Creative CV Evaluation

 

Creative CV Evaluation

 

Whilst making my creative CV, I made sure that I designed it to represent my personality and demonstrate all the skills I have learned in the past month and a half. I added several features to make it appealing to a potential employer, whilst going above and beyond the usual generic design of a normal CV.

Colours

At the start of the Interactive Media course, we learned about Colour Theory. Colour Theory is a guide to the visual effects of specific colour combinations, and is linked to the colour wheel and the way colours are arranged on it. The first person to come up with the colour wheel was Sir Isaac Newton in 1704. He was working on white light when he observed the visible spectrum of light through a prism, and he observed the way that the colours would bend as the light passed through it. He also linked colour with music, adding music notes next to different colours to represent them, and he also came up with the idea that red, yellow and blue were primary colours. In 1810, a German poet named Wolfgang Von Goethe took the colour wheel a step further by adding meanings to the colours. Rather than studying the actual nature of the colours like Newton did, he observed how different colours were viewed and perceived by people in different scenarios. For example, he described the colour orange as edel (noble) and yellow as gut (good). This developed the idea that colours evoke emotions in people, and change the way people perceive different pieces of work depending on the colours that are used. Adding to this, research done by Joe Hallock in 2003 has also shaped the way designers use colour in their work. He did research into the most favourite and least favourite colours of all age groups and genders. He discovered that blue is the favourite colour of all people across all age groups, and that mostly older people like the colours purple and pink rather than younger people.

Keeping this in mind, I made sure that I used appropriate colours for my target audience as well as using colours that I personally like and that represent me and my personality. As the colour for my background, I used a peachy shade of pink. The colour pink represents love, caring and nurturing. I feel as though this colour represents me as a person because I am a very caring person, and it would also show my employer that I am compassionate and can put effort and care into my work. Wolfgang Von Goethe described the colour pink as schön, which means beautiful. Which means that my employer may also view my CV as beautiful and make them more interested in reading it. Also, Joe Hallock shows that purple is one of the favourite colours of people from ages 19-24, 25-35 and 36-50; meaning that a pink hue may also appeal to them for this reason. Pink and purple are next to each other on the colour wheel, meaning I have used an analogous colour theme for my CV. This is due to the fact that the colours are similar and appeal to the age groups that my potential employers would be in.  The one other colour I used (other than white and black) in my CV is purple. This is because purple is a creative colour, which means that the use of the colour purple is going to show my potential employer that I am a creative person.  The colour also represents pride and dignity, showing my potential employer that I take pride in the work that I produce and therefore would always strive for perfection.

Shapes and Images

Shape Theory is the way shapes affect people when they view them. When designing a product, it is important to think about how the arrangement of the shapes is going to subliminally affect the person who is viewing it. Due to this, I decided to do research into the Gestalt Theory. Gestalt means ‘unified whole’, and is based on some research done by German scientists in the 1920’s based on perception of shapes. There are six specific principles associated with the Gestalt theory; similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure and symmetry. The principle I chose to apply in my CV more than others is proximity, as most of the circular shapes I have used in my CV are grouped together and equally spaced. I included groups of circles together rather than just the odd few around the page, to create an even larger sense of community than what is created by viewing one individual circle.

For example, a circle represents unity. This is because there are no harsh lines or corners on a circle, the round complete shape shows positivity in the form of love and friendship, and is associated with involvement. For this reason, I chose to include round shapes all throughout my CV, like flowers such as roses in the background. Roses are also something I identify with as a person because I think they are very beautiful, and they represent love. As a person, I am very compassionate and caring, which the flowers I used in my background represent. Plus, it is also the reason I made the Word icon, Photoshop icon, PowerPoint icon and Excel icon round, as the shapes are welcoming and will subliminally make my potential employer feel positive about my CV and makes them more likely to employ me. I used more circles as a small frame in the education segment of my CV, to show that education for me was mostly a positive experience and I did very well at school from the beginning of my education. The positive shape represents my positive experiences and conveys this to my potential employer. The final round shape I used in my CV is the Venus symbol, or the female symbol for people who do not know the technical term. I not only used it to express unity through the circle part, but to show that I am female without explicitly stating it in words. The reason I would want my employer to know this about me is because I am proud of my gender, and would not want to hide this fact about myself simply because I may not be hired for being female. I then added a purple football and a purple version of the Boots logo to my ‘employment’ section, to show that I have worked at Barnsley Football Ground and Boots UK before my potential employer even reads the section.  It makes my CV more interesting to look at and easier to process and understand.

