CV Design for Technical Candidates (Part 1)

Typeface Selection

Visually, there's not much exciting you can do with what is essentially a few pages of text - but what you can ensure with your CV is that you at least get the basics right.

The typeface you choose is a good way to distinguish your CV visually - but choosing the right type is a task best approached conservatively, as some fonts may be seen as amateurish, unpleasant or just plain unreadable. As with so many aspects of CV design, the trick is to be quite conservative in your selection - but not to settle for the same as everybody else.

The Bad

Times New Roman - the default choice for most CVs. A bit of a workhorse, reliable, inoffensive - and looks just like the rest of the pile. If you want to stand out, at least in terms of your CV's presentation - then Times New Roman is not for you.

Arial - Times New Roman's san serif cousin, and nearly as prevalent. Designed as a cheap clone of Helvetica, and it shows. The same applies to Verdana - you are better off choosing an alternative, altogether less ubiquitous, san serif typeface.

Comic Sans - Great for getting that comic book effect - but for a prospective employer? Avoid at all costs.

Be wary of - Any font that came preinstalled with your computer (Trebuchet, Tahoma, et al.), as the odds are that everyone else will be using it. Also, steer clear of any novelty fonts, handwritten effects, or anything you could describe as 'funky'.

Simple is always better.

The Good

Helvetica - The classic modernist san-serif font. If you want the clean look of no serifs and simple letterforms, you can't go wrong with Helvetica. Also good, and in a similar san serif vein: Frutiger, Franklin Gothic and Univers.

Garamond - An 'old style' serif typeface for an altogether more classical look. Other good serif fonts include Caslon, Palatino, and Baskerville - and there are many more classical serifed fonts to choose from.

Summary: Default fonts bad. Classical, simple, print ready fonts good.















Keeping it short and sweet: Terseness

Putting together a novel-length CV benefits no-one; it will take you longer to put together, and will take prospective employers longer to read through - assuming they bother at all.

The golden rule is to keep things as brief and as information-dense as possible; I find most careers can be covered quite comprehensively in 2 sides of A4 paper. With a longer CV you will find that employers are less keen to go through it in as much detail, so some of your selling points may simply be skipped over.

Don't be tempted to reduce page margins and font sizes just to squeeze more in. Try to keep your minimum font size to around 10pt if you can, and your page margins should be left near as the default. Small text or longer line lengths will make your CV harder to read.

If you're really struggling to fit everything in two pages or less, you might want to consider restructuring some sections so that they are more compact, or better still excising parts which are less relevant or which do not contribute as much as the more important sections.

In paring down your CV you will ensure that what is left highlights your strongest aspects - it is better to have a few condensed paragraphs regarding your finest skills, that two or three pages detailing every aspect of your career experience. This distillation of your life into a few short words is tough, but will make for a stronger representation.















Adding an accent: Use of Colour

The simplest rule of colour use within CV design to follow is this: don't use any. Plain black and white throughout is the safest (and easiest) bet. This is particularly important if you are sending your CV as a digital file - with no control over printing there's no telling how it will look.

You may be tempted to add a splash of colour to add an edge of individuality - this can work, but simple monochrome does have a few distribution advantages - between your digital file and your interviewer there could be any number of fax machines, photocopiers, and monochrome-only printers. A design that works in just two colours is essential.

If you are submitting a CV directly on paper, then you can probably consider certain options that are not afforded to digital files - selecting a quality paper can add a certain finesse to the impact. Anything above the bog standard 80gsm white laser paper will make a difference, and you could even consider a lightly coloured paper (anything from ivory to cream - fluorescent yellow might not be the most subtle idea) to help make your CV stand out in the pile.

Generally speaking, though - unless you have a very good reason to use multiple colours within your CV, then you want to stick to the basics. White paper, black text - and nothing else.

If you have need to include work examples, screenshots or similar - bundle them separately as a portfolio and leave your CV as plain as possible.