Crafting an Impressive Resume for Graphic Designers: A Guide for New Graduates

Written by UPrinting    ●    Updated on August 23, 2023


Congratulations on graduating. Now, it’s time to work. As newly minted members of the workforce, the first order of business is building an impressive resume. Everyone needs help with this, whether you are a graphic design major or studied in trade school. Creating a visually appealing resume is an art. This document lets potential employers know you more about your educational and professional experience and what you can bring to the table. In this guide, we go over essential information and important tools you can use to up your resume game.

 



Resume Essentials and Other Variants

  • Find the right format. As a fresh graduate, there are numerous ways to present your resume to potential employers. Here are three resume formats you can choose from.

      • Chronological: This format is the most common and straightforward. It presents your work history in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent experience. It's suitable for candidates with a solid work history and a clear career progression. This format isn’t the best option for new graduates unless you can present extensive examples such as internships and on-the-job trainings.

      • Functional: The functional format focuses on your skills and accomplishments rather than your work history. It's ideal for individuals with little or no work experience like fresh graduates, career shifters, or those with employment gaps. You can organize your resume by skill categories and highlight relevant achievements.

      • Combination: As the name suggests, this format combines elements of both the chronological and functional formats. It includes a summary of your skills and qualifications at the beginning, followed by a reverse-chronological listing of your work experience. The combination format is useful for showcasing both your skills and relevant work history.

  • Highlight experience. While new graduates may not have extensive work experience, it's essential to highlight any relevant experience, such as internships, part-time jobs, volunteer work, or academic projects. Describe your responsibilities, tasks, and accomplishments in these roles, emphasizing transferable skills, such as teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, and communication. If you lack professional experience, you can include relevant coursework or academic projects that demonstrate your abilities and knowledge. For example, if you have a degree in creatives, you can highlight relevant experience in graphic design such as creating layouts for the school paper.

  • Show your skills. In addition to highlighting your experience, emphasize your key skills on your resume. These can include both technical skills specific to your field such as graphic design, programming languages, and software proficiency, and transferable skills, like communication, organization, and time management. Be concise and specific, using bullet points to list your skills. Consider including a separate skills section or incorporating them within the descriptions of your experiences.

  • Be easy to contact. Ensure that your contact information is clearly visible at the top of your resume. Include your full name, phone number, email address, and social media profiles. Double-check that all the information is accurate and up to date. It's also beneficial to make sure that any links to your portfolio, personal website, or other online profiles are working correctly and easily accessible. It should also go without saying that you should update your email address to something that fits a professional setting.

  • Plus, prepare your portfolio. Creating a portfolio is crucial for new graduates as a chance to showcase their work, projects, and achievements. Depending on the field of study or industry, your portfolio can include examples of written work, design projects, coding samples, presentations, or any other relevant work that demonstrates your skills and abilities. Make sure your portfolio is well-organized, visually appealing, and easily accessible either as a physical document or online.


    • Putting It All Together - A Selection of Samples

    Based on everything you’ve read so far; the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating a standout resume. No two should look alike as you should tailor each iteration of your resume to specific employers. To help you resist analysis paralysis, here are a couple of sample resumes that you can draw inspiration from:

    Modern and Creative Resume

  • Modern and Creative - A modern and creative resume is designed to stand out and showcase a candidate's personality and creativity. It often incorporates unique design elements, colors, fonts, and layouts to make a visually appealing and memorable impression. This type of resume is suitable for creative industries, such as graphic design, marketing, or advertising, where demonstrating creativity and innovative thinking is valued. It allows new graduates to highlight their skills and experiences in a visually engaging way, capturing the attention of employers.

    • Infographic Resume

  • Infographic - An infographic resume presents information in a visually appealing and easily digestible format, using charts, graphs, icons, and images. It condenses key details and highlights the most important aspects of a candidate's qualifications. Infographic resumes are ideal for industries that value data visualization and creative communication, such as digital marketing, media, or public relations. New graduates can use this type of resume to showcase their skills, achievements, and educational background in a visually striking and concise manner.

    • Minimalistic Resume

  • Minimalistic - A minimalistic resume focuses on simplicity and clean design. It utilizes ample white space, a simple layout, and a limited color palette. This type of resume emphasizes readability and clarity, making it easy for employers to quickly scan and understand the candidate's qualifications. Minimalistic resumes are effective for a wide range of industries and can be particularly suitable for new graduates who want to present a professional image while highlighting their key skills, experiences, and education in a straightforward manner.

    • Interactive Online Resume

  • Interactive Online - An interactive online resume takes advantage of digital technology to create an engaging and interactive experience for the reader. It can include elements such as hyperlinks, embedded videos, clickable images, or interactive navigation. This type of resume allows new graduates to showcase their work samples, projects, or portfolios in an immersive and interactive way. It is particularly beneficial for fields that require visual representation or multimedia components, such as web design, multimedia production, or user experience (UX) design.

    • Typographic

  • Typographic - A typographic resume focuses on typography and uses creative font choices, layouts, and typographic elements to make a visual impact. It relies on the design and arrangement of text to communicate information effectively. Typographic resumes can be customized with unique typography treatments, such as different font sizes, weights, or styles, to highlight important sections or key details. This type of resume is suitable for creative fields where typography plays a significant role, such as graphic design, art direction, or typography design.


