The 20 most creative resumes i’ve seen in a long time. Pure inspiration

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About Francesco Mugnai

I'm an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CS4, i work as Teacher, Graphic Designer and Web Designer. My other websites: Itevenhasawatermark - CSSMachine

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138 Comments

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Great post!
Grant Friedman September 27, 2008 at 4:43 am
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Thanks for sharing. I find much inspiration in your posts.
Thomas Mejer September 27, 2008 at 5:04 pm
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Nice one, Francesco. I actually have some of these on my upcoming volume III, you scooped me :)
Jacob from JobMob September 28, 2008 at 8:44 am
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Nice collection !
You can check out mine, too:
http://www.sachagreif.com/blog/new-resume/
Sacha September 29, 2008 at 7:21 pm
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nice collection of cv’s
sachin khobragade September 30, 2008 at 1:37 pm
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Meh. I’d toss those the minute they came across my desk. Keep your CV professional, concise, and easy to scan – go wild with your portfolio and work samples.
Mark September 30, 2008 at 9:59 pm
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super great post!
syed September 30, 2008 at 10:03 pm
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I’d be interested to know what kind of responses these resumes get. I don’t deny they are very creative and inventive, but with most jobs these days going into an automated database (uploading word docs), are these resumes really working for them? I hold out hope that they are, I’d love to design a resume as inventive as some of these are.
Meroko September 30, 2008 at 10:52 pm
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Amazing work… but it makes you feel like crap afterwards if you can’t even draw a straight line. Even worse if your resume is practically empty.
sanjuro September 30, 2008 at 11:44 pm
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wonderful really great thanks for sharing it
Moksha October 1, 2008 at 12:31 am
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amazing, you come up with some of teh best stuff, and thats one reason I am always hooked to you blog,
my friend too designed an interesting resume, and the same can be made as a .pdf document for online use.
vijay karthik October 1, 2008 at 7:21 pm
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This is very good :)
Bunny got Blog October 2, 2008 at 11:58 pm
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Thanks again for another truly inspirational post.
Seraphim Collective October 4, 2008 at 2:12 am
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These are quite inspirational.. thank you for sharing them with us :)
Inspirational.. October 8, 2008 at 8:57 am
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Brilliant. IÂ´ll put it up on my site as well
arjan October 8, 2008 at 10:43 am
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briliant! just what i needed!!!! for inspiration for my personal CV! the most useful post ever on line!!!!
ryder October 9, 2008 at 12:20 pm
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coool. i like that….
http://www.ortakpayda.info
selim Ã§arsancakl? October 10, 2008 at 10:09 am
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asdasdasdasdd
hÃ¼seyin October 23, 2008 at 4:15 pm
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mÃ¼
ebru November 25, 2008 at 11:41 am
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mekalkaylimekaymiekÃ¼yekÃ¼hk
ebru November 25, 2008 at 11:41 am
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These are really attractive resumes, although they apply more for creative positions. I think we can always tweak them to apply to our line of work. Thanks Francesco for sharing! Would love to swap ideas with you in real life if not for the distance ;) (you in Italy and I’m in Asia). Have fun!
Shivadevi November 29, 2008 at 4:48 am
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Great templates for resumes. Although some of these may be a bit over the top but depending on the industry applied to, some of these may be exactly what is needed to stand out from a crowd and ensure acceptance to the advertised job position.
Resume Docket December 2, 2008 at 9:05 am
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Fantastic! I’m in the process of creating my own CV and this will be a great source of inspiration! Thanks.
Max Weir January 23, 2009 at 12:01 am
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lol Great Great ideas. its amazing to just come up with these ideas
Resume Revisions January 27, 2009 at 10:37 pm
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These look awesome, but I think they’re rather impractical. I think most employers want one page if possible. And I also think the download-able CV should be black & white. You don’t want to make someone use up their color ink just for your resume. Seems wasteful. With those restraints in mind, I think it presents a better challenge, to make your resume be artful and stand out in a more conservative way.
