The Innovative One Page Resume & Portfolio
Written by Jacob Cass on Thursday, June 19, 2008 – 10:00 pm
In this guest article Jacob Share* goes through an innovative new way to display your work and CV - all on one page.
Many companies and recruiters prefer the simplicity and speed of one page resumes. As a designer, how can you have maximum impact with only a single sheet of paper? The answer…
The one page printed résumé and portfolio.
The one page resume portfolio is a 6-panel pamphlet that shows your resume when folded and your design portfolio when unfolded. You can click on the image above to view it in full.
How does it work?
The above image is an example of the one page printed resume and portfolio from a French Graphic Designer. It shows 3 different views and below is a description. From left to right;
- Front view of the resume portfolio, slightly open.
You can see the designer’s logo and contact information. Notice the vertical bar on the right side of the inner panel, where the text reads “curriculum vitae” with a right arrow and “portfolio” with a left arrow pointing inside. - Partially-open view of the portfolio.
If you followed the left arrow and continued unfolding, this is what you’d see before you’re done. The panel with the arrow bar folds outwards, meaning that there’s actually more room for portfolio highlights inside. - Resume details.
Following the right arrow will have you flip over the pamphlet, leading to the actual resume content.
Is it right for you?
Cons
- Somewhat complicated design is time-consuming to update or customise
- Uneven folding looks sloppy if done incorrectly and ruins the impact
- Usually requires costly colour laser-printing on thick paper for full effect
Pros
- More space to communicate and brand yourself
- Very memorable, especially when done well
- Design pun: lets you describe your skills while demonstrating them
Best Practices
- Have a history of school, volunteering or work projects before you use this design. Substituting with content that isn’t yours but that you’re “capable of creating” defeats the purpose and looks amateurish.
- The one page resume portfolio works best live when people can hold it and unfold it, like in interviews or at professional gatherings.
- The front panel should contain your logo and contact information at a glance.
- The front panel should be particularly eye-catching to make people want to pick it up and open it.
- An attractive image that continues off one panel will encourage the reader to unfold until they can see the entire image. Above, the French designer used that effect to lure the reader to see both resume-related panels together.
- The 2 configurations that work best are the pictured 4:2 portfolio to resume panel ratio with arrow bar and the 3:3 “resume-outside portfolio-inside” ratio.
- Use the resume portfolio to complement your “full” design portfolio whether physical or digital. For the former, you might consider a sentence about what else not pictured is in your portfolio. For the latter, give all pertinent links.
Want more resume and portfolio tips?
- The Graphic Design Resume Guide
- How and Where To Get Paid Design Work For Students
- The One Page Graphic Design Portfolio Guide - Online
- Resume-Writing Dos and Don’ts
- The 7 Deadly Sins of Resume Design
- Design Resume Style Guide
Conclusion
Great design is the best combination of trade-offs for a certain context. If you use it wisely, the one page resume portfolio could be a valuable tool in your hunt for new design jobs. What are your thoughts?
*Jacob Share created the award-winning JobMob to rally job seekers and jobfinders in getting jobs in Israel and all over the world. The blog is filled with straight-talking real world advice, lots of humour and design inspiration such as 36 Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work. Subscribe for a week via RSS, it’s free.
How to get your FIRST Graphic Design Job
Written by Jacob Cass on Sunday, December 30, 2007 – 12:53 pm
Below are some tips for graphic design students on finding the first job and tips on how to reduce the stress by providing an overview of the whole process. (This is a long post.)
Many young designers (such as myself) find it hard to believe that they can make a living doing something they find compelling and interesting—something they love. Finding the right first job, even if it’s a summer job or an internship, is not just an important step in launching your career - It is an exploration of the field and a continuation of the learning process. Even the most skilled designer finds the search for a first job stressful. The suggestions that follow can reduce that stress by providing an overview of the process.
Before you can begin
Before your job search can begin, you need to understand
- yourself: your motivations, strengths, and weaknesses;
- your work: its nature, style, and variety; and
- the job market: corporations, design offices, and the wide variety of other businesses that employ graphic designers. Then you can get ready to present yourself and your work in a portfolio.
Try writing these things down and doing a bit of research of the job market in your area.
Photography Tips For Designers
Written by Jacob Cass on Monday, December 24, 2007 – 12:37 pm 
Throughout your career as a designer you will be required to use a camera at some stage so it is vital you know how to use one, and at the very least, know the basics principles & elements of photography. So I present to you photography tips for designers. (This is a long post)
I want to share with you, what I learnt in my 2 photography courses over the past year. And just for the record, I received a high distinction with 89/100 and the photos below were taken by me, except where noted.
6 Elements of Photography:
Colour, Form, Texture, Pattern, Line, Repetition
6 Principles of Photography:
Light, Subject, Focus, Background, Exposure, Composition
101+ Places To Get Design Inspiration
Written by Jacob Cass on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 – 5:43 pm
I have recently noticed a multitude of blogs and websites offering design inspiration and I have decided to collect a list of the best posts and websites out there that really got me inspired.
If you have limited time, I would tell you to check out these picture based posts that load all the images on one page. Inspiration from 2007 and 32 Inspirational graphic design pieces. ShinyBinary and 57Even and UrbanCowboy and DeviantArt are also good choices.
Inspirational Collections
DesignFlavr - A gallery full of hand chosen design. 100% quality.
60 More Places To Get Design Inspiration - A list like this of 60 more websites where you can get design inspiration. All quality.
34 Places To Get Design Inspiration - 34 more websites of where to get design inspiration.
12 Links for Web Design Inspiration - A great list of where to get web design inspiration.
Great Illustrator Designs - A great pictured post of great illustrator designs.
32 Inspirational graphic design pieces - Another great pictured list of great graphic design.
The Best Inspiration from 2007 - A huge collection of awesome graphic design pieces from 2007.
Thinking For A Living - This is an awesome collection of only high quality websites and resources that have been broken down into smaller categories. Not so much visual inspiration but a list of good places where to get it.
Design Inspiration Galleries:
HOWDesign.com Design Inspiration Directory
Design Studios / Artists
Shinybinary - Nik Ainley - Must check this guy out.
57Even - Must check this guy out.
UrbanCowboy - Must check this guy out.
Blogs (Resourceful Articles + Inspiration)
My Many BookMarks
Check Out My Del.icio.us Bookmarks (You will find HEAPS more there).
The Obvious (or not?)
Try Googling ‘Design Inspiration‘. or anything else that tickles your fancy.
Use Digg and their design search
Use StumbleUpon and their design search
DeviantArt - A quick search will find many results.
Have you got any other REALLY good links?
Print Design
Written by Jacob Cass on Friday, November 16, 2007 – 6:40 pmI am a graphic designer from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia and below are some examples of various different designs from my portfolio.
They include posters, business cards, flyers, letterhead, email signatures, stickers, drink coasters, tattoos and more.
For a larger view and more information on each graphic piece please click on the thumbnails below.
If you would like to hire me or get a free quote please contact me or browse more of my portfolio.
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