Adding to this, I used check mark shapes to measure my skills in the segment of my CV dedicated to showing my potential employer what specific skills I have that would be beneficial for the type of creative job I would be applying for. I decided to use check marks rather than circles because I happened to notice that everyone else around me seemed to be using circles, so I chose the check marks to still use a positive shape as well as being unique and standing out from my peers. Four check marks signifies that I can use the programme with no problems and are totally confident with it, while 3 or 2 signifies I have most of the basic skills to use it, but there is definitely still some room for improvement. I used the custom shape tool to create this shape, as well as the telephone icon next to my phone number and mail icon next to my email address. These small icons let the reader know that the numbers at the bottom aren’t just put there randomly, and that they can use that information to contact me. A potential employer does not have to sit through and read lines upon lines of text to find where I have stated my contact information; they only need to refer to the symbols placed at the bottom of my page for easy noticeability. I also used horizontal and vertical lines to separate the different sections of my CV. While serving the obvious purpose of separating text and making my CV more organised, vertical lines represent strength. This will show my potential employer that I am strong, and therefore very confident and sure of myself. Plus, horizontal lines represent community and tranquillity, showing more of my friendly side and subliminally sending the message that I’m a welcoming person and that I care for others.

 

Text and Typefaces

Typography is the way we arrange words in a piece of writing, advertisement, art or essay. It involves using different typefaces and font families, and the way you arrange your text on the page. For example, certain typefaces go together better than others and compliment each other. This would make them a font family, because they fit together nicely and don’t clash. When manipulating text to make it more legible (readable, easy to read), there are four main things to think about. These are leading, line length, kerning and tracking. Leading is the space between lines of text, and it is important to have good leading to make text legible. For example, if the leading is too tight in text then the ascending and descending letters collide and become mashed together, but if the leading is too large then the text does not flow like it should and has several unnecessary pauses. The tracking is the space between letters on a line, and adjusting this will make words closer together or further away. Tracking that is too tight will make the letters in words overlap, making them too difficult to read; while tracking that is too long will make the words so spaced apart that the text is hard to follow and doesn’t flow properly. Kerning is the spacing in between two individual letters, which may need to be adjusted depending on the typeface that is being used. If the kerning of one specific word is bad, it can make the entire text look uneven and make the reader focus on that small mistake rather than the contents of the text.

Keeping these things in mind, I used a cursive typeface for the title of my CV. The font is bold and decorative, making it suitable as a title as it stands out and grabs the attention of the person reading it. It is also a serif font, meaning it has small projections coming off of it which are called serifs. Serif fonts are considered to be easier to read by some, as said by Colin Whieldon in 1982, as he said that sans serif fonts (fonts without serifs) created difficulties for some people when reading. It is for this reason that I used a serif font in my title, as well as the fact that serif fonts appeal to an older audience, which could possibly be who I am trying to cater to with my CV. Having said that, I did use a sans serif typeface for my body of text. This is due to the fact that it creates a font family when paired with the cursive font I used for my title, and my potential employer may not be part of an older audience. They could be in their twenties or thirties, which would mean that a serif font might not cater to them. I also typed my text from left to right, as we are a western country which means we naturally read text from left to right.  

In my CV, I included several pieces of information about myself that an employer would be interested in. Firstly, I included a personal statement which describes who I am as a person and all the positive aspects of my personality. I described the fact that I am approachable among other things, which is a trait an employer would like to see displayed on a CV. The second thing I wrote about was my skills, and I used pictures rather than words to represent this in order to make my CV more interesting. While writing about my education, I wrote about all three schools I have attended and the course I am currently on, to let my employer know that I am currently a student and tell them the level I am working at. Just beneath this are my exam results, which show my employer which subjects I excel at and the excellent grades I achieved at secondary school. The last thing I wrote about was my job experience; my one previous job and the job I have now. I described briefly my position and what it involved, with pictures and logos as an aid.

Skills Used and Problem Solving

I have used several practical skills to complete my work. First of all, I did a large amount of research into the basic knowledge I need to have to do well on this course (colour theory, type theory, shape theory) and used this research to shape the way I produced my work. I then had to learn to use Blogger, a blogging website which allows you to create your own blog and post content on there. It was difficult at first, because Blogger does not spell check any errors like Word does, so I tried to spend time proofreading my work which took up valuable time. I managed to solve this problem by typing my work up on Word first and then copying and pasting it over to Blogger later, so I no longer waste time proofreading. I now post all of my work on there, ready to be graded.

One of the most challenging parts of the course so far was learning to use Photoshop. I had never used Photoshop before, until I started the course. Most of the tools were very easy, such as the marquee tool and the custom shape tool, but I had trouble remembering certain commands and how to use the more complicated tools, like the history brush tool. I overcame this problem by making notes in lessons and writing down all the commands and how to use each tool, so if I begin to struggle I can simply refer back to my notebook.  I am very good at using Photoshop now, and believe I have effectively developed my skills.

Whilst creating my Creative CV, one thing I had to make sure I avoided was using copyrighted pictures from the internet. To avoid this, any logos I used were taken from my own Photos (screenshots from my desktop) and I made sure I did not use any photos that someone else owned. I also did not copy anyone else’s CV, I used my own which I have previously given out to employers before starting college.

Also, due to several group activities and discussions, I have gained a greater confidence with public speaking. This is because most members of my course are very supportive and helpful, and will give constructive criticism to help me improve my work. I also have better compromising and communication skills, as I like to make sure everyone is happy with their roles in group projects so that we can get along and complete work quickly and effectively. One last skill I developed was my leadership skills, as I like to take charge in situations where other people may not feel that they can step up to the job.