9 Creative Resume Design Tips (With Template Examples)

If you’re hunting for that dream role at a creative company you’re going to want to dust off your old resume and give it a modern refresh. But how can you make sure that—out of all the applicants—it’s your resume that catches your future employer’s eye? 

Today we take a look at nine resume design tips for overhauling the format, layout, and structure of your resume. Discover fantastic ideas for injecting creativity into your resume design without compromising on professionalism. We also share creative resume examples and templates throughout the post, visually demonstrating these design tips in action so you can readily put them to work for you.

When you're ready to create your own resume, check out this tutorial on designing a creative resume in Adobe InDesign. You can also browse the full selection of creative resume templates on GraphicRiver to get even more inspiration.

Tip 1: Use Columns to Maximize on Space

One thing that is an absolute nightmare for employers tasked with trawling through resumes by the bucketload is encountering resumes that are more than one page long. 

Sure, you might want to go into detail about that part-time training course you took seven years ago, but, frankly, all your future employer wants to know is how that qualification is relevant to the job you’re applying for. 

The best advice for putting together the content of your resume? Keep it short and sweet. Edit out qualifications and details that are irrelevant to the role. You’ll find that editing your text down to fill just one page can be tricky, but it’s well worth it—you’ll appear concise, organized and you’ll also be highlighting only the most important, and best, information about yourself. This is going to make your resume easy-to-digest and a doddle to print (you’re welcome, environment). 

But how can you even begin to fit all your wonderful achievements on just one sheet of paper?

There are some design techniques you can employ to maximise the space on your one page, without forcing the layout to feel overcrowded. One tip is to try splitting your resume layout into two sections, with a narrow column running down the left- or right-side of the page, as shown below: