30 Artistic and Creative Résumés

hmm.. I can’t say I agree with the design of about 90% of those Résumés, purely because they are overly graphical. Your résumé is meant to be a document, not a poster.

I do however quite like these ones out of the list:
– http://akidesign.deviantart.com/art/Curriculum-Vitae-92588918
– http://darthkix.deviantart.com/art/MY-RESUME-118989245
– http://mac1388.deviantart.com/art/Typographic-Resume-111684292

And just for reference, my résumé is rather simple in it’s design, If you’re interested, you can have a look at a copy of it over at http://clients.yettobebranded.net/resume.pdf .

Awesome collection. Thanks a lot !

If the HR officer is an oldies. I dont think if she dont trow it to the bin. Nice design though but for a resume hmmm?

Nice resumes…I think that as designers, we should make that extra effort to make our resumes shine.

what! why only now that i saw this articles, last night was not here! i do some redesigned with my resume last night a just a second ago i send it to our company, oh seconds late

I agree with Micheil – most of those cvs are completely OTT. As an art director who has had a say in hiring people before, most of those cv’s would end up in the bin if they landed on my desk. Your cv is meant to convey information. It doesn’t have to be set in tnr using word, but most of those go too far and sacrifice legibility. Your portfolio is there to show off your creativity and work.

At least half of those featured are useless – you have to hunt for the information you require – the whole point of a cv is to make your information instantly available to the reader.

Thank you for this nice overview. While some of the designs above are hard to read, I find all of them very inspirational. It’s amazing to see how much one can do to spice up the the usually boring and standard formats … and for a graphic designer, a beautiful and creative resumè can make all the difference when it comes to applying somewhere or getting a prospective customer’s interest.

All very nice… perhaps one or two would actually manage to stay out of the trash can for longer than 2 minutes though.

Business cards and resumés are simply not supposed to be overly designed. They’re supposed to be easily read and the information on them simple and concise. Why designers can’t accept that is beyond me.

I have to agree with Micheil. I think my resume is out of the ordinary, but still professional looking enough that I can submit it to most anywhere:

- http://justinharter.com/docs/resume.pdf

Your portfolio should show your skills off, your résumé should be clear and concise.

I look over potential employee’s résumés at my current job, and I would be less inclined to read many of the above. Support your résumé with a quality portfolio, but don’t make my eyes bleed when I am trying to read about your experience and personal history.

And the one résumé which uses a ‘KEY’ to read, it would be put straight into the circular filing cabinet aka the bin…

I completely agree with Micheil.

CV’s are not necessary meant to have bunch of graphics around it. Use of heavy graphics might want the employer to close the CV without having a complete look at it….Important points can also be missed out.

I think good typography makes a great CV.

I specially like this: http://mac1388.deviantart.com/art/Typographic-Resume-111684292

SO COOL

i liked this one the most

These would skim off my desk and straight into the trash. None of these show a serious professionalism that is sometimes needed. I get the impression of a cocky difficult person, not someone we want to employee. Just my two cents

who says it is supposed to be a document?… what a bland outlook of the world, and it’s interesting that your favourites were the most unimaginative of the lot.

And furthermore, you are still in high school (according to your resume) and probably have very little understanding of how competitive the design industry is. So my advice to you would be; take note of how much effort and creativity these guys have put into their resumes and inject the same into yours – otherwise no one will read it.

Great collection and really fun!

I agree with Micheil. I think people should stick with a simple text-based resume. Just make sure the typography looks immaculate!

Francis Homo? hehehhh

Lots of really good ones here and feel that my attempts at a Persona Style CV (hat tip Todd Warfel) is worthy of mention.

Can be found here http://files.me.com/solle/k2itws

ta

These resume are beautifully designed and props to all the creative minds out there. However, I have to agree with Micheil on this one. Some of these have parts that are, unfortunately, almost unreadable.

I think its a great way to showcase your work but it would be wise to always keep a simple, “text-only” version at hand.

Anyways, keep up the great work guys!

So much of use of crap DaFont.com grunge/stencil fonts and Impact makes me sad. The first two seem pretty good executions.

I can say, as a CD, I mostly ignore these types of vanity projects when I get them. They look like some school assignment. I want to know about you in 5 seconds. And, that comes from the text. Your work is represented in your book, not your resume. And if you don’t have any experience/work yet, you’d better WRITE something that tells me something about you. Remember writing?

Thank you very much for this piece of superb art. Every work mentioned here is a masterpiece.

Thank you for the inspiration.

I agree with #1. I found the examples quite messy and it was difficult to extract any info from them. When you’ve got to concentrate hard to actually read a CV, then maybe the document needs a redesign?

#1 got a fully readable CV, though they shouldn’t be longer than 2 pages (at least I’ve been taught that way).
I like this kind of resumes: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/364076/CV_DG_HK-090427.pdf
My own (WIP): http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/364076/Curriculum%20Vitae%20Redesign%20v2.pdf

well, Micheil if I was looking for a designer for example, I would really appreciate something like that because it expresses the creativity of one person. I think anyone would consider that! It’s quite impressive to see what someone with such skills can do even with something so simple as a CV!

I tend to agree with Micheil, resumes need to be easy to read and to the point. As you mentioned, recruiters are inundated with resumes and I feel you risk being over looked if your resume is needlessly complicated.

Regardless all the posts above are definitely creative and kudos on that. http://akidesign.deviantart.com/art/Curriculum-Vitae-92588918 is definitely my favorite.

Beautiful !

These Résumés are truly amazing, I find these type of Résumés are very acceptable in the design field. When I hire a designer I look for the full package, and the more this person can show me the better. On a side note, I never really care too much about eduction or about a traditional Résumé for designers either. I found you can’t teach talent, only theory.
Job well done to all!

I’d have to disagree with @Micheil your resume is way too long – it should be one side of A4, two at most. It may be ’simple’ – but the two (standard) fonts are used in 5/6 different sizes – making it quite hectic.

A design cv is far different to a regular cv. It’s a chance to showcase a little of what you do. Employers are bombarded everyday with the same old standard resumes – why not make it a little different, it’ll make you stand out, and in these cases will make you memorable – in a good way!

While I do see the argument to doing whatever it takes to ensure that your résumé stands out amongst the others, I have to agree with Micheil.

Your résumé should be a document to explain your skill set and experience. It can and very well SHOULD have some type of design to it, being in the business that we’re in, but your résumé doesn’t have to be a portfolio-worthy piece.

My favorite one out of all of these is Sid Santos, neat idea to make it into a packaging one.

I would agree that some of them are inpractical, but more importantly I am glad to see conventions being questioned. In some cases, I see some very well-executed Infographics. In others, just an opportunity to showcase design capabilities in lieu of experience.

They’ll all get an employer’s attention, but if it is not readily clear WHY the design choices were made, and if the information is overpowered by the overall design, then they fail regardless of how creative they are.

Most of those were very hard to read/understand. I’m no expert on resumes but if I were the employer and couldn’t find the information I was looking for without an instructions manual I think I would pass on to the next resume….

I have to agree with Micheil, there are some lovely pieces of graphics work here, but some are difficult to read easily and more importantly quickly.

hmm….Micheil…you may need this post more than you think….Looked at your resume….if you claim any design experience…As an Art Director I would not even call you back based on your submitted resume.

I do however, not agree with everyone of these…My favorite is Michael Andersons InfoGraphics resume’. Brilliant, It made me laugh and had to call others over to look at it.

Would definately call him in, if he were looking…

which is the goal of a resume.

For the majority I’d say great creative but most lack the necessary readability for a resume. Take into account the majority of first line resume viewers are not necessarily creatives, so you’ve lost them there. Too many of these examples are more puzzles than concise deliverers of information. There for they would most likely end up in the trash. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it communicates, or as I like to say, works.

Some of these are incredibly hard to read and I can’t help but wonder how many will be tossed out because of this.

While I think it’s cool to stand out from the herd, your resume, above all else, needs to be quickly readable.

I like all of them, except one…the game-board one. It is not all that nice, clever idea though. I love graphical resumés and I am currently working on mine.

I have to agree completely with Micheil.

While most of these resumes are gorgeous in design, all of that time and talent would be completely lost on managers, and HR reps that are sifting through these in email, etc…

Many of them are very cumbersome and hard to read. Being part of the hiring team for many candidates, I look for a well organized, easily skimmed resume that I can quickly make a decision on. Most of these examples would drive me absolutely crazy.

