Example of a designer resume

We have compiled another detailed guide to writing a resume, now for a designer. We were told what a designer resume should look like, how to present your experience and made a sample of where we would be without it.

How to write a designer resume

It seems like a designer’s resume should be unusual – creative, creative and vivid, but that’s not entirely the case. Of course, there is a little more creativity in the work of a designer than in the work of an accountant or a locksmith, but a resume is still a document that must be made in accordance with certain rules.

First of all, the resume should be concise, not too voluminous, easy to read and meet the requirements of the vacancy.

Some experts believe that designers do not need to write a classic resume and should be limited to a portfolio and cover letter. We can not say that this approach is 100% true or false – different companies may have different requirements. But one thing we do know for sure – when responding to a vacancy you need to adapt to the company.

Review job requirements and follow them. If the vacancy says “Submit a portfolio and a brief history of yourself”, you do not need to write an official resume. And if you are applying for a job at a design agency or design bureau, try searching for design requirements or mission on their website to better understand which approach to take.

If you still need to write a classic resume, keep these 5 points in mind:

• Try to include in your resume the specific achievements and quantitative results of your work. It will be useful for designers to indicate in the resume the names of the companies for which they have designed, if the company is large or well-known. Sberbank or Yandex portfolio immediately attracts the attention of the employer;
• Divide the text into separate blocks for reading. In our constructor this happens automatically;
• Check the text for errors in the editor or send a resume to a competent friend for verification;
• Make sure your resume is easily opened and readable on any device;
• Do not try to include as much information about the experience as possible in the resume – only relevant experience is important to the employer.

You can also see a sample of our designer’s resume at the end of the article.

Whatever the designer’s resume

Examining the requirements of different employer designers, we realized that there are several reasons why designer resumes go to the trash most often:

• The candidate has prepared a resume in Word

The designer’s work implies creativity and ingenuity, while the dry and formal Word document is the exact opposite of art. Also, now that there are so many tools to create a good resume, why use an antidiluvian word?

• The designer sent the portfolio as an archive

Just put yourself in the place of the employer: you receive a letter from an unknown addressee without reply or greeting, and the letter is accompanied by an archive. You download this file, open it, go deeper who is this addressee? The answer is obvious.

Make your work in the form of a portfolio and save the employer, think about its convenience.

• Instead of a resume and portfolio – a link to the freelance exchange

So many employers are wary of the experience of freelancing and part-time work on job applicants’ resumes, so we often recommend re-formulating freelancing as “project work” or skipping the word altogether.

And a design portfolio created on a free exchange can confuse the employer even more. Are you sure you need a permanent job if you are stuck on free sites?

• Too much creativity

It can be tempting to show all your skills at once in a resume: draw infographics, make icons for sections, and choose brighter colors, but stop. Your application will most likely be considered by an art director or senior designer and they have seen it all enough. Just need to find a good person 🙂

Work experience and portfolio in designer resume

The easiest way for a designer to write a resume is to study the job description carefully. If it says you have to work at an advanced level in Tilda and Figma, highlight these two platforms in your resume.

If the vacancy indicates that 80% of your work time will require you to work with printing, it makes no sense to describe how cool you are in motion design.

In addition to the resume, the designer must make a portfolio. The designer’s portfolio is a clear demonstration of his experience and skills. Everything that can be shown, and not described in words – is shown. You can even add a dissertation, but without a 100-page description.

In the portfolio you can show your own style and show your personality in full, which you can not do in a regular resume.

Interesting examples of designers’s portfolio:

// as an album

Ბმული

// as deadlines

Ბმული

// clear

Ბმული

// Illustrated

Ბმული

Designer education

There are professions that require higher education – for example, doctor, lawyer, nuclear physicist. But for the designer higher education is an elective element. Of course, some employers require a diploma, but not all.

It is important for a designer to be constantly involved in self-learning and development: look at other people’s work, follow trends, try new tools and approaches, and so on. Take this seriously – you can talk about self-study in an interview.

Without work experience, a designer can learn and gain experience in the following ways:

• Take online courses independently (including foreign ones);
• Attend designer webinars / lectures / workshops whose works you like;
• Study of design, color, art history, graphics, and related books;
• With the help of guides or YouTube, master the basic programs necessary for the work of designers;
• Go to work in a design studio as an intern or assistant;
• Complete an offline education, for example, at the British High School of Design or at the Graphic Design Faculty of any public university.

The most important thing is that you have to keep learning because design trends change every year, if not more often.

Required design skills

Each direction of design has its own narrow requirements, so we will go through the basic, basic skills.

Examples of skills for a designer:

• Adobe Package: Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, InDesign
• CorelDRAW
• Figma, Kanva
• Tilda, WordPress, creating a landing page
• Knowledge of HTML and layout basics
• Knowledge of marketing basics
• Basic knowledge in IT (speaking the same language with developers)

Essential soft skills of a designer:

• Network
• Teamwork skills
• Willingness to learn new things and follow trends
• Creativity (where without it!)
• Ability to meet deadlines (very important!)

Do not forget that each skill you declare must be substantiated. And it is desirable to add measurable results to these skills: number of transactions completed, clients attracted or courses completed. Personal qualities in a designer resume can be omitted, or described along with skills.

What does a sample designer’s resume look like?

Of course, we could not help but make an example of a designer’s resume that is current in 2020. The names of the companies are fictitious, but the examples of skills and responsibilities are quite real.

A novice designer’s resume may not have that many programs or achievements to explore, but it’s not scary – try to present even a small amount of experience in an interesting way. The key is to write a personalized resume and cover letter for each vacancy.

Examples of ready-made resumes for different professions

• Example of a marketing resume
• Example of an Event Manager Resume
• Example of an editor’s resume
• Example of a logistics manager resume
• Example of a lawyer’s resume
• Sample resume for sales manager
• Sample Data Scientist Resume
• Example of PR Manager Resume
• Example of translator’s resume
• Example of a web developer resume
• Sample resume for accountant

source: i can choose