Creating An Elegant Looking Resume With InDesign

Creating An Elegant Looking Resume With InDesign

on Sep 10th 2012 with 21 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Program: Adobe InDesign CS3
  • Difficulty: Beginner
  • Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour
Download Source Files

Final Product What You'll Be Creating

This tutorial show you how to create a modern looking resume with Adobe InDesign. You will learn how to create paragraph styles, how to set a baseline grid and how to import and place images. Let’s begin!

Step 1

Looking out for a new job? Impress your future employee with a serious looking job application. With this tutorial you learn how to create a resume with InDesign. Before we begin please install the great free font Miso Regular & Bold by Mårten Nettelbladt.

Step 2

Start InDesign and create a new document from the Menu: File > New > Document. Use the settings from the Picture below.

Your new Document should now look like this:

Step 3

Now we are setting up the Baseline Grid, this is important to align the text to the same horizontal line.

Use the settings in the example image below.

Step 4

Paragraph Styles are a great way to save time. Before we begin we need to create 5 different styles. Choose "New Paragraph Style" from the Paragraph Styles Panel.

Choose now "Basic Character Formats" and edit the parameters like in the Picture below.

Repeat the step above for the other 4 Paragraph Styles.

Step 5

Create a Rectangle, choose the color "Black" and disable the Stroke. The Size should be 198mm wide and 26mm high. Place the Rectangle at this coordinate x: 6mm and y: 254mm, be sure your reference point is selected to the upper left corner.

Step 6

Select the rectangle and use the "Edit > Copy" command from the main menu. Scroll to page 2 and use the "Edit > Paste in Place" command. Repeat this step for any page.

Step 7

Scroll back to Page 1. Use the Type Tool (T) and write your name. Select the text with the Type Tool and press "Header White" from the Paragraph Styles Panel. Select the text frame and resize it to 181mm wide and 10mm high. Place the text frame at x: 14,571mm and y: 258mm.

Use the Type Tool (T) again and write now your occupation/job. Select the text with the Type Tool and press "Header Red" from the Paragraph Styles Panel. Select the text frame and resize it to the same size like the one before, 181mm wide and 10mm high. Place the text frame at x: 14,571mm and y: 268mm.

Step 8

Select both text frames (hold shift when selecting) and use the "Edit > Copy" command from the main menu. Scroll to page 2 and use the "Edit > Paste in Place" command. Repeat this step for all pages left.

Step 9

We will now place a rectangle for the profile picture. Select the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) and make it 47mm wide and 67mm high in size. Place it on the coordinates x: 14,571mm and y: 25mm.

Select the rectangle frame and use the "Edit > Place" command, choose your profile picture.

Be sure the frame is still selected, move the mouse cursor over the frame and press the right mouse button. Select Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally. Double click the frame, now you should be able to fit the picture when dragging corners. Hold shift and alt together to maintain the proportions. When you are satisfied, just deselect the profile picture.

Step 10

Use the Text Tool (T) and create a text box with the size 80mm wide and 100mm high. Place it at following coordinates x: 14,571mm and y: 102mm. Write the data down like at the image below. Select the complete text and select the Standard Paragraph Style. To give the information a structure we are going to apply some of them a bold style. In this case select your name and press the Standard Bold Paragraph. Do this again for the Phone, Mail and Web text. Congratulations, the first Page is finished!

Step 11

Scroll to the next Page and use the Text Tool (T), create a text box with the size 180mm wide and 213mm high. Write down your Application, take a look at the image to form an idea on how to structure it. Most of the text should be written in Standard Paragraph, except the receiver’s name and the subject. This two should be in Standard bold.

Step 12

Before we are going to the third page change the second header at the bottom to "Application".

Step 13

Go to the third page. Select the Text Tool (T) to create a text box with the size 79mm wide and 213mm high. Place it at following coordinates x: 14,571mm and y: 25mm. Select the text box. Use the "Edit > Copy" command and than the "Edit > Paste" command. Place the second text frame at this coordinates x: 116,571mm and y: 25mm.

Step 14

With the two text frames you can write down your Work Experience. Structure it like the image below.

Change the second header at the bottom to "Work Experience / References".