Kelly C. February 6, 2009 at 6:52 pm
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  Black & White? For a bank maybe.
  A resume is only about differentiating yourself from others. And sometimes, that comes in pages, dimension and color.
  Creative Recruiter February 10, 2009 at 11:41 pm
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    I agree with Kelly C.
    As an animator/compositor when I had a well-designed graphical resume, the folks at ILM told me that if I did not have a straight text resume that they could just print in black and white, then they would simply skip me. period.
    Seems to be the way for most employers in the non-print industries.
    I understand what “Creative Recuiter” is saying, but practical will ALWAYS win.
    Mike February 12, 2009 at 12:58 am
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  I disagree with Kelly. I am sure if a designer has spent so much time creating such an amazing CV, S/he would send it in the post or even better, in person.
  Mags February 27, 2009 at 5:58 pm
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    As a newly graduated Graphic Designer from a 4-year university, I’ve been taught that resume’s of this nature ARE impractical, that employers want a resume that fits on one page. It’s ok to design that one page to show your skill (e.g. NOT a B&W word document as if you were applying to a bank) using one or two colors, your choice of fonts, layout and negative space, but going all out like this is unnecessary and might annoy employers. Save the true frills for your portfolio.
    Jon March 4, 2009 at 1:16 am
    - You have been taught incorrectly Jon.
      Greig March 27, 2009 at 6:21 pm
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    @Kelly C : I agree with you. These kind of resumes will not work when applying for jobs, even to creative jobs. I suggest they either fit in as a part of ones portfolio or be an addition to a 1 page b&w “wordprocessor” CV.
    One can always have two digital CVs for download, a boring b&w (which will land you the job) and a fun creative one.
    wwater March 25, 2009 at 8:07 am
    - It’s really simply what we’ve been doing with creative resumes for years — you simply send in a plain black and white version along with the graphical one and it’s the best of both worlds; shows your design talent and your practical understanding of an employer’s needs.
      Throw the 1-page garbage out the window, however. New grads frequently don’t have more than this to say but experienced professionals usually require two pages to sell themselves. Again, there are no rules but staying to one page if it hurts you and makes you cut out value doesn’t work.
      Lauraads March 25, 2009 at 6:32 pm
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They look awesome and very inspiring.
AthenaEmily February 7, 2009 at 6:43 am
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It’s nice to see some fresh design but I recall when I was preparing for the job world, I was told at a Planet Propaganda seminar that most companies hate overblown resumes, especially HR reps, Instead choosing good typography choices and organization.
Brandon February 10, 2009 at 5:46 pm
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Some very cool stuff there!
I’m just wondering what people here think of my resume? I’ve kept it very very simple. Plz take a look at:
http://davdesign.net/mycv/
I’ve kept everything on one single page and I think there’s a nice flow in it. Decide for yourself… (I used to have an english version of this one when I finished studying in the uk, but I’m now living in The Netherlands, so converted it to Dutch).
Hope I’ll get some feedback here. Thanks for taking the time to have a look at it.
Very nice post Francesco Mugnai!!
david February 10, 2009 at 5:54 pm
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Very creative, perfect for those in design, marketing or advertising.
VoteAudrey February 10, 2009 at 7:25 pm
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Holy… these designers will mos def land that job! Amazing and very inspirational~
Soh February 10, 2009 at 9:12 pm
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Great collection of examples Francesco.
Some ingenious ideas!!
Design Forums February 10, 2009 at 9:20 pm
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there is a time for everything, If i want to see creativity i check your portfolio.
crazywabbit February 10, 2009 at 9:25 pm
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these are amazing!! i am so jealous!! i guess i need to go work on mine and add a bit of colour! :)
Lara February 10, 2009 at 9:49 pm
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Couldn’t have come at a better time. I am updating my resume as we speak. Thanks for the post.
Kristin Andrews February 10, 2009 at 9:49 pm
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These are amazing.
Timothy February 10, 2009 at 10:46 pm
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These are all very exceptional. A lot of time and creativity went in. An sharp employer should consider what good use that energy could be put to!
@DDGriffith February 10, 2009 at 11:12 pm
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When I was Art Director for a design agency I would regularly receive resumÃ©s, sometimes on a daily basis. 99% of the time it was from designers attempting to create something that helps them stand out from the crowd and show off their abilities. However, most Art Directors or people in a position to hire designers do not have the time to look through stuff like this. I don’t want to spend 5 mintues trying to unfold an A3 poster in the shape of a hat or whatever to find out if someone has enough experience or even find their email address. If you want to stand out from the crowd, create a beautiful piece of INFORMATION GRAPHICS that has the user in mind. Keep it simple, keep it restrained, black and white on a single side of A4!
Luther Spicer February 11, 2009 at 11:26 am
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  Agree. Some of these are great, but cumbersome and don’t take the reader into account. Same goes for demo reels!
  Smartist February 12, 2009 at 12:18 am
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  Agree!
  Christian March 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm
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Really inspiring!
Gis February 12, 2009 at 12:36 am
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the best thing i have seen lately
Harsha M V February 12, 2009 at 7:12 am
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Hi,
thanks very good cv. Bays
Ã–rnek CV March 17, 2009 at 11:27 am
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I think these are amazing. I would have thought for a designing job an employer would certainly appreciate the effort gone into these. God knows if I got a B&W resume or any one of those featured I know who I’d be keen to give the job to.
Belinda March 25, 2009 at 8:10 am
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I tend to agree and disagree to both arguments.
I believe in 95% of the time you really do need to supply the resume/c.v. in black + white, however that does not stop you from being a little creative with it.
I guess the purpose of the article was to showcase some resumes/c.v.’s? The majority of these would be submitted as part of a portfolio whether that be online or offline and I’m sure that many would be delivered to potential employers from within the creative industry therefore an allowance would be made for sure..
The examples above are great and can provide some inspiration for some I’m sure.
Just my humble opinion. :-)
Mike March 25, 2009 at 9:20 am
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Great resource! Many people ask me how to create a good resume and these are great examples. Thanks for sharing!
anna maria lopez lopez March 25, 2009 at 9:53 am
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Inspiring list. For digg users: http://digg.com/design/The_20_most_creative_resumes_i_ve_seen_in_a_long_time_2
Osvaldas March 25, 2009 at 10:21 am
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I hate to say it, but these resumes scream “Student!” to me. They tell me that the person designing the resume may be an excellent designer (and many of these are) but probably has very little real-world experience. You will usually be asked to send in a resume either in the body of an email, or even posted into an online form. Rarely, you will have the opportunity to send it as an attachment. Even more rarely (never, if you are a web designer) will you be asked to submit a paper resume to a mailing address.
So what do you do? As a hiring art director, I would offer this advice:
1) Make your resume stand out with words alone. Give your strengths and skills, but more importantly give your *accomplishments*. “Designed brochure for a local food charity & won a design award” is ok, but what will really get my attention is “Designed brochure that helped to bring in a 140% increase in donations,” or “Created 12,000-item ecommerce site in [extremely short timeline] & was called back by client for more work the following year.”
2) Client lists are gold. You will have a very hard time making an impression with student work alone, no matter how beautiful it is. Do a non-profit website for free if you must, but have a list of living, breathing clients. Include testimonials, preferably by linking to your LinkedIn recommendations so that they can be verified without a lot of extra effort.
3) Design your beautiful resume ONLINE – not as a download, but as a fast-loading page or microsite, and supply a link to it in your text-only resume.
4) If you do have a lovely paper version, bring it to your interview.
Marla Erwin March 25, 2009 at 7:50 pm
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  agree 100%
  Christian March 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm
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  You got it Maria!
