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InDesign your Resumé The Importance of Good Design
Glossary
→ Boilerplate: standardized text; a
document that contains complete
resumé content
→ Decorative: fonts that are ornate
and less neutral, such as Papyrus
→ Full-bleed: the page is trimmed so
that some things go off the edge,
instead of having a margin around
the page
→ Grid: system that text-based
designs align to
→ Gutter: space between guides
→ Hard-return: line break created by
pressing Enter. Used to separate
paragraphs.
→ Hierarchy: a typographical system
that defines and differentiate
between levels of text
→ InDesign: program used for
creating layouts with lots of text
→ Kerning: the space between two
characters
→ Leading: the space between each
line of text. Make sure it’s not too
loose or too tight
→ Margin: the white space around a
page or shape
→ PDF: file format that anyone can
open, no matter the operating
system. Good file format for saving
resumés
→ Rule: a line used as a decorative
element or as a way to separate
information
→ Sans serif: font without the small
flourishes on the edge of the
character, such as Arial
→ Serif: font with small flourishes on
the edge of the character, such as
Times New Roman
→ Soft-return: line break created
by pressing Shift + Enter. Used
to separate lines of text within a
paragraph.
→ Tracking: the space between each
character in a word
→ Typography: technique of arranging
text to make content legible,
readable, and appealing when
displayed
→ Weight: different styles of a font,
ie. light, bold, italic
The Importance
of Good Design
→ Like it or not, the resumé is the first
impression an employer has of you as an artist
and as a professional. Potential employers will
likely spend an average of 10 seconds on your
resumé. It must be clear and organized, so that
it is easy to pick out important information
at a glance.
Consider your audience—depending on the
industry standard of your profession or major,
you may or may not need to design your
resumé. Check with Career Development if
you are not sure.
Prior to designing your resumé, you should
have a boilerplate text document that contains
all of your experience in one place. The type
of job you are applying for determines which
experiences will be included on your resumé. If
you do not have your resumé built, please refer
to Career Development’s “Building Your Resumé”
handout (see p24).
This is also a good opportunity to spell check
and have your content reviewed by at least one
other person. A good place to do this is during
Career Development’s Drop-In Hours, or in an
appointment with a Peer Career Advisor.