Design CVs

Found this cool articles on Smashing Magazine about designing CVs. Some work really well, particularly in terms of layout and use of space.

How to create a great web design CV and resume

In comparison, my CV looks a little on the boring side, but I think there's a fine line where professionalism is concerned.

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SPP3 - employment - web designer #8

Web Designer - £16k - £24k - Leicester Posted on 2010-02-10 09:42:00
Job Type:	Permanent
Job Location:	Leicester
Job Salary:	£16,000 - £24,000 / Year
Web Designer - £16k - £24k - Leicester - Leicester, Leicestershire Web Designer/Developer - £16k-£24k - Leicester - HTML, CSS, Adobe Our client is looking for a Web Designer (HTML, CSS, Adobe Photoshop), to join an established team working with fellow designers and non technical personnel on a number of exciting projects. Key skills include HTML, CSS, Adobe Photoshop Flash / Actionscirpt an advantage ASP.NET / PHP a plus The role would suit a dynamic outgoing person who is looking to work for a leading organisation in a fun environment. The salary on offer is from £16k upto £24k dependant on experience.

Spp3 - employment - web designer #7

Another junior role located, this time courtesy of Job Search.

Web Designer

Web Designer / Developer / Administrator - Warwick

A successful, high profile company in the Digital sector is now seeking to recruit a Website Designer / Developer / Administrator. Your key objectives are to design and content manage the company and customer websites to reflect new promotions and products.

Your key responsibilities will be designing and maintaining customer websites, website administration, Search Engine Optimisation for company and customer sites (working alongside external agency), ensuring all new software is tailored to the localisms of the UK market including new products and software upgrades, providing Customer Support department with support and knowledge on all aspects of the online service and taking escalated calls from Customer Support department.

The ideal candidate will be qualified in a relevant subject and have at least 12 months experience in a commercial environment. You will have proven web design portfolio, be creative in nature and have a high level of written English - vocabulary and grammar. Technically you should have excellent knowledge of content management systems, HTML and CSS programming ability, Adobe Photoshop, dream weaver, flash and illustrator knowledge and a good knowledge of Microsoft Office.

This is a junior role and so carries a salary in the region of £18,000 to £20,000 depending on experience.

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Combining the experience I have in digital design, customer service and qualifications in English this job seems a highly attractive opportunity. In fact, what they request I feel makes me the suitable applicant: CMS, design packages, the Microsoft Office Suite, fluency and capability in oral and written compositions, alongside transferable skills such as an amiable and approachable demeanour, a willingness to achieve, an autonomy in my work which is enhanced in a team based scenario, as well as a disciplined nature to ensure deadlines are met, all underpinned with a creative flair for contemporary design.

The only issue I see with this job advert is that it states this is a junior role, but just prior to this requests a minimum of 12 months experience in a commercial environment. Perhaps they mean general professional experience in a workplace, if so, I can comply again here, also.

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SPP3 - employment - web designer #6

Just discovered a great find, a junior/graduate web designer position and it was posted a mere five minutes before I was reading it and wishing I had graduated already!!

Location:	Leicester, Leicestershire
Salary:	£17-20,000 per annum depending on skills experience
Company:	OCB Media Ltd
Job type:	Permanent
Date posted:	12/02/2010 11:02:14

Junior Web Designer

Degree level Web Designer with a background in website and graphic design demonstrating excellent visual design with a strong technical understanding. The candidate should be able to demonstrate the relevant level of both design and technical skills and also be able to provide a portfolio of previous works. You will need the ability to work with the Senior Web Designer and apply our methodology effectively on client engagements to successfully translate the client’s, and markets, needs whilst applying your knowledge of industry trends and developments to improve service to our clients. A basic understanding of project and development plans and the ability to clearly articulate roles, project goals, and timelines and clearly articulate ideas and thoughts verbally. The ideal candidate will have a passion for design and be able to work individually and within a team..

Duties

·General Templating

·Taking initial page designs from the senior designer and carrying across other standard pages.

·Formal front end testing, troubleshooting, and QA

·Browser fixes

·Take on internal development tasks to improve future workflow

Skills required

·Interface Design

·Templating

·HTML/CSS

·Adobe CS4 Suite-in particular Photoshop

Desirable skills

·SEO

·Knowledge of issue tracking software (e.g. mantis, trac)

·Experience of SVN

·Experience of Google analytics

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First of all, this job is the most appropriate I've found so far. It is in my home town, has a great renumeration package, is suitable for graduates who tend to have none or under a years work experience. I believe it could be the position I SPP3 "apply" for.