I have to say even Micheil’s cover page, while nice, would drive me a bit crazy as it seems like a waste of my scroll-time/paper.

AMAZING LIST OF RESUMES!
however, is it possible for you guys to come up with a post that has resumes made in a word processor or pdf or a ppt. Something that is simple yet impressive…

Considering most of these resume’s are for graphic designers, I think they’re pretty awesome and shows off their skills rather well. Now, if they were an accountant….not so much.

a document communicates information.
all documents utilize typography.
many use colour and imagery as well.
by employing visual techniques, the content is communicated in an appropriate manner to the relevant audience.

ie: a book is usually typeset simply and elegantly to enable easy parsing and digestion of the content by the reader (who could be anyone) and allow them to interpret the content themselves.
however a more targeted communication piece may rely more heavily on colours, imagery, typefaces and treatments likely to elicit the desired response from the intended audience.
this is not new or revolutionary.

a resumé is a document that communicates one’s skills, qualifications, accomplishments, etc. in a given field.
it is almost always viewed by a professional accustomed to evaluating a multitude of such documents from other contenders with like skills, and as such, requires the creator to rely heavily on their ability to craft a document that communicates their unique strengths.

these resumés do what they are supposed to do for the audience they are supposed to impress upon.

and i’d take another look at maybe 10% of the ideas in these and maybe apply some of that thinking to your own.
your resumé is boring dude.

…typo…*resumes*

While the google maps idea is rather nifty, as with several other ideas here, as a potential employer, I’d get distracted, bored, or tired of figuring out all the arrows and doo-dads pointing every which direction.

Creative and cool looking resumes, but the majority of these are way over the top. Resumes should be simple and the content should be easy to digest. These would get passed up by majority of employers looking to hire.

I enjoyed the post and the designs, but I am not sure they would be appropriate as resumes in many situations.

There are so many steps to getting hired at larger companies and the majority of those people in HR are very conservative. While the person you directly report to might appreciate the design, they may never see it because the hiring manager or recruiter discarded it immediately. I don’t agree with that practice, but that has been my experience.

Better to let your creativity shine through in your portfolio, stick to a classic resume, and network like a fiend so that your resume is not stuck in a pile of others to begin with.

I think most of these would function well as sort of a “designer’s cover page”, but I would still include a boring old scannable version…

We should be cautious about drawing a line between “creative” and “effective” or “functional”.

Most of these don’t work as resumes. If you’re a creative person, whether its a graphic designer, web designer, copywriter, etc., it is your work (portfolio) that should be showing off your talent. If your portfolio is lacking in content, take the time to create some mock ads, brochures, or other marketing pieces. In a real work situation you will never be asked to design a “creative resume”.

Your resume is a document that allows the reader to clearly understand your professional background, expertise, education, etc. The only real design elements it should contain are typographical. A good font, well laid out text and proofread copy.

After looking at numerous resumes throughout the day, most recruiters wouldn’t even attempt to read some of these designs.

Wow, lots of great resumes here. Although you probably also have a stripped-down version available. Anyway here’s mine, maybe you could feature it too ?

http://www.sachagreif.com/new-resume/

@Micheil

The most important part is here:
“So, how can we stand out from the rest and grab the attention of a design agency when they’re usually bombarded with hundreds of applications?”

These are resumes for a Design Agency… when you just write only simple words they won’t say anything special about you… they won’t “show” how good you are. If I good remember design agencies even request some “special” forms of resume.

Do not include a photo of yourself on your resume. Unless you’re an actor or model the person hiring you will just think you’re a vain individual.

these are some really hard to read resumes

These resumes show an exceptional level of creativity and imagination. But from an HR manager’s perspective, it is too much.

Many of these would be much better used online.

These documents are beautiful and amazingly creative. However, resumes need to be tailored for specific positions and specific employers. Without knowing to whom these resumes were addressed, it is difficult to know if they would have been effective. As a result, I would generally not encourage designers to take the above approach to crafting their resumes. On the other hand, if after doing significant research into a potential employer, a designer feels the above type of resume would be appropriate, then by all means, he/she should be as creative as necessary.
The key is knowing your audience; not every employer in the creative industries will find the resumes featured on this page appealing. So, do your homework on the organization. Network without ceasing. And, at the very least, if you create a resume like one of those above, make it available online, then provide the link to it from your traditional, tailored resume.

I think these are all cool, but I get the feeling that there are two types of potential hiring managers providing comments.

HM type 1: You aren’t in the creative field, but rather in business. You would consider one of these over a standard resume b/c frankly they’re really cool looking. Yeah, it takes a bit more to find the information than a standard resume, but so what, you’re looking for someone who thinks out of the box and has already shown it.

HM type 2: You’re an Art Director or Creative Professional. You know crap when you see it, and good work when you see it, and you know why it’s crap or good. You know that “cool creative people” are a dime a dozen. You also know that creative types need versatility, with a range of styles and abilities that will work for your clients. You use a resume to see if this person is full of shit or if it’s worth looking at their portfolio. You’ll make better decisions when you see more work.

I’m squarely in the first type of HM, and I think these are awesome. However, I definitely see the difference and agree with type 2 when it comes to getting quick and clear information. Plus, it’s a resume, and if it doesn’t convey the information efficiently, it doesn’t really do it’s job, which is the purpose of most design work (at least in advertising). I mean, there’s one here where you can’t read some words b/c of glare… that’s a big issue.

I’d say, consider who you’re audience is, and design for that. If you want a job designing subway maps, then I think that’s a good design, same thing with the packaging guy’s if he’s going for that job…

While these resumes are impressive, they are also really hard to read and follow. I would go with something a bit simpler…remember the person reviewing your resume probably has a stack on their desk that is easier to read.

The designs are great, but mostly impossible to read. If we get anything out of this, its that these are “couture” resumes. Simply take a little piece from a fave, simplify, and make it your own.

I agree with all of those who believe these are ineffective vanity projects. Some of them are quite lovely, but they fail at the main objective of a CV, which is to clearly, quickly, and concisely convey information.

There are some creative managers that might go for them, but the fact is that generally the HR manager screens them first, and these’d probably go straight into the recycle bin.

I do disagree, however, that a CV can’t show off your design skills. Design is primarily about effectively conveying a message, and a CV is a perfect way to do this. Typography, white space, information hierarchy—all of the foundations of good design can be applied to a resume to show your talent without resorting to gimmicks and grunge paintbrushes.

Most of these completely miss the point of a resume. When hiring, I don’t want to see a resume convoluted with design elements. Give me a sheet of data nicely typed with good leading in a readable typeface. Then give me a portfolio folder. Don’t do both in one, it defeats the purpose of both.

I must say I am quite impressed by the creativity and design ability showcased by the above artists, but I think the resume is the wrong vehicle in which to showcase that talent.

I agree your resume must stand out but more most importantly is must be readable. To many of the designs above while very visually stimulating are difficult to read. If I can’t find the information that I’m looking for quickly and efficiently, then I pass on that paticular resume and move on to the next one.

Once I have chosen someone based on their resume and ask for a portfolio / exmaple of work now I’m looking to be impressed by their design skills. Your portfolio is your chance to blow me away by what you can do.

These are incredibly imaginative. Would work well on a website or in creative fields. Not so sure about for business

my CV is rather plain, but stuffed with useful data. I’ve created it for print out, not for the net. Thus it is very simple formatted, using Georgia for headlines and Times New Roman for the rest.

If you’d like to see my portfolio, you’d have to enter the url which is supplied in each page footer into your favorite browser, and off you go.

cu, w0lf.

I’m a little torn here – I can appreciate that many HR managers/recruiters could find these over the top, but the creativity that has gone into some of them amazes me. Sure – reading a graph and having to work with a key is kinda out there – but so what? Do you want to hire someone who says (s)he’s a designer, and sends you a vanilla MS Word document as a CV?

If you’ve been set the task of hiring for a creative role, and you throw the more creative CV’s in the bin…maybe you’re the wrong person to be evaluating candidates for that position…?

I dont like them all, but there are like 2 that are really good!

Wow, some great resumés there, great inspiration as i’m about to write my own! The last one and christas are my favourites!

As a manager that has hired hundreds of people, I can tell you that most of these would have been immediately circular filed.
It takes time and energy to review resumes and if I have to hunt for the relevant information about your skill set, you are wasting my time. Most of these are way too hard to read and would never make it to an interview committee.

