Culminating Virtues – A tale of hubris and bad graphic design

– Idle fingers dance to police siren song across a patterned polymer bridge; bathed in synthetic light their sharp rhythmic movements seem almost ritualistic.

That is, until it is done.

The work complete they finally find rest, peace in this momentary stillness, they have sung a song of skills and past experience, designed and formatted, invoked the very soul of their owner.

But now, it is done.

These spindly digits, with one final push, type the electronic code of the gatekeeper the final motion in this invocation… and send off the CV.

Step 1 – research stops monsters

The process of creating my CV for my placement was a difficult one requiring a great deal of research and trial and error. I am writing my reflection on the process of creating a CV to apply for my work placement and will use Burton’s ‘what? So what? Now what?’ Modal to structure this reflection.

Initially, I started with my bartending CV an effective, if rudimentary, document which had got me frequent work yet was ill-suited for the roles I wished to apply my placement. So what I began to do was develop it into something more fitting what should do next is research how one creates a perfect CV.

This is what I should’ve done, however, this is not what I did. Instead ‘what’ I did was wrong, mindlessly charging ahead, creating an inorganic Frankenstein of a resume. So what caused this bluster, In my first year I was shortlisted for the 2-minute masterpiece program, for this, I had to create a CV, so instead of consulting the wisdom queens provided I tried to adapt my bartending/ hospitality CV into something more suited. This I now see was flawed and I should have taken more time and done preliminary research

A work-crooked-spine decompresses, collapsing onto the back of the chair. Moonlight spills into the room, illuminating the creation; itself a figment of projected screen light.

One horrid yellowed box stares at its creator, the creator’s eyes widen, comprehending the horror he has unleashed.

“what have I done?” 

Step 2 – Frankenstein formatting

What I intended to make something distinct and what I ended up creating was very, unique. I went for the most colourful and visually distinct approach I could and the result is what you can see below.

So on reflection, this didn’t work. What was meant to look cliche but ended up closer to a primary school colouring book. So ‘now what?’ I realised I needed to evaluate my mistakes. Firstly, I established the issues with the process. Content-wise the document lacked a personal statement and a more comprehensive explanation of my skills yet crucially, I didn’t look at reference material, or explore other examples of successful design options; instead, I focused too heavily on trying to make it stand out and through doing this I ended up not creating an ineffective piece of graphic design. However, I still wanted to keep this bold colour pallet and the dotted design as making the CV striking was still too central a concern.

What I did next was try and go back to what made my initial CV work, clean design with a content focus and make the document look a little bit more professional. This was better but not good. The pictures being removed helped, and the simpler formatting allowed for more items to be foregrounded as well as fitting the personal statement. However, now I realised that the pallet I chose and the design ethos of the document itself was inherently flawed and the lack of colour didn’t work either.  Now I knew that this wouldn’t work and that I must commit to a wholly new approach.

What thing had these hands made manifest?

Such foul and putrid creation!

In that moment where it reached for me to be my representation I destroyed it, and returned to my research anew. It was then I realised, I saw what I must do.

Revelation.

Step 3 – Scientific research   

It was now June 2021 and I had not secured a placement so I threw it away and restarted. What I changed first was content, I looked at some of the old CV reference material from our creative enterprise course in the second year. This was really useful. So what this did was make me realise I needed a cover letter and to the forefront the provably useful items on my CV, tailoring it specifically for the company I wanted to apply for.  

Now what this lead me to do was to look at potential employers. Initially, Cinemagic was my clear favourite, so I did my research into the company, they were perfect for my skill set. I looked up all of their work read all the material I could about them and changed and refocused the content of my application. Putting emphasis on my previous production experience both personal and professional, my desire to help connect and bring creatives up and lay my specific skills clearly. By this point, my old CV was woefully out of date as I had made a number of films and had worked in a professional capacity on a number of shorts and a BBC television show.

I then began to look into the design, from reflecting on my previous work this was my weakest point. So I then reverted to the fundamentals of clean, simple and articulate design that allows content to thrive. I believe that this approach worked very well, and the mantra of simple and effective allowed me to produce my best work. Below is that final work.

The thing done that beast craved from putrid flesh now the picture of perfection

A vestige of the self, the culmination of virtues

Step 4 – evaluating the process

            This was a difficult project, to reflect simply, I created a CV it failed initially because I didn’t put the requisite effort into research and attempted to make something unique over something that worked. After realising this I looked at examples of cv’s consulted guides and ended up with what I believe to be a very successful document. This process has allowed me to learn how to create a good CV that this is more than just a step to getting a job but a way of reflecting on yourself and your own professional development. The knowledge i have gained through making this I will take forwards into future jobs I apply for.

            For this assignment I wanted to see what my employer thought of my work so I asked the head Cinemagic for a reflection on the quality of my work, this is what she had to say.