Step 15

Select both text frames (hold shift when selecting) and use the "Edit > Copy" command from the main menu. Scroll to page 4 and use the "Edit > Paste in Place" command.

Step 16

These two text frames are for your education and skill text. The Picture below gives you an idea of how to structure your information.

Change the second header at the bottom to "Education / Languages / Skills". The text depends of course on the information you are providing.

Step 17

Scroll to page 5. The final page is mostly interesting for designers or coders that like to present there best work. Select the Text Tool (t) to create a text box with the size 79mm wide and 102mm high. Place it at following coordinates x: 14,571mm and y: 25mm. Select the text box. Use the "Edit > Copy" command and than the "Edit > Paste" command. Place the second text frame at this coordinates x: 14,571mm and y: 136mm.

Step 18

To show of your work we need pictures. Select the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) and make it 90mm wide and 102mm high in size. Place it on the coordinates x: 105,429mm and y: 25mm. Select the picture frame. Use the "Edit > Copy" command and then the "Edit > Paste" command. Place the second frame at this coordinates x: 105,429mm and y: 136mm.

To place the pictures select the frame and use the "Edit > Place" command, choose your picture. Be sure the frame is still selected, move the mouse cursor over the frame and press the right mouse button. Select Fitting > Fit Content Proportionally. Double click the frame, now you should be able to fit the picture when dragging corners. Hold shift and alt together to maintain the proportions. When you are satisfied repeat this step with the second image.

Conclusion

This is how your five pages are looking at the end. Thank you and good luck with your resume!

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial.

anderworks is anderworks on Graphicriver
 
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  • Albert

    Nice tutorial, very good!!!

    Thanks!!

  • HumanBlade

    Can’t fault the tutorial, just the editor who OKd it for this site. What’s the point? I know that all levels of experience are covered, but this tutorial is SO basic and the info covered is available at ANY OTHER SITE. Was this a favor for someone looking to get into copy writing or something? Honestly?!

    The only thing that could have redeemed this tutorial would have been explanations. Why do you wanna have a footer? Why have it in knockout? Why are we separating into sections?? Honestly this tut reads as a script/action more than a tut. You end up with the product, but with no understanding why. On top of which, you get only a very cursory overview of InDesign, which wouldn’t even be enough to mention, even on this lackluster resume.

    Did i mention that i personally don’t like the style? A 5 page resume? Way to think outside of the box before you’re even hired. A coversheet that’s split into 2 (info, letter of intro), education and work experience mixed up (more like a CV) and then the last page. IDK what that’s about? If you’re a designer, you’re gonna have a portfolio, so why are you including this last page? I hope you change it for every job application, as different employers will target different things and you’ll wanna make sure to highlight whatever that may be in the limited space. Unless you just wanna add a couple of more pages. Can’t hurt, can it?

    I know, I’m being negative. However [ --- ] while this site’s direction can be mind boggling at times, this tut is a mistake.

    • http://chewedkandi.net Sharon Milne

      Hey,

      Thank you for your feedback. We do indeed cover content for a variety of topics to do with vector for a range of experience levels. Sometimes going over the most simple things can help us pick up on new tools and tricks we may not have noticed before.

      I come from a Human Resources/Recruitment background before I got into vector professionally. Although the 1 page CV is a common one, it’s not limited to this format. This is going over a cover letter format and CV as well as a cover. Different positions require a different approach of your CV etc…

      In addition, the tutorial is going over several basic processes, which a 1 page CV would not be able to go over… so you can understand the artistic license for the sake of education :)

      I hope this helps :)

    • http://tinyurl.com/3elsgqj Kate McInnes

      The tutorial is for beginners learning how to use InDesign for layouts (it’s tagged as a beginner tutorial) and while it covers how to make all the different pages, it’s up to the individual to pick and chose the pages that are useful to them. We teach people the skills they need to go and make their own designs, we don’t expect everyone to make exactly what they see on the site. :)

    • MS

      Yep.
      Sorry, but I’m thinking same as this tut is really a mistake.
      Being for beginners this tutorial really need much more polishing and explanations and there is lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense and just confuses a lot, like:
      - What is the point creating 14 columns with 6mm gutter if you don’t use them at all.
      - What is the point for 2pt baseline grid (Align to grid not even mentioned?)
      - Why using coordinates with 3 decimals…
      - why to use two text boxes over each other, as you can use text frame options to handle position for texts in Step 7, and by that way, you can handle them easier as fewer elements on the page.
      etc…