Those resumes are great. We’ve seen some creative descriptions come through, but I love the extra details these job candidates put in. If any of them are still looking, we’d love to chat with you! ;-P

Aamir Shah ripped off someone else’s photo/wallpaper… wow. im 80% sure i’ve seen that background image on deviantart.com

yikes

Although I think this conversation has pretty much been hashed out by now, I have to throw my two cents in anyway.

The only resume that really stood out here to me is Christa’s. All the others were way too over the top. Unless you are applying specifically for a job designing infographics, why design your resume in that style?

Also, as a somewhat recent grad, I remember my early years in school where I wanted everything I did to look super “cool” which usually meant a lot of decorative fonts, photoshop work and other trick techniques. Unfortunately, all this trickery is usually an attempt to cover up fundamental design skills that are lacking. Most of these resumes fail because there is no clear hierarchy to the information, and it is not easily gleaned from the page. In good design, form follows function–the hiring process is often one of reviewing hundreds of resumes. No director wants to hunt through a muddle of “creativity” in order to find out the relevant facts of an applicant. If you take away all the little decorative elements, these resumes lack the basic design skill of good typography, which is essential to any great designer.

My resume, offered up to the wolves for discussion:
http://www.kendalricher.com/resume.html

when someone looks at your resume they dont really spend more than 5-10 minutes on it and the most info their eyes will catch the more they know about your and your skills or whatever. if they spend 5 minutes figuring out how to read your resume I dont see how useful it will be for them. On the contrary you want to stand out from other people so I think it depends on the person hiring you.

One not that your resume should not be more than a page. It is not your portfolio. You might have hundreds of work done but you need to put 2-3 on it that gets most attention not all of them

Wow… some visually appealing designs here, but for a resumé? Definitely questionable. Most of these lack key assets to a resumé: presenting your information in a clean, legible, scanable and digestible way. If these resumés got past the HR hiring departments, than you might make a good impression on a Creative Director, but are HR departments really looking for a great design (or even know how to recognize it?) I wouldn’t think so. In my opinion, a resumé is definitely something that you want to take a minimalist design approach to. There are ways to communicate your message while still demonstrating your creativity and design sense (even using *gasp* MSWord…). My advice, stick to the best practices for ANY resumé (not specifically an art/design position), and let a killer portfolio show off your real skills. Just my two cents worth.

I think they are good because in our case to be graphic designers, creative artists, illustrators, we must show creativity from the presentation, whether it is important that the literature of our curriculum is good, otherwise it is just a poster, chill.

These are great! While I can’t say it is a good idea to give your typical HR person a headache there are times were these sorts of resumes really can work for a candidate. Like ending up in a WebDesignerDepot post! ; )

Really neat collection of resume’s, nice work!

I think very creative way of presenting.

One smashing collection! If I were to hire any of these people, I’d have a hard time deciding.
Thanks for the post… very inspiring.

Hi, I am Chester Lau, Nice to meet you all.
Thanks for you comments, guys.

I am the full-time freelance designer and have my own business based in HK, actually I have a simpler resume too, and this artist one i created is just for print out as a self-promotional item.

In my experience, depend on who i have to meet and work with, i will choose different method and process to approach my clients, that’s why i have different format of the resume and portfolio too.

I never work with the clients who really don’t like what i did for them, because he understand how i am before we start to work, my artistic resume let them really understand me without reservation (..so some clients will tell me that directly i am not suitable for them…but for me it’s good).

Sometimes the relationship between the client and me is friendship or partnership, because i don’t only do something really formal and commercial, try to do something experimental, personal and fresh for them. (I admit I’m really not a commercial designer, but i can get the job finally)

So when i try do my artistic resume, I think this item is not for the formal & commercial business. Even I sent this artistic one to the HR Manager, sometime they also give me a good reply and refer me to their Creative Department, and then i have an interview to meet with the Creative Director directly.
(..so just believe what you should do, and than just do it…)

You know, some clients or Creative Director who don’t really like my works, but they will refer my resume & portfolio to their friend or partner. That’s my experience in this 4 years, it’s unusual but real.

Thanks again

CHESTER

The best tip I’ve ever been given on designing resumes, is “your resume should be nothing more than ‘perfect’ typography.” It is so true. I don’t agree with many of the resumes above, rather a simpler version where typography rules.

Great list again! I just only have to add some points. Resume is a personal marketing brochure — and like any kind of marketing tool, expect the unexpected. The idea is countless and I’m sure the list here is just a sample of what artists can do with their cv. The only tricky part is to get your resume objective: the job.

To get the job, one should know the company, the culture and the philosophy. Only then should the applicant design his cv to be taken seriously. Well, if an artist is applying for Pixar studios, then having a vulgar design which is not too wholesome might not land you the job – knowing that Pixar is now owned by the family-valued Disney company.

I’ve read clashing comments here and I totally agree to most of them. That’s because like any kind of art, all of us have reservations to what we like. This goes with the CV design too.

But all in all, the list is definitely visually entertaining. Good job!

weew…nice

I also think that most of these example resumé’s are overkill, even for a designer.

I do think that a resumé can be as long as 3 sides of an A4 (of Letter). After all, after 10 years of experience you probably collected a couple of companies that you need to have on your resumé… but from what I’ve always noticed and learned at school (a long long time ago), having up to a max of 3 sides is still ok

But designwise; absolutely avoid making the design of a resumé in a way that the design is more important than the text. If you’re a designer it’s ok to put sóme design in it, but if you want to do it right, make your resumé typographically perfect. Use nice type, a good grid and things like that. Don’t make the important information second place by making your design overrule it.

STUPENDO!
WONDERFUL

I did love most of those resumes!
Although they are very visual, they are very easy to read. Definetely catchy.

I would love to receive CV’s like this, mind you the people I employ aren’t creatives in the traditional sense (I employ training professionals and HR staff) so something like this would really stand out as unusual in my field.

Some of them are a little hard to read or interpret but those that are both legible and well designed are really impressive.

Just showed a friend of mine who is a project manager for a web design company. His thoughts:

“I’d hire any of them on the spot if it was for a creative position”

I cant rate anyone, for me all of them are terrific and impressive. I won my heart Keep it up guys!

Like said many times before, most of these are hard to read. The whole point of a resume is that it’s supposed to be easy for a potential employer to read and get an overview of your skills set. Your portfolio can be fancy, keep the resume plain.

One of the best sources for inspiration. I would make mine a bit less creative and more informative since most employers need the info and you have your website to show off your skills.
Or if you are applying in person, these would be great (nice paper and maybe even cut out or rounded).

Well, there you go. Graphic designers showing off their trade. I seriously doubt how well some of these resumes would be received by HRs. Some of these may look good on screen but not on print. And filing them can be a real nightmare. So, if these were to be of software programmers or network administrators, would they come in binaries or etched on network cards? But all said and done, this is a rather enjoyable list. Thanks.

After more than 15 years working for design firms, ad agencies and in-house, I’ve seen my share of resumes. When I was tasked with hiring people, I wanted key information fast and most of these require far too much deciphering. Some ask me to use a key or even cut and fold. Do these designers think that CD’s or HR people have nothing else to do?

They are nice HOWEVER they won’t get you a job. I would save these resumes for the interview, a leave behind.

I am a business manager in a mid sized design consultancy and am actively involved in the recruitment and selection of designers. The vast majority of these resumes would not be helpful in getting a job with us. I appreciate a designer paying attention to how (s)he prepares his resume. A resume is supposed to be a summary or listing of relevant job experience and education, that allows someone to quickly check if that is what is what they are looking for. It is not supposed to be a gallery to show off all the tricks you can pull of on Adobe CS. Infographics exist to facilitate information assimilation, not to make it tougher to understand.
Most of these resumes tell me the designers are tricksters, not people concerned with solving visual communication problems. I don’t want tricksters in my team.
What is the purpose of a resume?
To land a job or to grab attention in the same way that a nudist runs into the middle of a sporting event?

I think it depends on the job and the firm you are applying to as to whether or not an awesome personal portfolio site like this is valuable. At my small design company we would heartily welcome resumes in this format (even if they are just a link) as we believe that your work speaks for itself. We don’t care what you say in your resume if your design+code doesn’t measure up. We want results – and these speak to that.

