Graphic Design Resume Samples

Below are a few sample of resumes I found online so you can get an idea of what other people are including in their resume.

Steve Leggat (www.steveleggat.com)

CURRICULUM VITAE
STEVE LEGGAT

PERSONAL PROFILE

I have been using computers for almost 24 years and I have gained an excellent
knowledge in all areas of design, computers and the internet. I am very passionate
about the industry I am involved with and am proud to be considered one of the
top web designers in New Zealand and to have achieved worldwide recognition
for my work.

I see one of my major strengths being my adaptability. I am able to jump easily
from being a designer, to a coder, to software and hardware technician, to
decision maker. This adaptability can also be seen in my design work where I am
able handle any task I’m given, be it web, multimedia, motion, branding, or print.

CAREER HISTORY
Styrofirm Ltd. – September 2000 to Present
Company Founder / Creative Director

The decision to create a new web and multimedia agency was an idea I’d had for
a number of years but it wasn’t until I’d found the right team, comprising of four
company directors, that together we began a company known as Styrofirm.

As you will know, it’s no easy task establishing a company, building the brand,
maintaining the high level of professionalism and still delivering the expected
quality of work, but it’s something that we were able to attain and indeed shine
in. Styrofirm quickly become one of New Zealand’s leading web and multimedia
solutions companies with an impressive client list and first-rate body of work.

My roles within the company were extremely broad, ranging from creative,
technical, management, client contact and proposal writer. I have proven myself
to be an all rounder, but with a passion and flair for creative and design.

Work included various projects for Maybelline NY, Pizza Hut, Johnson &
Johnsons, Vodafone and McCann Worldgroup.

WebDesign Ltd. – March 1996 to September 2000
Head Designer

The internet industry at this point was still in its infancy and I was happy to be
offered this position in what was at the time, New Zealand’s most well known
web design company. In this role I performed a huge range of tasks including
the creative, design, and production of websites, as well as setting up in-house
servers, networking and other technical work.

During my long term at WebDesign we won many awards for design excellence,
the most prestigious was the annual Netguide magazine award for Best
Webdesigner which the company won for three websites I’d created for them.

Work included websites for two Prime Ministers of New Zealand, Audi,
Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.

CAREER HISTORY - Continued

Freelance Web Designer – August 1995 to March 1996

This marks my first leap into designing websites professionally. During this brief
period I was lucky enough to work on various projects for ACNeilsen before being
headhunted by Webdesign Ltd.

Toonz Animation Ltd. – March 1994 to March 1995
Animation Checker / Computer Technician

At the time, this was a dream job for me; working in the exciting field of cartoon
animation. I was taken on to run the computer animation testing facilities as I’d
had extensive experience with the computer system they were using. My main
tasks included overseeing junior staff and checking and reporting problems such
as the dialogue not syncing with the animation. While at Toonz, I worked on the
Lion King’s Timon & Pumbaa TV series and other Disney cartoons.

FURTHER EDUCATION

I find the internet, with its vast library of information, to be one of the greatest
places to research, study and expand my skill set. However since finishing high
school, I have completed the following courses at the Auckland University of
Technology (formerly known as Auckland Technical Institute).

Certificate in Basic Graphic Design – 6 months
Certificate in Advanced Graphic Design – 6 months
Certificate in Colour Theory – 2 months
Certificate in Computer Programming – 6 months
Certificate in Computer Design and Desktop Publishing – 1 year

DESIGN QUALITIES

Thorough and meticulous
Fast and able to work under pressure
Capable of doing a massive range of styles rather than just my own
Ability to stick to the creative brief and other guidelines
Excellent knowledge of design and typography

PERSONAL QUALITIES

Friendly, inquisitive, hardworking, funny, eager and passionate
I’m in excellent health and a non-smoker

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS

All facets of design, art, photography, computers, technology, music, movies,
gaming and traveling.

SOFTWARE PROFICIENCY

I have extensive knowledge of many software applications. Listed are those which
I use on a regular basis:

Adobe Photoshop
I have been using Photoshop extensively since 1995 and consider myself to be an
expert user. I use Photoshop for creating layouts for most of my designs as well as
retouching and manipulating photos.

Macromedia Dreamweaver
I’ve used a range of HTML authoring software but Dreamweaver has been my
choice for 7 years. When necessary I can also handcode.

Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator
Although I am more comfortable with pixels rather than vectors, I have had
plenty of experience creating layouts, illustrating and designing with these
applications.

Adobe InDesign
This is my preferred application when it comes to laying out multiple page
documents, though I have some knowledge using Quark Express too.

Macromedia Flash
I have created many diverse projects in Flash including websites, galleries,
banner advertisements, CDROMs and Presentations.

