CV and Business Card

Before heading into the big bad world of employment and potential freelance work, it is essential we leaving Undergraduate level with a professional portfolio of components we can use to sell our skills and help put us on the industry map to propel us towards a future career.

This is in regards to two main pieces of self promotion.  The CV and business card.  It is important we have these designed, printed and accessible on the night of our end of year show so that company reps, directors and other industry members can view our projects and then take something tangible away from it to remember who we are and what we are capable of.

When it comes to CV, I have always been taught through my years of business orientated education that it is simple, clean and not overly creative.  I was always taught that colour is tacky, images are resented and icons are acceptable but need to remain minimal.  When I approached this initial design stage of an updated and animation industry standard of CV, I was faced with combating all of these professional standards of layout and choose to break the rules to try to create something that represents me but also demonstrates the skills, abilities and passion I have for my chosen career.

Below is my current CV.  A nice look at a boring, business orientated pile of....awful -

So, yea.

Awful.

Anyway, onto the new design ideas!

I wanted to include icons, symbols and logos for various parts of my skills, schooling and activities.  Firstly, I wanted to get the logos of the softwares I know quite well and create the 'knowledge rater' style I have seen used in creative CVs before.  Below is a look at the early design of these logos and values.

Including these, I was beginning to think about colour.  I didn't wan my entire CV to be plastered onto a white page.  I was also aware I didnt want it to be plastered onto Joseph's technicolour coat.  With this in mind, I thought if it was going to be anything, it would be one colour and it would have to be one I either liked or one that complimented the rest of the information and icons.  I decided on orange as, in addition to being my favourite colour, it compliments all other aspects of the CV design.  I found a brush stroke png online that I have edited, cropped and recoloured to use as a sort of titled border for the CV.  The brush stroke is displayed below -

I began looking at the logos of the educational facilities I have attended and began to piece them into the education portion of the CV.  I feel that adding more than just a list of names, dates and qualifications really adds to this and makes it a lot more visually pleasing to look at.  I included my current education and worked backgrounds to my study year, my foundation year and my A Level qualifications.  Included in each is the school logo, name, date I graduated/left and the qualification I received there.

For my activities section, I didn't want to list naff words about how I like to cycle and run and drink coffee and watch TV etc.  I wanted to portray my interests but in a visual way that is easily read, accepted and understood by anyone who looks at them.

I used three lines to separate the title and main sections of information.  These lines, although subtle, do a good job of breaking up the document and allow the components to be read more fluidly.  In addition to these lines, I placed my name at the top, centre of the white space below the title border.  I also included a short description of who I am, what I am passionate about and where my skills are founded.

As I started to piece together other parts of the CV, I shuffled around the order of a few sections until I found that they read best.  Below is a look at the updated CV at the half way stage

I want to ensure that in both my CV and business card there is a dimension of VR or coding as our project this year has been immersed in the realm of VR and researching AR/VR and QR technologies.  I plan to finalise my showreel, upload it to Vimeo and then link that video to a QR code which can be scanned by anyone with a QR reader on their phone which will take them straight to my showreel online.

For my contact information, I have included my email, phone number and LinkedIn username to allow employers to reach out easily to contact and communicate with me.  I am unsure whether to keep the use of LinkedIn as I predominantly use the Instagram online platform more often.

My experience is the only section of my CV that I dont feature any icons or bold colours.  The reason for this is I feel having it in the middle shows its importance but also, it creates symmetry for the sandwiching sections which both feature colour and imagery.  In addition to this, having a basic and uniformed list of experience looks professional and avoids the fear of over complicating and visually assaulting an employer.

Below is a look at the draft stage I am at where I feel I want to get further feedback before finalising the CV.  This will continually be edited and developed on approach to the end of year show.

When approaching my business card, I chose to implement features from my CV into the business card design.  Doing this will ensure that all of my self-promotional material is integrated and compatible with one another and nothing looks of of place.  I took the title border and the name to display on the front of the business card design.  To that, I added the words "Creation, Innovation, Design."  These are words that I feel are foundational to my work ethic and style and are my grounded focus when producing work.

On the back of the card, I will include features such as the QR from my CV which will lead to my showreel, my chosen title as a Multimedia Designer and three ways in which I can be contacted, one for email, one for phone number and one for another online social platform.  Below is the initial design for the business card which i plan to print and UV spot specific areas to enhance the appearance and dimension of my finalised cards.