For the next stage of my CV development, I will begin visually formatting my layout and exploring different styles and design features. This stage focuses on combining structure with creativity, ensuring that my CV not only looks professional but also effectively communicates my personality and design skills. The visual presentation of a CV plays a crucial role, so I aim to achieve a clean, modern, and balanced look that clearly highlights key information while maintaining a sense of sleekness and professionalism throughout.
My first area of focus was deciding on the visual format of my CV. I wanted to maintain a simple yet intriguing design style that felt clean, balanced, and easy to follow. I want to go with an all-white background paired with black text to create a professional and minimal look. However, to avoid it feeling too plain, I feel it would be best to incorporate black lines of varying hierarchy and thickness to help separate sections, define structure, and highlight key headings. This not only adds visual interest but also improves readability and flow. I feel that sticking with this clean and structured design approach will benefit me in the long run, particularly when developing my portfolio website, as it allows me to maintain a cohesive and consistent visual identity across both projects.
The next stage of my CV development involved creating a clear and structured design layout. As mentioned earlier, I had an initial idea of keeping the design simple yet effective, following a black-and-white colour scheme with the use of black lines to separate and add character to different sections of text and headings. To bring this idea to life, I began by sketching out an initial layout of how I wanted my CV to look. This step was really useful as it allowed me to visualise the overall composition and flow of information, while also identifying areas that might need improvement or adjustment. By sketching early on, I was able to refine my ideas before committing to the digital design stage, ensuring that when it comes time to build and finalise my CV, I have a strong, well-thought-out structure that fits my intended style and purpose.
After completing my initial sketch, I moved on to creating a digital draft of my CV design using Figma. Using my previous sketch as a guide, I began visually formatting the layout, refining how each section, heading, and line would appear digitally. While Daniel had recommended I try WordPress or InDesign for this stage, I found both to be slightly limiting when it came to replicating the specific design details I wanted, particularly the clean, structured lines and spacing that defined my layout. Figma, on the other hand, gave me much more flexibility to experiment and adjust freely. Overall, I was really pleased with how my first digital draft turned out, as it successfully captured the minimalist and professional tone I was aiming for. However, there were still a few minor areas I noted for improvement, mainly around spacing and balance, that I plan to refine before finalising the complete design.
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I’m really pleased with the progress I’ve made throughout this stage of my CV development. I now have both a strong foundation of content and a clear, engaging design format that effectively visualises how I want my CV to appear. This stage has been one of the most vital in the entire process, as without a clear design direction and structure, I wouldn’t have been able to move forward confidently toward the final creation phase. Having established my visual style, layout, and overall tone, I feel much more prepared to bring everything together cohesively. My next and final step for this project will be to combine all of these elements into a complete, polished CV draft that I can finalise and publish for professional use.
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