If you were applying to a more traditional organization that still did a huge amount of screening via HR or requires paper copies then this might not be the way to go. I could see if you were screening thousands of applications that you would probably skip checking out somebody’s personal portfolio site if their resume didn’t make it past the first round of cuts.

A fun list!

Nice designed but hard to read…

A lot of knowlege for a few euros a month, it seems like a mud fight for the best sale-poster. Is this the designer’s view? Just making a cool and recurrent face for a job in front of some “apple-computer”? More snobs than sense, that’s what happen!Freelance working and consciousness, that’s the way of design, no more sweet toady with a big and false smile in their faces!

nice, a fresh ideias… congratulations… from Portugal

Nice work!!! but there is a time and place for everything and most of these resume samples are Not appropriate for the occasion. Its like trying to impose or force a grunge style to conservative brand, here you are pushing the envelope and take the seriousness and importance away from your resume.

My suggestion to those who really want your audience have a sense of your work, will be to provide along with your “Nice and Clean” resume a Self-promotion.

I was with the same enthusiasm as many trying to create a Kick Ass!! Resume, but was not efficient in getting the interview I was trying to get. Maybe the concept did not help either (a picture of a Viagra bottle with titles “I will work Hard for You”)

… going on a bike ride ø‹åø

A designer resume that shows T-squares and period looking artwork says little about the designer in question.

A portfolio is where one shows their work or in a biography. Not a resume.

Empty words. We are playing smart and not being clever. A portfolio is a postmodern invention to put designers on the market. More consciousness about our profesion, we have some social responsability and we can work for freelance, I’m doing… looking for no trouble. A lot of sweet toadies gonna be snobs, yuppies, viyorcs… but just for a while (_)IIIIIID

OMG – I could not agree anymore with Micheil in the #1 comment.
I would not hire a single one of these designers based on JUST their resume presentation….I don’t even know where to begin reading them…

A resume needs to be simple and clean. In my opinion, this is where one’s understanding of Typography comes in handy.

They are artistic & creative, as the topic says.

But not very practical…

CV / Resume : have to be simple and clear where you can find required info within no time.

Portfolio : you can go crazy, that is your playground…

I am a creative/artist person, so I really enjoyed these resumes and would interview many of these people for work. It is a relief to see fresh ideas and pleasing design.

I do understand though, that a resume for non-creative HR people, would need to be much more traditionally presented.

This reminds me of unusual business card designs that really only impress other creatives. You need to appeal to the needs of the people on the receiving end.

I like the idea from Amy, that these could be left with the interviewer upon leaving the meeting. It’s more of a tear sheet type of thing.

Micheil has got the right idea, but I’ll tell you what. Some of these designs are BEAUTIFUL designs. I think it’s safe to have a great copy of your resume or cv as long as you’re willing to supply a standard document version as well.

I love the 2nd one, the infographics one, but yes, that’s definitely got a targeted audience, and only infographics people would appreciate it.

I came up with a combination of both that I’m pretty happy with:
http://paperdoll.orange-crux.net/sara_reffler_resume.pdf

It’s designed, but it’s still clean, concise and readable.
Feel free to drop me an email with feedback!

If you want to be noticed as a design professional, then your resume needs to be designed! These are excellent!!

I interviewed with an art director who liked my resume because it was designed (though not as well as these–thanks for the inspiration). He said he was shocked at how many designers submitted resumes made in Microsoft Word. Those went straight to the garbage!

That’s a fantastic list but should only be used for graphic designers.. if you’re not one, then those Resumes would be self-killers

A lot of these are way to flashy and over bearing. When in the past that i have had to screen potential applicants for an interview I had a lot to go through. So, with these resumes, although very cool and would be OK to have on your web site or maybe include with your resume with a portfolio, I would probably toss it. Resume screening is a fairly mechanical process and is “just another one of those things” you end up doing. The most that I would personally do would be these two:

http://mac1388.deviantart.com/art/Typographic-Resume-111684292
http://akidesign.deviantart.com/art/Curriculum-Vitae-92588918

They are fairly easy to read, they stand out, but are not insane like some of the others. I like the second one the best as it’s easier to read than the first but still shows some artistic expression. Although what I am saying may sound trivial they are not.

The absolute main goal of submitting a resume or CV is to get an interview! Once you have one then bring in a tangible portfolio printed on quality paper along with a CD/DVD with everything on it.

Hey,
My resume was one of the ones you chose to put up here…I just want to say thanks a bunch! I really appreciate the compliment–means a lot to me. =]

Great roundup, I’ve done some of these too and I always enjoy seeing what original ideas the designers have come up with.

Here’s my original beautiful resumes article that is very popular:

36 Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work

A designer is supposed to communicate information in a simple, organized (understandable) fashion. I don’t think the majority of these have accomplished that. Yes, you are selling yourself, but some of these look so much like ads, they would end up in the junk mail pile.

We design to fulfill the clients’ objectives – the ‘client’ here has asked for a resume:
Think ‘creative brief’:
- “a brief account of one’s professional or work experience and qualifications”
- well written, grammatically correct (there is a reason they call it ‘writing’ a resume, copy is key – if you’re selling snowboards then maybe not so much)
- easy to read & find keywords at a quick glance (I never read resumes when first received…I scan, then trash or file for later review)
- printable on a typical B&W printer (or photocopier) to be passed on to others involved in the hiring process
- these are just a few to keep in mind, this list could go on

Even when you present your portfolio, you’re not just showing how well you can use Photoshop – that’s technical, anyone can learn it. The person you’re showing your work to, may not even like some of your work – but it’s up to you to explain each of your pieces, and justify why you did it that way and how it satisfied that particular client’s objectives. Our job involves so much more than just ‘making shit look cool’, a position I find myself constantly having to defend!

these are dame good ideas….. realy

By no means should you design a resume. I’m a senior creative at an award winning agency here in Scotland, and like an earlier poster, I would disregard these straight away. They’re pointless and annoying. I want to see your cv in a simple word document, not designed, so that I can read it. Designing your cv is such an immature thing to do.

Put your work in your folio.

regardless of the issue of a ‘desiged’ cv/resume or typed doc…

most of these samples are awfully designed, if i was to be sent these i would think that would be the caliber of your work (really not good!!!!) and you were probably staring out straight out of school. wouldn’t bother reading them and bin them!

by all means design you resume, get rid of the images/graphics and make it typographically beautiful.

Avoid employing unlucky people by throwing half the resumes in the trash without even reading them.

Agreed DMC,

I don’t think however, that it would hurt to make your resume a typographicly perfect letter. Not that you have to go nuts about making it the most unreadable typography, but do something very pleasant and almost grid-like, without killing it with design.

I think a perfect typographically layout works a lot better then either a design-overkill or word document as a resume any day

Joram, for sure, some typography is fine, applying logic to it is great by all means, but every example above is pure overkill.

I have to agree with Hugo, most of these examples are awful anyway.

While they are cool, i don’t think anyone would hire them to a ’serious’ business. Serious i mean in those old fashion corporations, or when the boss is an old style man.

Like Hugo said, “by all means design you resume, get rid of the images/graphics and make it typographically beautiful.”

While my resume have design, i don’t use it too much. It outstands the ’standard’ word docs but isn’t too fancy.

DMC said:
“By no means should you design a resume. I’m a senior creative at an award winning agency here in Scotland, and like an earlier poster, I would disregard these straight away. They’re pointless and annoying. I want to see your cv in a simple word document, not designed, so that I can read it. Designing your cv is such an immature thing to do.”

I half disagree. These resumes shown sure are ‘immature’ but when you get just a better layout, with no fancy things, just a better way to show while keeping the reading simple and obvious, is the best.

That’s what i tried make on mine. If anyone want to give me some feedback/suggestion/critiques, here it is:

http://raphaelddl.com/CV_Raphael_v2b_cens.pdf

(That’s not the final version since i need to re-think about the ‘extras’ place in the 2nd page and some better way to show more skills with less space consumption. And of course, i censored my address and stuff )

Regards,
RaphaelDDL

I’ve seen something like this before on another blog and a lot of people commented that they are illegible and hard to print, which I agree with. Most employers would print out your resume on a b&w laser printer and most of these would look like a mess on one of those. They’d be better suited to an online portfolio website design.