PROGRAMMING

I have varying degrees of knowledge in programming the following languages:
XHTML / CSS, PHP, Flash Actionscript, Javascript, BASIC, Perl

Thanks for taking the time to look over my curriculum vitae. If you haven’t
already done so then please visit my portfolio at:
www.steveleggat.com

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Steve Leggat
me@steveleggat.com

Graphic Design Resume Guide

Written by Gino on 04-29-2008

Graphic Design resume is going to be just as important as your portfolio, when it comes to job hunting. Most people will examine your resume before they open your portfolio book, meaning your resume is going to be your first impression! You have to remember that the people you will be sending your resume to go through tons of these every day so yours has to be immaculate and memorable.

I have talked with many art directors, designers and read an array of articles on the topic of resume design and you would be surprised at how the smallest glitch could sink your chances. Below I will go over everything you need to know regarding putting together a successful graphic design resume.

Graphic Design Resume Paper

People often get caught up in the design and content of their resume and forget one of the most important parts! The paper you use for your graphic design resume can tell your potential employer a lot about you. Choosing paper for a design project is an important job for most designers and if you overlook this you will have one strike against you right away. If you do choose a good paper for your resume it will get you bonus points. It will show your employer you have thought about every detail, and that you have done your research on papers.

You don’t want to use standard computer printing paper from an office supply store, so I would recommend looking at paper mills such as Neenah Paper, who offer some really great resume papers. I ended up buying two different versions of their Classic Crest line of papers for my resume.

Your Resume Layout

You are a graphic designer, so this is the chance to show what you can do in a tasteful manner. You probably don’t want to go overboard with a resume, because the information on the resume in the end is the most important part. With that being said you can still showcase your design skills, by adding visual elements, using a grid, playing with typography, color choices and so on. So don’t design your resume in Microsoft Word!

Graphic Design Resume Typography

This is another important aspect of your resume, so you need to be very careful with the fonts you choose! I would stay away from display fonts and free fonts and instead go with some classical fonts.

Probably the most important font to avoid in a design resume would be Times New Roman! Even Helvetica can be frowned up sometimes, because its bee branded so much as the “designers font” that some people consider it overused (at least in resumes).

Readability is very important so don’t make your type too small ( No smaller then 10-11 points ). Remember the readers need to be able to quickly and easily scan your resume. I would also suggest using serifed fonts for body text since its easier to read and don’t use very light colors.

If you HAVE to submit your resume as a Word doc, once again avoid Times New Roman at all costs!

What to Include in Your Graphic Design Resume

Below is a list of everything I would include in a graphic design resume in order of importance.

Name and Contact Info

You want to display your name in a very noticeable location along with all your contact information. It may be a good idea to put graphic designer some where in the resume as well in case some on needs to quickly figure out what type of resume your is.

Personal Statement (also known as your objective or mission statement)

This where you would write a brief statement about your goals, desired position and how you can benefit your potential employer. I’ve seen a lot of variations here; Some resumes have a generic objective, some have more of personal statement and some resumes don’t even have this section and instead go right to the experience section.

Your Experience

list you job experience here and make sure to include the job title, employment dates and a brief description of what you did and or accomplished. You can also add the location of the job if you want, but I don’t think its as important as the other information.

Education

Below is a list of information that should be included in the education section

• Your Degree and Major (e.g., BFA in Graphic Design)
• Date of Graduation (Month and Year)
• College You Attended
• Location of Your College (City and State)

Capabilities

This is an area where you can write things such as: extensive experience dealing with clients, experience managing multiple projects at once and so on.

Software Skills

List your software, coding and other design related skills and organize them into categories if you have a lot of different technical skills.

Awards

If you have won any awards, contests, been featured anywhere or have had any shows make sure to mention them here.

Organizations

Employers love to see that you are involved in the design community so if you belong to any design organizations then list them!

Interests

This isn’t really necessary, but if you are applying for a job and want them to know you have interests related to the job this would be a good place to mention them. I would keep this section at the very end of the resume.

References

I would not list references directly on the resume but rather state: References available upon request. Just make sure that you have the references if they do ask for them!

What not to Include in Your Resume

• A super generic “objective” at the top of your resume
• Obscure interests that do not relate to design
• Potentially offensive material. I will leave this one up to you guys because I don’t want to get in the way of anyones beliefs or views, but be careful mentioning or including work related to politics, war, religion and so on. Its impossible to gauge how some one will react to sensitive topics, so sometimes its better to be safe then sorry.

Final Preparations

• Have people with resume experience read over your resume to try and catch errors.
• Check for consistency with formatting, such as do all bulleted sentences end with periods, or do some have periods and some don’t?
• Spell check the crap out of your resume again!

Source: youthedesigner