OUGD603 / Extended Practice - Bradley Sykes Architect Branding: CV design.

OUGD603.
ARCHITECT BRANDING. 
CV DESIGN. 

There were specific requirements that Bradley wanted covered in his cv which would require the information to be divided into 3 sections. The three parts he wants to cover in his cv are:

- An extensive message about himself and his practice. 
- A section in which he can communicate his many varied skills. 
- A section that constitutes and acts as a mini portfolio. 

In my meeting with Bradley we discussed the function of his CV. At university he had attended a class in which the students were able to see how those of previous years had set out the information required for an architecture cv. He came to me with a format that someone else had used in which the cv began folded up with the logo on the front, unfolded to show the cv, then unfolded again to show the mini portfolio as a full a3 sheet.

Although I thought that the unfolding of the CV was a really great idea in terms of uncovering the information and being able to control the information that is seen first, I knew that looking at the format and proportions it wouldn't not work for Bradley's brand style and logo that we currently have. 

Whilst in the meeting with Bradley I began playing around with pieces of paper that focused on the same kind of folding mechanisms. I made a suggested to Bradley that we should slightly differ the way in which his CV is read. As he wants to have quite a large piece of writing describing himself and his practice I suggested that instead of the 3 sections shown above in his CV idea, that he should have 4 sections a front cover with the logo on, uncovers to show an opening 'message' about himself and a design, unfolding to show is cv and then uncovering lastly his mini portfolio across a full a3 sheet. Changing the format of the CV so that the smallest size is the equivalent of an a6, will both be better proportion wise for his logo and it will also mean that Bradley's cv can be easily mailed out in the envelopes I designed.  

Net for Bradley's CV:

When considering the unfolding of the cv, I realised that the 'front page' in which Bradley's logo would be embossed onto, backs onto the portfolio as it is double sided and would therefore disturb the portfolio in either image or text. 

I thought about other ways such as just printing the the logo on the front, but felt that this wasn't true or representative of the appropriate brand presence I had built, reflected in the embossing. 

Instead I considered the possibility of creating two small slits in the front cover which would leave the portfolio barely disrupted, and would allow the business card to be slotted in. This would allow for Bradley's contact details to also be keepable in a smaller format, incase the CV is discarded for any reason. 

Bradley really seemed to like the functionality of this idea and felt that the new format shape and scale that allowed the cv to be encase in his custom envelopes would be a great addition when applying for jobs via post. 

Lastly we talked more so about the aesthetic and the structure of the cv. Again Bradley mentioned simplicity and clarity. I mentioned the idea that apart from his opening message in which he introduces himself as a designer, that we try and keep the rest of the cv a little bit lighter with words and instead try to communicate the other details more simply and directly. 

I suggested that in order to keep the CV interesting, fluid and to keep the eye moving, we do a combination of simple text and minimalist line/ block illustrations. 

We also lastly in the meeting discussed the sections that would make up the CV and the content for these, I suggested a few sectional ideas that I had had for my own CV design. 

From the content we discussed we came up with 4 sections:
- Logo and contact details.
- Technical skills and work traits. 
- Education and past employment - architecture achievements.
- Interests outside of Architecture.   

With the theme of minimal pieces of text in place and simple block and line illustrations I began to build up the design for Bradley's cv. I was also inspired by the branding elements that I had already completed. 

I sent Bradley the design so far and asked him what he thought of the illustration text combinations. He really liked the ratio of text to image, and felt that the illustrations I was creating would help to set him apart from other architecture students with text heavy cvs applying for the same jobs, yet also adhered to the smooth and effortless brand style. 

I carried on constructing the cv within the same aesthetic. 

Full CV design:

Next I moved onto the opening message which is shown after opening the first fold and is featured on an a5 landscape format. After asking Bradley to send me the content I realised that there was quite a lot of text. With this being said, I wanted to make the opening message quite light hearted and welcoming, and so I went with the design of having the text as if Bradley was introducing himself to his possible employers. 

Again I used a colour combination of mainly charcoal to make the designs appear 'less harsh' and more natural. 

Lastly I worked on the reverse side a3 portfolio that would contain 3 of Bradley's projects as a taster of his full portfolio. In order to in keep with the uncluttered aesthetic of the brand, I took the obvious decision to have the portfolio separated into 3 columns, one for each piece of work. 

The main function of the design, aside from moulding to the already existing brand was to produce a layout that would allow the images and text to be easily readible/ viewable. I created clear columns to fulfil this function, created clear hierarchies between text sections for headings and body copy and played with increasing the leading so that the text appears less cluttered and has more clarity. 

Full CV design front + back:

I also produced a digital version of the CV which Bradley could use to attach to emails when applying for jobs online. The design features all of the same elements but also makes use of a continuos scroll for a more minimal, fluid and easy to read design. 


Online Portfolio: