or anything you did not create in this project.
  • It CANNOT contain only text.
  • A written description explaining the tools, principles, and elements you used in designing each of these must be turned in with the Illustrator files. The written description must be in Microsoft Word and must be saved as a .doc and .pdf.
  • A minimum

WORD DOCUMENT

  • 500 word minimum

Discuss your design process from design brief to project completion. How did your research inspire your sketches and Illustrator Iteration? What Illustrator tools did you use and what did you use them to create?  What steps did you take? What does your design portray? Are you pleased with your final design? Why or why not? If you had to start over again, what would you do differently?

PROCEDURE FOR PROJECT SUBMISSION  | BEGINNING OF CLASS | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8th, 2013:

FILE SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:

  1. Save a copy of ALL your .ai, .pdf and .jpg files through Save As: _date_name_infographic resume.
  2. Create a folder, with your name_illustrator project II as the folder name, inside of the folder place the following files:
  • Research
  • Inspiration
  • Sketches
  • Color Sketches
  • Illustrator Iterations and FINAL Files
  • Word document
  1. Place the folder with ALL your files in your DropBox. Copy the folder URL, make a comment on Week 7 Wednesday with the full URL.

ITEMS THAT MUST BE PHYSICALLY TURNED IN AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS | OCTOBER 18th, 2013:

  1. Paper print out of the “traditional” and NEW “infographic resume”, in color.
  2. Paper print out of the project written description.

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