0UGD603 / PPP3 - Self Branding: CV + Mini Portfolio.

OUGD603
SELF BRANDING
CV + MINI PORTFOLIO

Today I began working on my CV design of which I was mostly inspired by the invitation image I sourced during my initial stages of research. Alike to the invitation I want to section my cv out clearly, and alternate between purely type sections as a form of communication, and some simple illustrations. I think that a combination of this will help it to connect with the branding I have so far, but also help to communicate the type of work I like to create. 
I began by making a list of information I think is crucial to put on my CV. 

- Logo
- Contact details 
- A small statement about me as a designer
- Education 
- Technical skills
- What type of design I love to do
- Traits 
- Languages 
- What I do outside of designing 
- Lets make Gold together. 

Statement:
Hi, im Sarah Goldthorpe, a graphic designer with a love for branding and packaging. I create experiences and touch points for humans to interact with, love and enjoy. 

Education:
Queensbury school
11 GCSE's A* - C

Queensbury school 
3 A levels  A - C

Leeds college of Art
BA HONS Graphic Design


Technical skills:
- Adobe illustrator 
- Photoshop 
-Indesign 
- Adobe After effects 


What kind of design I love to do:
- To create experiences
- Tactile 
- Concept driven 
- Illustration 

Traits:
- Go getter attitude 
- Positive thinker 
- Likes a challenge 
- Reliable 
- Professional 
- Confident speaker 

Languages:
- English and Spanish 

Alongside designing:
- Eating Mr. pretzel 
- Going to gigs 
- Travelling everywhere 
- Visting the zoo


I think its really important that I try to come across as an all round individual on my CV and speak about elements of both my personal and professional practice. Visting professional Tony Broomhead from Architecture at sheffield commented upon how quite frequently job positions can be handed to people, and the deal can be sealed due to something personal on the CV that captures the attention of the employer, because they find it interesting, or it is something they themselves enjoy as well. 

Using the list above I will cover not only my abilities with Graphic design, but also my work ethic/ mindset and personality. 

Using the invitation as inspiration, I came up with a grid to separate all of the information above, placing them into sections where I thought they were most relevant to each other and read more fluently.

Overall im really happy with my CV design, I think that it communicates all the necessary information needed to know in a simplistic and clear way. Whilst the gold details adhere to the theme running throughout my branding, in keeping with the brand personality, the white dominated colour scheme with black and gold details help the information to be 100% readable. 

I also tried to take Tony Broomhead's advice on board when writing my CV in reference to the information such as 'Alongside designing' in which I tried to be unique and really personal with my responses. 

To send out with my CV I also wanted to produce a mini portfolio encompassing three projects that I've done across my time on the course which I feel really represent my practice. I want the publication to be short and low cost to make offering a 'taste' of my work as a designer, in a format that won't break the bank to produce a set. 

For the front cover continuing with the theme, I've come up with the phrase 'Show me the Gold' in reference to the gold being my work. I was worried that this phrase might sound too overly confident, however on my studio visit to the Archipelago, they said something they admired about me was the confidence I had speaking about my work. Its always good to see a Graphic designer who believes in themselves and what they produce.  
As the publication is meant to be a mini portfolio, I want to have the piece mainly dominated by imagery of my work and supported by only small pieces of text. 

The works I have chosen to include are John Lewis, Bradley Sykes and Beckett Beccari. I wanted to show my ability to work towards different kinds of work including A design competition creating packaging for a large brand, A live brief creating outcomes for a single person, and the ability to create a range of branding for a luxury company. 

The mini portfolio:

To finish off my self branding I wanted to also produce a folder to house my business card, CV and mini portfolio, and a front cover/first sleeve for my full size portfolio that attaches it to my self branding.
I created the portfolio cover and folder to match for clarity and consistency. The only change I made to the folder cover is that I introduce myself on the folder front cover to try and create a friendly and warm but strong introduction.

Folder front cover:



End products: