Branding a person?

[MichaelWied]

First off, still a student, so don't think that I've been doing this for decades. I'm just getting some practice.

My friend has asked me to design his resume for him, that's not the hard part, but I wanted to take it a step further and brand him so he can stand out within' the company he works for (works retail selling electronics at for one of the biggest retailers.)
When I think of his personality keywords that come to mind are things like; trustworthy, energetic, supportive, persuasive, disarming and he has to be personable and connect with his clients.

He was really into calligraphy in high school, so my initial thought was to get a really nice signature from him but after about 100 signatures he wasn't getting anything he liked and he wanted a modern feel.

What I've been trying is different typefaces that I can use as his wordmark, break down into a logotype, and use with type combinations for the page layouts he wants in a portfolio that has his plans for when he starts to run departments. They'll include a monthly plans, graphs, maybe some philosophy etc.

Well here's what I have so far. If you're going to say it's bad, could you please give me some direction.

The logotype and Heading is Futura Light Condensed. The subhead is Serifa and the body is Whitney Book.

[Cosmo]

I don't like using two different yet similar sans serif typefaces in the same document. The headline and subhead are close enough that they could be the same typeface.

[MichaelWied]

Did you mean the Name and "Three Step Process"? Because they are the same typeface.

[PrintDriver]

No they aren't.
Look at the small a.

One of the things to be aware of when using a 'logo' on a resume is that someone may misconstrue it as a freelance side business thing. Even with a sales rep type person; there are such things as freelance sales reps (often called Brokers).

If your buddy's resume is going to be among other corporate resumes, online for instance in a 'meet our staff' type thing, the head office isn't going to like, and most likely won't approve, him having a personal logo on his corporate resume. Branding standards must be followed.

[Cosmo]

Yes. Weird. They look like different typefaces. Of course, I pretty much hate Futura so I admit I'm not that familiar with all its variants so...

[MichaelWied]

Woops, you're right PD, I'm being stupid and forgot I changed the heading while experimenting.

And there is nothing prohibiting Brady from having his own branding within' the company as long as it doesn't use the company's branding unless it is issued.

[<b>]

Three-step is a compound adjective that modifies the word plan, by the way, so it needs a hyphen between the modifiers, as in Three-Step Plan.

I'm just a little confused. You said you were asked to design a resume, but what you've shown isn't a resume. That leaves me unable to critique this from a functional standpoint since I don't know enough about the context.

Just critiquing the looks of the whole thing, however, I like it. I like all the lines having one weight and the overal tonal value of the type being very even — that is until you get down to the tiny body copy where it's noticeably grayer that the type above it. If it were me, I might beef up the weight of the body copy a bit and play with the leading to make it the same visual weight as the headlines. And speaking of tiny type, what's the point size you're using? It seems too small.

Everything is carefully justified and/or centered until you get down to the body copy, when for no apparent reason, you shift to flush left, ragged right. You might want to try justifying the body copy to avoid the inconsistency. You also need a better way of identifying the individual paragraphs — either a first-line indent or a blank line.

I don't think the slab face matches the more modern character of the Futura, and as a result their different personalities aren't especially compatible.

Like I said, though, I do like the overall look.

[infinity]

over all its clean, i like that. However im not too big of a fan of having three different typefaces (thats just personal though)

for the rest of it i have to agree with b, you have this really clean sans serif font all the way till you get to the sub-head then you have a slab serif, its just not sitting too well with me.

[MichaelWied]

Thanks guys, I was honestly expecting to get reamed for the initials in a circle (though I have a reasoning for it.)

Cosmo, Futura was never a go to typeface for me either, but it works with what I was trying to accomplish.

As far as the type treatment, should I stick with all sans serifs, and maybe leave the type choices at two and use a different weight of one or the other?

[infinity]

i was going to mention something about the stroke around the initials, but decided not to. I feel like it adds to the layout in this sense though.