The skills required I excel at, being able to hand code XHTML and CSS, initiate and optimize designs in Photoshop (CS3&4) alongside working in Dreamweaver or other similar packages. I can also bring some relevant experience to the table. Whilst working for Active Ingredient in Nottingham I informally played the role of junior web designer, receiving a proposed design from my senior and implementing this, expanding it, then debugging technical issues (e.g. cross browser compatibility).

I pride myself on utilising modern, contemporary design. In particular, I am highly interested in typography and capable of implementing such custom fonts online, where standard fonts can otherwise prove limiting on a design.

I am a great communicator, both verbal and written, enjoying writing for a number of mediums: creative, persuasive, technical, alongside commerical work experience in customer service providing an advanced aptitude for communicating with clients, be it face to face, over the phone, or via email.

The desirable skills set out I can also go some way in providing for. Google Analytics I am a user of and find it of real worth, tieing in effectively with Google's Webmaster Tools. SVN is like Apple's Time Machine, in that you store your data (files etc) and can then assess the changes you make over time and hopefully resolve bugs - an worthwhile component in web design/dev to attempt to limit disruption on your work. SEO I am currently investigating, and so far so good. Implementing consistently throughout a site's build has meant greater efficiency for a project, and my attention to detail proves useful in applying the SEO techniques well.

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SPP3 - employment - web designer #5

I did a search on the jobsite, and it proved a worthwhile experience. I always tended to go for jobcentre or directgov, but this one provided alternate results.

Web designer required in Rugby

Web Designer with a sound portfolio of quality Front-End design using tools such as CSS, Flash, Actionscript etc sought by well known Media Design agency with offices in Rugby and Covent Garden, London.

A talented Web Designer with really decent people skills is sought to join a young and dynamic team, the position requires strong team working skills, an ability to meet deadlines, good problem solving ability and a great eye for detail.

Your technica skills should include the following:
- HTML / CSS (Handcoding)
- Dreamweaver
- Flash / ActionScript
- Photoshop
- Javascript
Main Responsibilities
- Site maintenance
- New Site Builds

Our client can offer really in-depth and rewarding project work for major and well-known brand names and as such your career here will flourish, as will your portfolio!

Apply now to hear more!

Rubgy - Warwickshire - West Midlands - commutable from Coventry, Solihull, Birmingham, Leamington, Stratford, Birmingham and surrounding areas.

£17 - 20k a year, depending on experience + Bonus + 22 Days Holiday

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Advantages:

I have now gotten to the stage where I am familiar and competent to hand code, obviously this is difficult to prove unless tested, but I feel that I would be competent enough to stand up to such a test!

The main responsibilities sounds exactly like what I have been doing alongside my course: freelancing, building new sites and then managing and updating them. I can provide several testimonials ratifying this. The additional work often included setting up domains/hosting, building new CSS driven designs from scratch, tuition on using the content management system, in addition to original branding such as company logos which were subsequently used for letterheads, business cards and the website.

As can be seen through the previous SPP3 posts, I pride myself on time management/organisation and an attentive nature means that designs are always considered and whole-heartedly invested in, backed up by diligence, and enthusiasm for my craft .

My additional commercial work experience, working on the customer service lines for the Passport Services, Swine Flu and Setanta Sports means I have developed sound communication skills, able to converse with clarity to an array of different people, and in response listen attentively, interpreting customer needs well.

Disadvantages:

Rugby is a little trek from home, but with the reasonable renumeration package on offer (£17-20K) this should more than cover commuting costs.

A slight downside is that I am a recent newcomer to the capabilities of Javascript, yet as with all new scripting languages, a decent attempt to understand and implement means that after one project, I am confident to continue pursuing and learning the new language. I am a good learner, able to pick things up quickly and commit them to memory.

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Client - website building commences

Despite my client being on a two week hiatus, I have gotten hold of the server details and so began installing the Wordpress CMS.

The homepage template is up and available now. Until I get content through from Sue it's more or less the shell.

You can also visit the site, a work in progress, on this link, www.footworksbysue.co.uk

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The background image is not 100% confirmed as on larger monitors it distorts being about 1000px wide. I could remedy this in Photoshop, or alternatively I have found a few more images, which are slightly different but would add some interest to the backdrop. I'm awaiting feedback on this.

For now though, the green leaves of nature provide a fresh lift to the page and contrast nicely with the orange that is used in the main body of the site.

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Having used sIFR before, I was able to implement it this time without much trouble. The only issue I experienced was due to the custom typeface Nilland not having a bold style in the original typeface package. I have since created a strengthened version, and had to pretend that it is a different font in the configuration script. It has achieved what was sought after for the navigation links headers.