    • Resume Building Tools

    Visually appealing resumes don't require a graphic design degree. There are a plethora of tools you can use to help you stand out as a new graduate. Best of all, there are free options you can try before committing to a paid version. We’ve collated below some of the most popular resume building tools currently available:

    Canva (Free & Paid)

    First on the list is perhaps the most popular option. Canva is a versatile graphic design tool that offers a range of resume templates and design elements to create visually appealing resumes. It provides a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for anyone to customize their resumes with their choice of fonts, colors, layouts, and images. Canva offers both free and paid elements, allowing users to access a broader selection of templates and premium features. It's a great choice for those looking to create aesthetically pleasing resumes even without any prior design experience.

    Envato (Free & Paid)

    Envato is a platform that offers a wide range of creative assets, including resume templates, through its marketplace called Envato Elements. Users can access a vast collection of professionally designed resume templates and customize them to fit their needs. Envato Elements operates on a subscription model, providing unlimited access to templates, fonts, graphics, and more. With a variety of options available, new graduates can find templates that align with their desired industry or style preferences.

    Adobe Spark (Free & Paid)

    Adobe Spark is an online design platform that allows users to create visually striking resumes. It offers a selection of customizable resume templates and intuitive editing tools. With Adobe Spark, new graduates can add their own text, images, and other design elements to create unique resumes. The platform offers free and paid plans, with the paid plan providing additional features and removing watermarks. Adobe Spark also allows users to easily share their resumes online or download them for printing.

    Novo Resume (Free & Paid)

    NovoResume is an online resume builder specifically designed to help users create professional resumes. It offers a variety of customizable templates and a step-by-step resume-building process. NovoResume enables new graduates to easily input their information, add sections, and modify the layout and design of their resumes. The platform provides both free and premium plans, with the premium plan offering additional features such as access to more templates, advanced formatting options, and the ability to download in different formats.

    Resume.com (Free & Paid)

    Resume.com is an online resume builder that provides a straightforward and user-friendly interface for creating resumes. It offers a selection of professionally designed templates, along with pre-written content suggestions to help new graduates showcase their skills and experiences effectively. Resume.com allows users to input their information, customize the sections, and format their resumes effortlessly. While basic resume building features are available for free, the platform also offers a premium subscription that includes additional template options and advanced customization features.

    Microsoft Word (Free & Paid)

    Microsoft Word, part of the Microsoft Office suite, is a widely used word processing software that can be utilized to create resumes. It offers a range of built-in resume templates, making it convenient for new graduates to create a professional-looking resume. With Word, users can customize the template, add their own content, and format the document according to their preferences. While the app itself isn't free, many individuals may already have access to it through school, work, or personal subscriptions.

    GoogleDocs (Free)

    Google Docs is a free online document editor offered by Google. It provides a simple and collaborative platform for creating resumes. While Google Docs may not have as many built-in resume templates as other dedicated resume builders, it offers basic templates that can be customized to suit individual preferences. Users can add their information, format the document, and collaborate with others in real-time. Google Docs also provides easy accessibility to resumes, as they can be saved and accessed from any device with an internet connection.

    VisualCV (Free & Paid)

    VisualCV is an online resume builder that emphasizes visual elements to create engaging resumes. It offers a variety of customizable templates, including options specifically designed for new graduates. VisualCV allows users to add sections, import content from LinkedIn, and showcase their work samples or portfolios. The platform provides both free and premium plans, with the premium plan offering additional features such as a custom domain, advanced analytics, and multiple resume versions.

    Zety (Paid)

    Zety is an online resume builder that provides a range of professional resume templates and customization options. It offers a step-by-step resume-building process, guiding new graduates through the creation of their resumes. Zety allows users to input their information, choose from different sections, and customize the design and layout of their resumes. While it requires a paid subscription, Zety offers additional features such as cover letter templates, a built-in spell checker, and the ability to create multiple versions of a resume.

    Resume Genius (Free & Paid)

    Resume Genius is an online resume builder that provides a comprehensive set of tools and resources to help new graduates craft effective resumes. It offers a large selection of customizable resume templates, along with pre-written bullet points and phrases for different job positions. Resume Genius guides users through the resume-building process, allowing them to input their information and select relevant skills and experiences. While basic features are available for free, the platform also offers a paid subscription with additional template options and advanced customization features.

    LinkedIn (Free & Paid)

    LinkedIn Resume Builder is a feature within the LinkedIn platform that allows users to create resumes directly from their LinkedIn profiles. It automatically populates the resume with the user's profile information, including work experience, education, skills, and more. Users can further customize the resume by rearranging sections, adding additional content, and selecting from different resume templates. LinkedIn Resume Builder is available for free to all LinkedIn users, with the option to upgrade to a premium subscription for additional features such as personalized insights and increased visibility on the platform.

    Get Your Resume Ready

    The tips and tools we’ve outlined above are all designed to assist fresh graduates and new members of the workforce to put their best foot forward. Resumes should always be crafted with extreme thought with plenty of nuance as it can be the very thing that dictates if you have a job tomorrow or not. A well-crafted and impeccably designed resume is one of the best ways you can stand out among other candidates. All it takes is some planning, harnessing tools at your disposal, and showcasing your strengths.