Redesign Your Resume: Designing Professional Documents

This class is about designing professional documents, and using design to enhance communication. Professional looking documents not only will help you get noticed, but the skills you will learn can apply to any work you do. This class is perfect for students looking to get their first job, marketing professionals wanting to improve the presentation of their materials, or freelancers creating their own business documents.

In exploring the résumé/CV as a starting point we will explore what is good design through lots of examples from creative professionals and how it applies to other documents as well. Each unit will break down concepts and skills making design more accessible even to a complete novice. Simultaneously, the class is designed to build InDesign skills, however, the focus will be on design concepts, and the skills being shown can be applied to any software program of choice. 

Students are not required to redesign their résumé for this class, but may choose another exisitng document they'd like to "prettify."

** Every week students can look forward to feedback from the instructor on their project boards in the online classroom! **

What You'll Learn

• What Makes a Professional Document. Learn key principles of good design (hint: simplicity)
• Thinking Critically About Content. Designers don't only put elements together on a page. Part of their job is to be an editor. Thinking about content in a critical and constructive fashion can greatly benefit your final design.
• Structuring Your Document: Layouts. Consider hierarchy, order, layouts, legibility, etc.
• Key Design Concepts. You will learn design principles that apply to any document, regardless of what you are designing. Each concept stands alone, but it is important to consider how they all fit/work together. We will also explore the software tools to achieve the desired results.
• Type Selection. Work with text + improve typography skills
• Details + Finishing Product. Adding subtle embellishments, glyphs, symbols and details.
• Exporting Final Files. You will learn the appropriate means for exporting your files depending on the intended destination.

What You'll Make:

Résumés/CVs are a document everyone has, yet too many look the same and not particularly interesting. The project is to take your existing résumé to create a more appealing layout that better highlights your expertise. We'll consider the relevancy of résumés in today's age, and explore creative ways to have a little fun and make your document stand out. Another way to think about it is how can you take a boring document and make it more beautiful and engaging.

A Note About InDesign

All concepts and skills covered in class can be adapted to software the student feels comfortable with. This course is between a beginner / intermediate level of InDesign. Students looking for extra help with InDesign can sign up for my Intro to InDesign Skillshare course (a discount code is presented in the classroom). If you are new to InDesign you can download a 30-day free trial from Adobe. Pages (Mac only) is a more affordable option with similar functionality; Publisher is a Microsoft program for PC. 

Note: This class filmed on a laptop + using screenshare, and may not be as flashy as some others, but it's all about the ideas, concepts, and content.

• Welcome and Getting Started
• Case Study: Résumé
• Inspiration: Résumés + CVs
• Inspiration: general documents
• Think Like an Editor
• Thinking about layouts + InDesign
• Working with text boxes + linked text in InDesign
• Master Pages
• Design terms + concepts
• Key design concepts applied in InDesign
• Tips for working with fonts + type
• Working with type in InDesign
• Adding the details in InDesign
• Pulling it all together
• Finalizing Your Document
• Closing Words