Well, I think both sides of question are pertinent. As a graphic designer, we need to take an advantage of material and show something different from ordinary. We need to think about the core of question: I need a creative resumé but it need to be printable and readable. Most office pirnters are lasers or ink, so we need to take advantage of fast and easy print. So I decided to create a 2d, 3d resumé. To solve this problem I create a little chronological history about my skills and experiences and put in text blocks around the sides of a cut-and-fold trash can. And made my business card with the same structure and put together in my resumé.
With the resumé there´s a link to a section of my site that explains how to cut and fold the resumé.
Just need 1 color to print, cut and fold.
Well. I typed a lot…
The result is that:
http://www.marcusfolio.com.br/pdf/curriculum.pdf
The link about “How to cut and fold”:
http://www.marcusfolio.com.br/apresentacao.html
You need to click at: “Como montar o curriculum” and for business card: “COmo montar o Cubinho”

These are awesome though I wouldn’t recommend anyone who plans to work in a conservative company to do this.

Just two or three are good. I like mine http://www.sadesigner.com/downloads/resume.pdf. Simple as that.

Wow they’re all so cool, but I do agree with the first guy who wrote, maybe a little less poster-looking. You know leave the cool stuff you can do for later, like give them a taste and have them wanting more. In any case as a beginner it’s really inspiring to see these resumes. They’re so cool!

I like how the 18th one down, “Christa Roethlisberger” says she has HTL Experience.

They are all good, but I like the one by Jean-Francois.
I didn’t know that you can be creative with your resume.

I will try this approach and redesign my resume and see what happens.

Great article.

personally, i’ve never seen something like this before (artistic resumes). i love and am going to try it out soonest possible. it’s just powerful.

This post should be titled “what NOT to do” when it comes to your resume. A designer should know when to NOT go overboard. Clean, simple typography is key when designing your resume, any design shop worth its salt knows this.

#126 Agreed

It’s more difficult to construct something clean and simple than anything.

I think those resumes doesn’t fit a HR desk. They should be at an Atr Gallery!
It’s all about being at the right place!

Its a really great ideia………..

I´ll post it in my blog…

In my opinion, only one or two of those résumés will make it out of an instant bin.

A résumé should be a balanced statement of Proffesionalism and a clever way to demonstrate your talents. These are way over the latter awfully crying “I’m very Talented!!”, going far off to the “overly creative” area. It might as well show you as an unexperienced candidate.

Hey, I found interesting and inspiring event if most of them are just graphic solutions to the standard A4 or web page Resumé.
I found interesting however that few tried to “quantize” or develop a new way of presenting their skills, like the first, second and the cube CV and I think I should share mine with you.

In the same way there is feedback on these ideas I would like to put a project I did during this Winter to present my skills. Is a little bit long and I must warn that it was not intended to work like a CV or resumé since it’s too long to present in an interview. But it was an experiment that aimed to explain or summarize the choices that led me to my career…

Take a look and give feedback!

http://unfold.patrickds.com

I disagree with most of you here. Come on people, get out of the dark ages. The outlandish ones on the top of this page are the ones that I would keep. As a Senior Art Director in charge of a room of animators the resume is the first thing I look at. If i see one of these sitting in a pile of black and whites full of text I’m gonna grab these exciting ones. I’ll want to look through these and then pop their demo in to see their motion. Weren’t you all taught to think beyond the box? These here are definitely beyond the box. In fact they are so beyond it that it takes you a couple minutes to even find their meaning. Are you all that busy that you won’t take the time to actually look through the “hard to understand” ones here? If that’s the case you need to take up some time management training.
now on a side note. If you’re gonna do something like these….don’t use standard clip art/vector graphix that we all see and use. Draw some original stuff.

My resume is on here (made a long time ago) Graphic is spelled wrong!

Thank God, I’ve NEVER used it for an actual interview.

hahahaha

Some questions for anyone who hasn’t rushed back to the drawing board (answers supplied):

1. What is your goal? The only right answer here is, “to get in the room, with my portfolio, with the person who makes the decisions.” It is not “to meet HR requirements with flair.”

2. What is the most effective way to get in the room? I wish the answer was “send a super-sweet resume.” The answer is networking and concept-based self-promotion. Sadly, these terms come up a total of four times, FOUR TIMES, in 133 comments. Maybe because it’s so hard and nobody wants to pour water on the lovefest for bitchin cool resumes.

Your resume should be the last thing you hand over, and ideally only upon request. And if you’ve done everything right, when you do, it should feel like a redundant formality.

If I had to break down how to spend your energy, it would look like this:

50% Portfolio prep
30% Self-promotional piece(s)
29% Networking
1% Resume

Oh look, that adds up to 110%.

Sorry.

Bill

Only problem I see is printing these suckers out. Unless you are dropping it off. If you emailed these heavy graphical resumes to employers they would lose that option to print (unless severely wasting some color ink or having a crummy black and white mess) I think the typographic version is perfect as it would print out nicely and still shows off some creativity. Including these graphical resumes in your portfolio to showcase some skills would be a better decision and would be a great thing to bring along printed out to an interview to sway the employers decision even further and they can take away a nicely printed graphical version to the decision making process after the interview.

Ron Lim also has a great resume:

http://www.portfolio.ronlim.com/Ron_Lim_resume.pdf

just dropping in from StumbleUpon. You have a pretty nifty site here. I’ll be sure to bookmark it for daily visits.

“Expenditure” is misspelled in the first line of this one.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7855449@N02/3258568672/sizes/o/

Screw the haters. I thought these were cool, so I designed one for myself. I would appreciate any feedback! http://greentechbuilders.posterous.com/my-new-resume thanks for a little inspiration.

I think these resumes are quite “cute” as design school asignments, but quite uncommercial. Remember when applying to a job you are being judged by people who doesn’t know anything about design mostly, so tecnically when they get these sort of resumes, they find em hard to read and of course, “full of crap”. As a Pro designer for almost 5 years I get this kind of resumes all the time and consider them inmature. A designer must be capable to get the best out of a format, I agree, but also communicate the right way towards the objective, and most of all, be able to find the proper solution. Keep em simple, classy, a good and clear layout is the keynote. Be sure to enhance you software and platform skills and send it in pdf. Makes a better impression.

Cheers.

WOW! Awsome!

#17: “Track Record” :B Dur-pa-dur.

I agree with you guys… resume should be readable and easy to understand but the way there people designed their resume, hmm it’s pretty interesting! But let’s admit you can put flowery words to impress people but only few of them can really make good design. At least these people, they did not only give you their experience but their creative side as well. Keep up the good work guys and believe in yourself! God bless.

When I look at resumes, I just want to see info, not graphics. I don’t think I would have the energy to try and find the info I’m looking for on these. -dp

This is superb & interesting approach. Im digging their works. Cool CV. Ayos -_+

Nice Page

These resumes are great! I think it takes guts to present a resume like this and think outside of the box and if you are dealing with a company who doesn’t recognize this and agree with the above you probably are looking in the wrong place anyway. Indeed, with a CV like this one makes a choice, it doesn’t work with all companies, as long as it is done in all consciousness then that’s cool! Depends if you are desperate on getting A job or wanting to find THE job that will allow you to fully express your creativity. And most of all you are getting loads of hype (I’ve already tweeted this and I’m sure most of the above have passed it on too…) so you probably have landed that cool job already!

I think the amateurs and enthusiasts need to stop posting in this thread, because you’re all giving people a completely incorrect idea about how to go about things.
The people here saying DON’T make your CV in this way are absolutely correct, 100%.

With 20 years experience, now a creative director at a leading London agency, I absolutely do not want to know about anyone who presents this type of CV. It’s appalling, amateurish, and annoying. I’m going to print out any CV I get, in duplicate, and use it to go through points when discussing potential candidates. If we can’t quickly skim and read the most salient points, that CV is going in the bin.

Those people bleating on about “get the job that allows you to show your creativity”, “cool jobs” and all that guff, please, have you even worked in the creative industries? I seriously doubt it, and believe me, if you present a CV like this, you never will.

Very cool examples. I don’t think they are relevant for all occupations. However, if you’re looking for a job in graphic design, a creative resume like some of these examples can say a lot about your skills. They’re kind of like an extension of your portfolio. I would recommend having a basic resume that is submitted at the time of application. Then, when you show up to the interview, you can blow the employer away with your resume’s artistic design.

I think it’s REALLY important to do your homework before sending ANY resume to any employer. You need to know what kind of work they do so you submit the most appropriately designed resume, with content tailored to their needs. Its also important to prep your book accordingly. If the company your applying to is very corporate or uses corporate hiring practices, conservative is your best bet. But if the place is small and stresses ideas and design skill, the opposite is true. And no two companies are ever the same.

