Krissy Marheine’s resume is almost surprisingly simple for a graphic designer – it looks more like a minimalist piece of modern art than a resume. It’s simple, almost soothingly so – almost a contrast to busier and denser resumes. It’s extremely professional, but not the kind that yells out how much the author can do – it’s restraint speaks volume.
Looking it over, theres are the high points and lessons learned:
- The red band is brilliant. It’s simple, but really adds a nice divider for content and draws the eye to the center of the resume – and the creator’s name.
- The use of the cream/parchment background is a good choice, it keeps the red from looking to garish.
- Despite being artistic and creative, it’s a resume that should be scannable and is quite readable.
- The restraint of the resume, mixing the creative and the practical, really stands out and speaks well of the reactor.
- The use of different text color and font sizes is nice and effective, creating a sense of division without being overly aggressive.
There are issues with the resume, but they’re comparatively minor:
- Too much blank space – I think a somewhat larger font would fill the space nicely. Not too much.
- I’d make the artists name larger to make it stand out, though that might require expanding the middle line or altering how the name is presented.
- I’d like to see more skills listed, I think it undersells her.
- The contact information might be better at the top.
- I’d like some personal details, like hobbies and so forth. The minimalism of the resume is great, but it may not convey a sense of personality.
- The minimal design may or may not give a full sense of her skills because it is a deliberately limited design. Breadth of skills needs to be shown appropriately – if paired with a portfolio that was wild and crazy it might contrast oddly.
This is also another resume that could be “themed” with a portfolio and web page of similar design. It’d be easy to implement a similar theme in the various components of job search and personal branding – if a bit tough to update.
A good, solid resume.
Steve’s Summary: If this resume got handed to me, I’d be impressed – effective, creative, clear, precise. A lot of thought went into it, and that tells me this might be someone I’d think of interviewing.
[“50 Shades of Resume” is an analysis of various interesting resumes to celebrate the launch of the second edition of my book “Fan To Pro” and to give our readers inspiration for their own unique creations.]
– Steven Savage