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Elsewhere, to achieve a full background image, I located a plug-in called Supersized. This proved a little more tricky.

The benefit of using this plug-in is that it forces the browser to render all of the picture, not a zoomed version as can happen when users have a lower resolution.

However, both myself and Sarah experienced trouble in that it would retain the landscape ratio of the image and force a white border, both at the top and left of the page when the browser window was resized. After an hours testing, it whittled down to swapping the advised 'absolute' position with 'fixed' for the big background image.

Having researched into it a bit, "a fixed position element is positioned relative to the viewport, or the browser window itself." (CSS Tricks) Obviously this is what we were after, rather than absolute which "allows you to literally place any page element exactly where you want it".

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So far so good. Once my client returns from her two weeks of exams I will be able to collect some content and start forming the site.

Obviously being a CMS, I will eventually need to create a user manual to allow her to operate the site herself.

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PRP - artifact #2 - Yell.com vs app

A blatantly obvious use of the mobile web would be to search for companies/services near you, when you're out and about.

The first go to name (apart from Google Maps) is Yellow pages, or yell.com. Their mobile site appears to serve all mobile phones, naturally, serving the broadest range of people. Yet they also have a mobile app for the iPhone (on the right).

YELL HOME PAGE

Firstly the mobile site features little to no styling as it will need to function across the broad range of mobile devices, all of which replicate (or not) styles in their own way, therefore there isn't much point focusing a lot of effort into this.

Due to this, the site isn't optimised for a touch screen and so the links at the bottom of the page, although useful, and helpful, are too close together and would likely result in incorrect taps.

The search boxes help in some way by giving examples to guide the entries they require.

Meanwhile the app presents the contents in a more aligned form. The input boxes are further spaced apart to aid taps and feature predictive search results. For example, start typing "ho...." and it will bring up suggestive results. This limits the amount of error you can get from typing. Dividers section the horizontal links at the bottom of the page again aiding somewhat the ease of hitting the link you desire. The search button is also positioned in the centre, meaning both left and right handed people can reach it with ease.

Furthermore, making use of the iPhone's GPS function, rather than typing in a location, you can use the pinpoint icon on the right hand side and it will auto fill your location!

SEARCH RESULTS

You get a substantial amount of results from your search. The app is better here by providing a set area for each result and making that in its entirety a link to further information. They also offer a 'home' button and 'search' meaning the user can navigate with less difficulty. The text is easier to read due to being in one colour, and just the phone number highlighted in blue, which upon clicking activate the phone's call feature.

The mobile site meanwhile seems a bit of a battle to read the text, the underlining, bold and blue clashing and causing your eye to not rest easily on the page. The direct map option per result seems more useful here, as the user will know exactly what to expect from clicking it. Meanwhile in the app, the option sits in the top right hand corner and could fail due to not being clearly labelled.

LISTING PAGE

When selecting a specific listing, the two platforms begin to differ more. The mobile site provides the key information at the top, as does the app, but thereafter provides a text description of the listing. Below this it then repeats the core yell.com search options. I think this is good as it requires less clicking to re-search, however I do feel it is too closely situated to the venue's information.

The app meanwhile bullet points what is on offer at the selected place, a quicker, more efficient process when searching on the go. However, it is the use of icons that prove somewhat hindering. The green phone is pretty much indicative of "call the place". However the two others which feature maps could confuse people by lacking any labelling. A simple title would instantly fix this.

Again, the option to go back or search is provided consistently at the top of the page. I prefer this, as I know it is there and will not mind clicking once to search again. Furthermore, this means the results page features content I want to see, rather than re-using the search option directly below as on the mobile site. Personal choice will dictate the success in this regard.

POPULAR SEARCHES

One area the mobile site beats the app is in allowing the option to view popular choices. One of the pet hates on mobile devices is having to input a lot of data through the keyboard. It can prove slowly and fiddly. Instead the mobile site allows you to search using popular options: restaurants, hotels, garages. The only downside to this again is that it presents it in a non-touch friendly form, with links being too close together.

This could prove a valuable addition to the app, being able to pool more selective results based on your area, through the GPS. In fact, the ambiguous options on the listing page allow the user to get directions to the property. This isn't done in the phone's native Map app though, and so feels a lesser experience with only text directions, compared with Google Maps satellite images to accompany the route. Nonetheless, the such information is clearly laid out with sufficient white space to allow easy reading.

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In all, the app has the potential to advance further than the limitations offered by the mobile site. Personally I prefer it for it's input methods which limit the user making mistakes and well presented information. However kudos should be given to the options provided by the mobile site (maps, popular searches) and all feasible on the broad array of handsets out there, both good and bad.

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