I can think of several small boutique design firms that would fawn over these. But they would never fly at ad agencies or in-house corporate departments. Strategy is ALWAYS your best bet.

I have several resumes–ranging from very conservative to very heavily designed for that very reason. In fact, I cant remember the last time I sent the same resume or design twice…

i think that one of them are very creative but other are really a mess are i hard to understand that, I think that resume can be clean and creative and not saturate like this ones

ver, very, very nice!…i’ve also done my resume as artistic-presentation only for download under my web site.

Yes 90% are nor usable remember you want to apprear professional when applying for a job not like posting ads!

Someone who went to my college and graduated the same year as me apparently has their resume on this list. If his could make it, so could mine! haha…And mine matches the look of my print portfolio, so it is basically branding myself. I agree some are a little over the top and hard to read, but I still think as a designer you should do SOMETHING. Mine is easy to read but has more style than a plain black and white resume.

@ashlie

I’m not entirely sure you really know what “branding” is…

As a designer, you SHOULD NOT DO ANYTHING LIKE THIS.

Just text, some typography to make it legible, then show your folio at interview.
ALWAYS.

@Sagmeister

It’s ASHLEI and that’s not what I was told/taught, and clearly by this article that’s not what others have been told/taught either.

I’ve been on interviews where people have complimented my resume, and how it ties in with my portfolio. Its neat and legible, but designed. Not over the top. So your opinion is just one.

I really like the one in the pantone book style – very cool.

I agree with Micheil. I think people should stick with a simple text-based resume. Just make sure the typography looks immaculate!

Okay, so I’m sitting at my desk looking at potential hires. 223 resumes. All white. All plain. All say the same thing. Except one. It’s bright. Graphic based. It stands out on the desk filled with a sea of white like a massive light house warning ships away from big nasty rocks. It’s not overly complicated and strikes a nice balance between conveying the concise information I need to make an informed decision — name, address, educational level, experience — and a decent example of his creative side demonstrated through color, typography, style, and individual flair.

Traditional CVs serve one purpose — they let me know who is NOT qualified. If I am looking for someone with artistic ability who can take our ideas and help us present them to the world, it’s refreshing to see someone take the time to give me what I need as a decision maker at my company.

In my view, anyone who ignores a quality graphic based resume isn’t someone you want to work for anyway. You have to have an environment that strikes a nice balance, otherwise, your creativity will always be stunted by those around you. While I liked a number of the above examples, I felt Ms. Berger’s did a great job of mixing both elements for someone who gets typography. Tudor’s was a great example of something that would “jump out” from the rest of the resumes on the table.

Make no mistake about it, people are sheep. Many of the people who poo-poo creative resumes are bigger sheep, and some will even be threatened by creative thinkers even though they claim that’s who they are.

The only people who have ever got ahead in life are those who are willing to stand out from the rest of the crowd. You won’t get looked at by every job, but you will eventually catch the attention of the job you really want — one that fits with YOUR personality, your lifestyle, YOUR goals, your ideals, et cetra.

A job is a job, unless you love it. You work to live your life, you don’t live to work. People like the “creative director” above who made the crack about “remember writing” has a very myopic view on this topic. By his own words, I’d never hire him to be a creative director at my company; if one of my employees acted like that and didn’t pass on that ONE or TWO resumes that come across thier desk as being different, they’d get fired. No questions asked. And they know that about me.

As for writing, I’ve written a number of actual books, I write for numerous magazines, and I successfully sell myself and our business to clients all of the time using creative ideas like the examples above. Albeit, there are some up there that need to be toned down a bit — but not so much as to stifle your creativity. Again, it’s about balance. And I’m an executive level manager with two post graduate degrees who actually makes the “final” decision in hiring; I’m not just someone who has a say and waxes on with partial authority here at a blog.

The real key in a down market is this: be persistent. And always be you. I don’t want conformists when your job will be to be creative. I want people who think differently. That is how we invented and marketed over 50 new products to the world in less than three years. By thinking outside AND inside the box. Be yourself. That way they know who they’re really interviewing.

Great post.

“I’m not just someone who has a say and waxes on with partial authority here at a blog”

But, isn’t that exactly what you’ve just done? You’ve made vague claims to accomplishments but haven’t qualified them, and you’ve insisted you know what’s best and that you’re right. 594 words if I’m not mistaken, you must be seriously busy…

I’d also point out that if you fired a member of staff, especially a director, for not handing you a CV, they’d have you dragged through the courts faster than you can say “I’m not really a company director and I have no place hiring creative staff because I haven’t got a clue what I’m on about”

Actually, I take that back, you’ve spraffed enough nonsense to let me know you’re not a creative yourself, which means A: that you shouldn’t be hiring creatives, and B: you have no place critiquing creative CV’s, and that you’re so impressed by shiny things that you wouldn’t know real, EFFECTIVE, creative skill if it smacked you in the face. You’d hire the person with the funkiest CV and then wonder why they can’t do the work you give them.

You sound like every company director I’ve ever met i.e: An opinionated, short-sighted, boastful idiot.

These CV”s suck ass, the people here saying send a word file and follow it with a folio are the ones any hopeful creative should be paying attention to.

Um, maybe if you have 223 resumes on your desk, you might find the best candidate by y’know, reading them, instead of waiting for one to “jump out at you”.

@ James

Can I just give you a high five for all your responses? Thank you for being open minded and not acting like there is one right way and everything else is wrong. It’s shocking to me how so many designers are self-righteous and arrogant. No one has to agree with all opinions, but there is such a lack of respect of other people’s design choices and opinions. I’ve responded in a few design discussions, and people so rudely respond to what I say in a negative, superior tone.

I like you. You made my day a little better. Thank you.

@ James

I can believe you’re a company exec. You sure talk enough crap, and you seem to love the sound of your own voice.
What a cockstain.

I found this article in June prior to applying for a job. While many of these were much to busy (in my opinion), they did give me a few ideas. In the end, I worked out of InDesign and prepared my type in a tidy fashion, and then I made a plain logo header and a footer image for the bottom right corner. This way, the information was presented in a clear manner and creative elements that reflected my personality were woven in later. It seemed to be a much easier working process for me than trying to begin with an elaborately laid-out page, and apparently it worked because I got the job. When I get home I’ll see about posting a PDF if it’s of interest to anyone.

Let’s not assume that everyone is applying for a job at a stiff design firm. Many job openings happen to be at smaller entrepenurial shops where the owner is more likely to be attracted by some of the looser, more abstract designs. How about if one walks into an interview with two resume’s and hands over the most appropriate one. If an old guy with glasses walks up to you take out the conservative one. If some kid walks up and says “hey dude”, whip out the creative one. If you need to send out the resume in advance, then do some research on the company. Find out something about the decision makers there and then make you best guess.

I am a hiring manager for a large team of Relationship and Account Managers – yes, business not design. I would be delighted to see any amount of creativity or personality added to an applicant’s resume. We don’t study them anyway. We look for minimum requirements and something that catches our eye. We want to hear from the applicant, not read everything on a resume. Be creative with your resume, bland is bad. All industries need creativity and free-thinkers to be succesul.

Winning resumes are compelling and persuasive.

Excepting design houses, etc., where the above resumes depict creative talent, most employers prefer a chronological or functional resume. The old adage, “Just The Facts, Man!” still hold true when it comes to employment.

Wow, thanks for sharing these, they are a great inspiration for all of us out there starting out in design.

I like the one in the form of the GANT CARD- it is so simple, and tells employer everything he needs to know in an intresting and smart way. I will borrow this idea

You know, just a thought -

Several of you are claiming to have input in the hiring process, and state that you’d send most of these straight to the trash.

Something to consider – in an interview process, the employee is as much weeding out the employer as vice versa. I’d be willing to wager that most of the designers contemporary and forward-thinking enough to have a resume like this probably wouldn’t want to work for you anyway. The fact that someone so constraining wouldn’t ever call them back may be a feature of the resume, not a flaw.

And if they’re freelancers? Having clients you work well with is the difference between loving your job and hating it. If they can’t look at your resume and “get it”, you’re better off without them.

I wish my I.T. resume could look like those!!!

If I sent something like that to a recruiter, they would just ask me to re-send it in MS Word format so they can scan it into their database.

