In this job market, having a great CV is more important than ever. More and more people are competing for each job, so it is obvious that a standard double-sided A2 piece of paper crammed with information won’t get a designer a job. Instead, designers are having to pull out all the stops to ensure their CVs stand out from the pack.
One great new way designers are doing this is through video CVs. Like music videos for designers, these videos can show off a designer’s skills, personality and experience in less than two minutes. If you’re keen to create a CV that stands out from the pack, scroll down because we have gathered six of the most inspiring and creative designers’ video CVs out there.
1. Luis Revuelto – Multimedia Designer
The dramatic music hits your ears almost before you’ve realised the video has started, and a passport flies into view. The empty spaces begin to fill in, as the image on the passport turns to watch it all happen. These are just the opening couple of seconds of Luis Revuelto, a web design specialist based in London. The music refuses to let up, seeming to push the video CV on.
Next, we see tourist destinations in Spain and West London, superimposed with the details of where he studied and what he has read. Then an old-school map with dotted lines show were his work has taken him. Then comes the rapid fire showcase of all the websites and other things he has worked on, which moves on to graphs that show just how skilled he is with certain software. Finally, it finishes with his contact number lingering in view as the music fades down.
This video takes its inspiration in his immigration from Spain to the UK, and it uses travel as a constant motif. While he could easily use that motif in a static PDF or print CV, he makes the most of the format to really showcase his skill as a multimedia designer. The music gives the whole thing a sense of urgency, making him seem like an exciting addition to any design team. All in all, it makes him look like a great candidate, which is what a CV should do.
2. Rudransh Mathur – Visual Designer & Media Artist
He says from the beginning that this video CV is “more of an experiment with Plexus”, a plugin system, than something created to get a job, but visual designer and media artist Rudransh Mathur still went all out on his video CV.
Called CV in Motion, the video is very text heavy: he simply lists the things he does, from motion design to design for print and more. But the way the type come on to the screen is really impressive. They fly on, then seem to get caught in the thin moving lines in the background, like flies in a spider’s web. The lines keep changing and shifting, but when they catch a phrase, they freeze momentarily, holding it in place until they let it go and it flies off the screen again. The education segment is a timeline, covering his birth and his advanced education. The awards section looks more like puppetry, with the thin lines acting as both marionette manipulator and the control bar that the strings are attached to.
Throughout the video, the lines in the background move almost organically, like those 3D renderings of robots designed to traverse remote interstellar environments. The soundtrack, too, is more electro than exciting, but the overall effect is of a designer who understands digital and mechanical movement almost instinctively.
3. Macri Miruna
Called Passfolio, this video by Macri Miruna, opens with a startling confession: she faked her Romanian passport, and she has lost the fake. Then, she reveals that she didn’t fake her passport at all. Instead, she put her CV into a passport format, made 20 copies and dropped them in agency buildings around New York City. After all, she reasons, people look at the pictures and passport stamps first thing before even seeing if they can return a passport. It stands to reason, then, that they will remember a CV provided in such an unexpected way.
This video ends up showing off her CV as she printed it in her “passports”, so it acts as an advertisement for her project, a CV and an introduction to her style of design. As a result, viewers get a real sense that, as a designer, she will be full of surprising, imaginative designs.
4. Fellicia Yonata
This video by Fellicia Yonata strikes a completely different tone. The music is light and cheerful, and the viewer is first greeted – literally – by a cute little animated version of the designer. After a short introduction, we realise that she is on a mission, and that mission is about to turn into something like a computer game demo. The music becomes more digital, like a soundtrack from a classic computer game, and the little animated designer gets into position to fight a “project”, an angry piece of paper that doesn’t want to be completed.
It uses deadlines, briefs and other attacks to nearly defeat Fellicia, but she uses her strong skillset (and a health boost from coffee and cake) to eventually triumph. She then invites the viewer to join the adventure, urging prospective employers to bring her fun, charming and ultimately winning skillset to their companies.
It’s not the most complete video CV out there – she doesn’t even cover her education or experience – but it is one of the cutest and most memorable.
5. Antonin Waterkeyn
Initially, Antonin Waterkeyn’s video CV looks a lot like Fellicia’s: it also starts with an animated version of the designer. It soon takes a different direction, as it uses water colour effects, melting animations and patterns to move from one section of the video CV to another. The look of the video melts from watercolour to cardboard to typography to purely digital design, all whilst maintaining a core feeling – which is no easy task.
This video also forgoes “unnecessary” elements like experience and education, but you are still left with the sense that you know this designer, what he can do and what his style is like much better than you would have if you had just looked at a piece of paper. There are even a couple of cheeky jokes thrown in for good measure, giving viewers a real insight into this designer’s personality and philosophy on life and design.
6. Alberto Rossi
From motion graphic design to web design, Alberto Rossi seems to be able to do it all (and he can even do it on both Mac and PC). His video CV, then, could have all the bells and whistles. Instead, he proved how effective holding back can be. The video starts with some moving typography and simple illustrations taking the viewer from his birthday, through his childhood, until we see how he has developed his passion for design.
A graph grows onscreen, illustrating just how proficient he is in various design programs. We then see what he designs – logos, print, apps, web design and more – before examples of each section pop up onto the screen. Finally, the video closes with a lingering shot of his email address.
The bulk of the video concentrates on the work he has completed. The range of examples gives us insight into his range as a designer, too. Here, a serious, straightforward e-commerce site is given as much prominence as hip logos and cute print ads. He has a range that makes him a great choice for lots of different aesthetics, so it is understandable that he would need to spend more than half of his video just showing off his full range.
Concluding
These six video CVs show very different approaches to the genre: some focus on the personality and design philosophy of the person, whilst others act as animated, but otherwise rather traditional, CVs. Which works best depends on what they want to get out of the video, of course. Personality is more entertaining and may therefore be shared more, but full CVs are more informative and may lead more directly to more job offers.
Still, if you are thinking about creating your own video CV, all of these videos illustrate that if you are true to yourself as a designer and create something that truly reflects your skillset and your personality, you’ll have a winning combination. Then all you’ll have to do is wait for the job offers to roll in.
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