217.1a Introduction to the Graphic Arts

For the first project my goal was to create a professional and visually pleasing resume that showed my skills in design, as well as accurately conveying my experience, education and abilities. The first thing I did to start the design process for this project was to find a type that worked with my name. I decided that because my last name has four letters, and my first name has seven and both start with the letter K that I would make that first letter more prominent.

The font I used is a sans serif called Cronos Pro. I chose a serif font because it allowed me to create a continuation of line that stretches down the page on the left margin due to the lack of cross strokes at the ends of the principle strokes. This font family also allowed me to play with different weights and postures such as light and normal, which vary, yet work together in both my word mark and my headers.

Next, I incorporated my last name into the boundaries created by the line of the dominant K and the Y in my first name that falls below the baseline. I put my last name into all caps because I wanted it to remain important, while still being small and enclosed. Also, I decided to make the resume more interesting by continuing the pattern of the watermark in the headers, each with a different letter that I chose to extend.

In addition to the word mark, the body of my resume was done in a typeface called Garamond. I played with Garamond regular and bold throughout the different sections of the document. This serif font compliments and contrast the serif used in the word mark and headers and I think it gives the document more depth and texture. Garamond is also a simple, yet elegant, typeface that doesn’t distract from the word mark or the clean look of my resume.

I decided to add one color to my resume to create contrast and add interest. The color is R- 67, G- 96, and B- 45 that comes out to an olive, medium green tone (it printed darker). With this added element to my design I decided to play with gradient in order to give the long, extended line on the left side a faded and tapering look that softens its harshness and creates added contrast to the word mark. I think green is a sophisticated and calming color that evokes an essence of growth.

Overall, I wanted this resume to be both interesting and distinctly professional. I’m still working on filling in the gaps with my experience and jobs, however despite that flaw I really wanted to present a sophisticated and clean document that describes who I am as both a designer and a potential employee using geometric lines and dominant white space in the layout.