I suspect that a lot of the people who like these resumes haven’t actually had to deal with one of the realities of hiring: sorting through fifty or a hundred resumes for a particular position.

Sure, a resume such as this would stand out. But the main job of a resume, at least for me when I’m hiring, is to quickly rule out candidates that are obviously wrong for the job. At that stage, the resume and cover letter get perhaps 10-20 seconds, allowing me to spend less than an hour whittling down those hundred candidates to ten or twenty that seem worth following up. None of the resumes above would have allowed me to extract the information I need in that amount of time.

Then again, if I were hiring for “produces cool looking stuff,” as opposed to “can communicate information well,” there’s a possibility that I would pursue candidates with resumes like the above. I still don’t think I’d bother to try to decipher the resumes, though….

The future of Resumes! Heard of the Resume Race Theory?

A few years back I was talking to a recruiter at Adobe. She told me that they typically got about a thousand resumes for every advertised position, of which 200 were qualified for it. (Note that this was with an online submittal form that sometimes required a long answer – two or more sentences – typed into a half dozen or so boxes.) I would imagine that the current market is about the same for most advertised positions.
So a designed resume like these would be useful in that the hiring manager might spend a couple extra seconds looking at it, perhaps four seconds total rather than the average two seconds he or she normally spends per resume. But if the hiring manager doesn’t see something in that extra time, then it is wasted.
So the resume I like the best of the above is Krista Gregg’s: your attention is immediately drawn to particular points that the designer wants to highlight. Unfortunately, the Hobbies section is the most attention-attracting and the least useful, and the content is not really there.
On the other hand, if you are a firm that pushes these types of designs on to your clients, then it may be hypocritical to not accept a resume designed in the same manner.
On the other hand, I’m not in the design field, just a marketing manager for boring companies, so my input may be totally useless.

Well, the debate seems to be whether the designs are easy to read or they look cool… but I think people is missing the point.

Resumes should be, above everything else, easy to read, but trust me, the traditional up-down professional experience resume is a pain in the ass… you have to be over concentrated to see the full picture, constantly searching for dates to see how long the person has been on a job…

There are great ideas here, such as in Michael Anderson’s. A graph with an exponential time-line, showing your experience and education is awesome. You can see what a person has done in just a glance (though I think Anderson’s graphs could be improved for easy reading).

All right, resumes are not posters (some do look like posters…), but there are great ideas here for synthesizing your experience.

By the way, I prefer more personal resumes than just a bunch of facts that most of the time don’t say nothing.

Personally I would splash some colour, some not-too-fancy typography, and a nice well designed logo/icon and thats it. Nothing more is needed to draw attention. These resumes epitomize overkill.

Some of these resumes fail due to classic errors anyway. For example NEVER write “I will do just about anything”. If YOU don’t have a clear and focused idea of what you want to do then how is an employer going to know what to do with you? What choise will they have but to consider you an aimless bum?

So… Anybody note that “caffeine” is spelled wrong on the character sheet resume?

Regardless of where you come down on the “design v. typography” debate (I’m a graphic artist; I think that design has its place and that place is not necessarily on your resume) the BEST way to get a job is not to misspell the third word anyone sees.

“z f k” writes, “Isn’t graphics artwork exactly meant “to convey information”? in a way different than mere simple text?”

Sometimes. At other times, graphics are merely meant to look cool.

If any of these were intended to convey information better than the standard resume format, they’ve all failed, as far as I can tell. Viewed in the light of Tufte’s recommendations in the classic book The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, they seem all to have buried the real information under a lot of very pretty representations of irrelevant or non-information.

Oddly enough, I think this highlights one of the greatest intellectual disparities between the major houses of thought within design. Should design be visible or invisible? Should design speak for itself or help itself speak? If I wear to venture a guess, I’d say that most of the yea-sayers for these types of resumes are younger designers/enthusiasts who have experienced design more on the web than their print oriented predecessors. Now, on the web, simply via the nature of computers, all the the mechanics of designing are handled for you. A single letter of a typeface can’t be crooked from a bumped photo-typesetter.

Oh man, this thought isn’t coming out very coherently.. but I’m trying to say is that you are either designing from perfection to imperfection with a disregard to mechanics or you are designing from imperfection to perfection with a grapple-hold on mechanics.

Not sure I’ll get it any clearer than that, not much of a writer.

Look at all the responses.

Must mean something.

So – creative employers look for creative applicants.

And employers who offer cubicles – look for someone who won’t think outside the box.

Alright, I’m not going to read all of the comments. I get the general idea of most of them anyhow. I’m only just coming out of high school and going into design school. I recently designed my “résumé” (I call it a CV normally heh) and the only thoughts that I had in mind were ‘How can I make this stand out whilst still maintaining a clean, professional and practical look?’ That is the KEY thing that anyone should consider when creating their CV. Don’t take it overboard, but certainly consider the design aspect. I recently turned my boyfriends CV into an HTML based file (’click to each section to easily view the specific information’ type of thing)for him to send to those requesting the CV via e-mail. It was simple and effective and it was DIFFERENT to the norm. Of course I created a simple print CV too to take in to places but the point is, in order to stand out, colour and imagery is not always the way to go about it. You can be creative without doing those things. I feel (even with my small bank of design knowledge) that a CV should be minimalistic but typographically sound, as well as compositionally. The majority of these examples give no initial focal point for the viewer, thus making it difficult to know where to start first.

While these are interesting, I would never even consider most of them. If you’re going to force me to work that hard to read a document advertising you, why would I even consider hiring you to do designs that are advertising something I’m trying to sell to my clients? A good designer should be able to make something look well-designed without sacrificing the ability to comprehend what is being communicated. These designs just communicate that someone can go crazy in Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign/whatever, but most of them also communicate that their designers don’t know how to communicate.

Nice examples, but I’d hate to have to actually read most of them.

1. Graphic Artist gets given a project by manager.
2. Graphic Artist creates design that he/she thinks is absolutely cool.
3. Graphic Artist’s design gets rejected.

OR…

1. Graphic Artist gets given a project by manager.
2. Graphic Artist creates design that the manager will think is absolutely cool and fits all the necessary criteria for the target audience.
3. Graphics Artists’s design is accepted.

RULE 1:

Know your target audience.

RULE 2:

Your target audience is NOT other graphic designers.

RULE 3:

Your target audience when submitting resumes is most likely an HR person, who has no clue what graphic art is anyway.

It appears that most of these examples were produced by “graphic artists” (and I use that term very loosely) who are excellent at copying and pasting from clip art or other people’s graphics. Practically none of them show any talent at conveying information or understanding how to target a message (in this case a resume) to an intended recipient (in this case the HR person or, if they’re lucky, they’re eventual supervisor).

I wouldn’t hire any of them.

Nice examples but some are very hard to read but your definitely missing this one:
http://www.tshoda.com/My_Pocket_CV.php
The CV uses a good method of combining samples of work as well as content but looks very expensive to do.

Sorry, but I have to agree with the other commenters. Most of these examples are terrible. I am not impressed by the “designer” who can cram the most special effects into one document – especially when the document is actually supposed to be read. Context!

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I have an idea: print your resume on a large piece of cardboard. Then cut it into a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle and let the over-stressed HR employee put it together. Everyone finds puzzles relaxing, right? Think outside the box!

Mark. It looks expensive to do, and it looks awful as well. Not to mention hard to read, I mean what point size is that? 3?

Wow nice Post on some nice CV’s. I appreciate the effort

These resumes (except for the ones that are slightly graphical) do Not help the HR person quickly scan the resume to get it to the next step.

These should be included ALONG WITH a traditional resume. That could demonstrate the creative side.

very Nice.

I think it is very dangerous (in terms of getting hired) to overly stylise your CV, simply because design is all a matter of taste. And as mentioned above many times, it’s very easy to miss the mark. I found this one to be just plain stupid:

http://seanmcnally.deviantart.com/art/Resume-page-1-28051201

Guns, bullets, skulls and swords! Do you want a job or not???

Perhaps its more worth while to focus on beautiful typography and elegant layout, making the whole thing readable – and therefore usable – rather than going nuts with unnecessary graphical elements.

I mean, how about sending a digital portfolio along with your CV instead? Then you have every right to show of your creative skills.

I agree with Micheil & Insic.
But if we can make a resume that has a comparatively soft colors and simple design that can visually separate the text information in groups that can be negotiating between simple resume and these ones.

At least our work is different from desk works.