      But biiiig huuuge pile bonuspoints for using millimeters, I never can’t figure out the picas and never had needed those…

      • http://jpacheco.eu josé pacheco

        Somehow i do Agree with MS. Some more info. about why using bleeds and more columms then needed. If it is for beginners the process part why does valors are use and why they used could be covered. And i cant really agree with some critics about the overall design, it was defined to print and to be in the international A4 paper. If you want one page you can use this tut design for one page as well (its the way of copy some ideas into one sheet). its simple and communicats well nothing to say about that. Although this tuts, in my opinion should be more focus into the process and how to work with the software.

    • Paula

      I think this is something can be edited to fit your own style. I would likely combine the first two pages and not use a picture of myself, but it’s nice to learn the technique. What’s great about this tut and others like it is that I can take the skills and apply them elsewhere.

  • http://www.appstemplates.com Michal

    Good tutorial, but bad result. Fiva page resume? That’s a waste of paper! Some points:

    - first page is super minimalistic
    - second page has in my opinion different style, it is not so clean, the width of the paragraphs should be more narrower
    - third page – two columns don’t work in resume like this. How to read it? Top-down? Top-right? What if I had only 3 jobs before? What if one of the jobs has longer description than the opposite one? No, this layout is not the way…
    - fifth page – showcasing two of your works in resume is strange (not to mention you had listed about 20 jobs above). Better is to send your portfolio in separate file along with resume.

    • http://tinyurl.com/3elsgqj Kate McInnes

      This tutorial is intended to help you create a range of pages and mix and match the layout to your own needs. We encourage everyone to learn the skills from our tutorials then customize the outcome to their own design style and taste. :)

  • http://ducsu.com ducsu

    Very nice. My resume needs an update and this maybe a good reason to start learning In Design at the same time.

  • saeedgoodarz

    hello Thanks a lot

  • http://reversegearonline.blogspot.in/ Unaiz

    Very useful tutorial…. will try this..

  • http://www.parasuniversal.com Parasuniversal.com

    Love it. Never thought of 5 pages… definitely something I’d do to stand out from the rest of the CVs. Hope to see more unique CV tuts.

  • maria

    here if the CV has more than one page they are thrown to the garbage…

  • http://www.mickeja.se Mikael Jansson

    Nice tutorial! Keeping it simple its a good choice because its easier that way to learn the basics and then improve the design/layout after personal taste.

  • Ryan

    Shame on you Envato, starting this tut with promises of impressing potential employers with this resume, and then leaving it to the comments to to try and cover your behinds by floating the idea that maybe you shouldn’t use a 5 page resume.

    Having in depth experience of HR department procedure I know for a fact that a majority of HR Managers will immediately discard the most bulky applications, with many immediately discarding anything that has more than one page as a cover letter and one page for the main resume.

    If a potential employer needs to see your design flair or creativity they can see how you adapt to the constraints of a 2 page submission, or will request portfolio work.

    Personally think this is a decent enough beginner tut, but the positioning of it is shameful and misleading and leaving it to the comments to go back on your claims is real slack, you really could have gone back and made your disclaimer at the beginning of the article rather than assuming that everyone will read your comments.

  • http://www.semitdesign.dk Torben

    Hey – thank you for a great tutorial! I have one question: Where did you get the stock photo of the women who holding a sign (where you showing your graphics work)?

    Thank you,

    Torben

  • http://www.komputerpro.blogspot.com hARTono

    Nice tutorial for beginner like me. I can something from this tutorial

  • Ryan

    In my job search experience, fancy InDesign resumes don’t work. Most companies use automated systems to scan resumes, but the unique placement of text in InDesign resumes screw up the system. This resume is attractive and might be successful at a job fair where you actually handover a physical copy. If you are uploading a digital resume, use a simple format and bullet your achievements with measurable numbers such as dollars or percents.

  • http://www.junwatu.com Equan

    For me it’s very useful as a start to learning InDesign and of course personally i won’t create 5 pages CV! Thanks for the tutorial :)