  Direct response stats definitely make the grade…and not too easy to come by eh?
  A little bit harder than designing…design that sells.
  I believe the Caples Awards have a few of those.
  -Tia
  Tia Dobi April 2, 2009 at 7:37 am
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  I think you are the only sane person here.
  Greg Osborne May 1, 2009 at 3:38 am
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I mostly like the designs … but honestly I’m not sure if over-designing a resume is the right thing to do.
Are these resumes targeted to be stared by design savy HRs?, if so, good work & best luck!
But if they are meant to be read by HR professionals, this resumes most likely will cause them some head ache trying to find out who this person is.
Is this the purpose of design? doing something because is “nice” not because it “works”?
I would really like to know that this design examples are about designers who researched about the company that they wish to work in, their hiring methodology, etc. And with that background in mind achieved the results we can see. But I remain skeptical.
My suggestion is, do follow the advise of: Luther Spicer & Marla Erwin in this comments
Christian March 26, 2009 at 1:03 pm
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Im afraid to say that a lot of you seem to have missed the point here. I wonder how many of you are actual designers operating at a decent level. Someone’s point of creating a CV on a single side of A4 and all this talk of black and white is laughable im afraid. I designed the litho printed poster mailer at the top of this article to help when promoting myself to potential employers in Sydney and its fair to say that the piece was received overwhelmingly well. Im not a student designer but one with nearly 5 years experience in the design industry and understand that if you want to make an impression then you need to earn it. I understand the importance of creating something which will have impact and create standout. Time is not the issue as someone else mentioned. If your good enough and your work stands out they will make the time to take a look. Send them anything in A4 and unless its a Prontaprint you will remain unemployed. Anyone who mentions a HR department is talking rubbish because if you want to work for a good design agency, you aren’t speaking to any HR manager or personnel. You will need to impress the creative director or managing director or at least someone in the design team, chances are they will be design savy. Last thing, never ever send a PDF – boring, seen it and unless your an absolute standout then there will be 20 more better PDF’s than yours in a good agencies inbox. Emails and URLS are the same, you need to and must earn yourself a bit of time by creating something that the recipient gets excited about and spends the time to look through. If you send a file to an agency then your are basically showing a lack of creativity and skill, a good designer surely should be able to promote themselves in a better and more creative way than that! Practicality is important but this A4 black and white text chat is for a different career. If n agecy asks for that then you don’t want to work for them anyway.
Greig March 27, 2009 at 6:17 pm
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Having lived both overseas and here in the states, what I know for sure is that in America, these are highly impractical.
One can argue–and file 13 at the hands of any recruiter hiring manager art director producer etc etc etc has the final say.
(What’s the point of arguing? Either you get called for the interview or you don’t. Put it to the test.)
Words are the winner with resumes – now portfolios – go for it!
@headheadhunter
Tia Dobi April 2, 2009 at 7:34 am
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Fantastic!! Simply fantastic. These examples have given me a lot of inspiration! Thank you
aleta April 11, 2009 at 12:29 am
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Some of them are quite nice. Conceptually, the Character Resume is a interesting idea but it doesn’t deserve to be here with some of the others. It’s poorly executed, and has the potential to scare of a potential employer due to the content, or on the other hand, for an employer to not understand it, as not everyone is a gamer.
It fails miserably on the design front as it uses standard pre-installed PC typefaces quite heavily and it looks like 5 different typefaces in all here. No consideration for aesthetic and consideration of type weights.
Lastly, most of these fail horribly because recruiters will want a copy of your CV as a word doc., so it’s important to have a portfolio online where your work can be seen. So.. this means you need to grab the reader with the words you use, because creative will not be seen until the words have been read!
Benn April 22, 2009 at 3:02 am
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  I think he was applying for a game company, so it’s probably ok.
  Nick April 24, 2009 at 7:46 am