Whist I liked looking at these CV’s from a design perspective ,I even got a little insecure thinking mine was dull http://www.mccoy.co.uk/about/cv/RichMcCoy.pdf I soon got over it, there is some skill involved in creating something that delivers the information needed in an attractive manner without sacrificing its purpose. I would argue that most of these are pretty but not that great in terms of design.

I also have created a more playful CV website http://www.webfellowforhire.com that I don’t send to apply for work but it more exists for the fun of creating it and to perhaps capture the eye of passers by.

I would be interested to find out if any of the above CV’s have actually been effective in securing a good post? Hopefully more then mine has been anyway!

I think the majority of us agree that these resumes don’t give the designer a better shot at a job. If I was an HR Director and I get one, the first thing I’ll say is “ARE YOU SERIOUS??” and not even look at it (unless it’s the only I received in 2 weeks)
Don’t you agree?
Laith

Good Post.

The problem this in which paises like Venezuela, the culture is different.When presenting/displaying a so modern curriculum is possible that they do not take to you into account, to consider it informal.It does not have to be, but asi is the Latin culture partly.

Wow – what a great list of resumes and a great debate! As a hiring manager (for both the business and creative sides of the house), I can’t completely disagree with either side of the argument, but I can’t totally agree either. In my experience:

1. I am disappointed by “plain” resumes coming from designers – it shows a lack of personality. A well-designed resume gives me an idea of the designer’s personal sense of style and skill level. There are a few very well-designed resumes here which use graphics to enhance, clarify and amplify their message. Those resumes – those get an extra look and an extra read when they appear in a stack of 400 resumes. But just pretty and brightly colored? Not good enough.

2. At the end of the day, we are hiring designers to create pieces that communicate something for CLIENTS, not THEIR friends. Sooner or later, we all have to suck it up and work to communicate clearly to old men, cat ladies, pregnant mothers – all sorts of audiences who don’t “get” us and aren’t particularly bothered by that fact. So if you can’t – or won’t – use your resume to communicate clearly, why should I believe you will do it when collaborating on an ad campaign, or a media kit, or a tear sheet?

3. The one instance in which we are usually more accomodating of over-the-top resumes is from recent grads with little experience. They’re trying. It’s the equivalent of the intern who listed their babysitting and community service. But at some point, you want your resume to communicate how qualified you are, not look like a band-aid to hide how qualified you aren’t.

THESE ARE NOT RESUMES. These are student design projects.
As projects – fun.
As resumes – complete shit.

I’m Creative Lead at an agency.

Virtually all of these would never be read.

I’d have to disagree with @Micheil your resume is way too long – it should be one side of A4, two at most. It may be ’simple’

Interesante post.
Aquí está mi CV Creativo http://giorgiofasulo.wordpress.com/about/ (En Español)
Me gustaría saber vuestra opinión.
Un saludo a todos
Giorgio

Some hilarious comments here, from the idiot HR people or ‘Company Directors’ who think these are great, to the feckless amateurs who think constructive criticism is “mean”, to the agency leads who’ve (rightly) dismissed these resumes as junk.

I find it quite interesting that virtually none of the owners of these resumes have jobs, or any experience, in the industry.

I think that single fact speaks volumes.

Good designs though.. A “designer” CV needs to stand out from the rest.. we all have different personalities, learnings, and different perceptions and human attributes so we tend to differ – that’s natural.
I’m into HR and also a design enthusiast.. If I happen to select a “Designer” i would most certainly like to have a look at these resumes (More “why not” than “why”). However if I am hiring a IT professional – perhaps I would not expect a visual design..
Regards

@Aditya

Something else that speaks volumes. You’re in HR and a ‘design enthusiast’.
Not a designer, not a creative director, not someone qualified to judge and critique designers work or suitability for a position within an organisation.

This is kind of the problem with the creative industries, every Tom, Dick and Harry with an ‘interest’ thinks they’ve got as much right to an opinion on creative work as those of us who’ve spent years training and working on the creative side. They need to shut up and leave it to the professionals…

Clever design isn’t necessarily effective design.

While I find these resumes visually engaging – I can honestly say I would probably actually read 2 of them (the simple, typographically well thought out ones).

They’re wonderful to look at – even if do question the effectiveness of their communication tactics.

Nice work!

Most of these are way too cluttered. They need to step back and simplify the design to get who they are across. Some hit the mark, but most just threw information all over the page. Interesting concept, but I feel the employer just wants to get through resumes as easy and as painless as they can and won’t take the time to dissect one to get the information. This could end up hurting your chances for the job in the long run.

Sweet stuff. . .even though a couple of them were pretty hard to read, I digged the
designs.

There is another one I would like to add! Heres is this other resume you should check out. . it even turns into a paper airplane when you fold it!

http://www.jaesal.com/images/resume_jsalavarrieta.pdf

The only one i liked was francis homo. The others are mostly too difficult to read.

Two words:

1. awful
2. KISS

Most of them are completely sacrificing readability and would be a mess to print (unless you always deliver a printed copy yourself). And would you feel comfortable in an interview where the interviewer is holding that funny poster-resume of yours in his hand?

Oh man, these make me feel really jealous! But now I’m determined to fix mine up and jazz it up a little bit. But I do agree that some of them were hard to read, and I guess these type of resumes don’t work for everybody. Most of those guys are graphic designers so it is almost a requirement to have a creatively designed resume. But they also need to understand recruiters, for them practicality beats most other things!

Well done!

Is this a joke? Seriously… are we being punked? Where’s Ashton?

90% of these are instant garbage. Instant. Sorry to sound harsh, but these are being presented as cream-of-the-crop résumés and most look like 2nd year student work, right when people discover outerglow in Photoshop.

Some of the typography here is horrendous…

I think that a CV like one of the above, will definitely stand out between the gray mass.
If the company is looking for a flexibele, innovative, creative, fresh mind than you will abso-fucking-lutely score some points, no doubt about it!

And not only for Apple or some other arty-farty company, but for every company.
(There are more companies then the grafical-business and Apple, which can use some creative view on their prospects/direction…)

I Like those CV’s a lot, especially the one with the “Hire me” tag on the finger…!

How can anyone NOT go “Wow…this guy/girl is creative that’s for sure”.

These creative resumes not only make you stand out, but they’re trying to convey their personal style when it comes to designing. How can people not get this?? And hiring managers most of all?

I admit some of these are a little hard to read, but did you notice that started happening after you read 3,5, 10? If someone was looking through these and that’s ALL they had on their desk, then I can understand how you’d be dizzy after a while. But odds of that happening are slim. You might not be the only one with a super creative resume but there won’t be tons either! These are works of ART. And they sure capture your attention……isn’t that what the whole point is??? Isn’t that what companies are looking for??

If I was hiring for a designer/web developer, I’d for sure look at these and find my top 3 favorites, and then would narrow down to one JUST based on the way they chose to design their resume. And about the info and experience, as somebody mentioned – you can’t teach talent.

There were so many interesting ones in here but I picked a favorite: The one with the old 40-50’s newspaper style (the one with the “hire me” tag on the finger). It soothed me, very readable, creative, entertaining, and I got a sense like a could trust this person. I would definitely call for an interview and take it from there. http://chuckdlay.deviantart.com/art/My-Resume-118309545

And just because you pick one creative resume and call them for an interview, doesn’t mean they’ll get the job, but you can definately get a feel for their graphic style and practicality sense. I’m glad some of you get it.

Great designs, some ideas i will put in my next CV

i wanna do like them

Awesome Collection… very creative and innovative!!!

If your design is not functional then it fails as a design. Pretty pictures are not great design. Being creative while getting information across is the important thing. Design firms are looking for creative’s that can portray a message and make it look good. Not just make things look good function over form any day. You can still make a resume stand out from the crowd by using typography and hand delivering it or mailing it.

I agree that these are way over the top. Very few of them actually convey the information in a easily readable manner.

Most of these CV should take a look at what the “Client” (aka Employer) wants and design there CV around that. If you want to do a fun layout stick to doing a poster design. If you want a job and do fun layout, design something readable.

Being some-kind of creative artist we may think that our resumes should be Creative enough to stand out..
But where this creative approach looses the race with traditional resumes is the point that says that hiring process is in the hands of HR Guys and their approach is limited only to find the information details only /-

so I think they won’t like to be get lost in the designs / obviously that doesn’t play the criteria to select or reject a candidate