Mike from New York wrote:

Just a quick note of thanks! I was layed off several weeks ago and was looking for the latest resume styles on the internet when I stumbled onto your site. I downloaded your (very handsome) format as a starting point and sent out a couple dozen copies. I had hits on nearly a quarter of them - a remarkable hit rate in my book considering the very poor economy here in the northeast.

At the ensuing interviews I was complimented nearly every time on “my” resume style. I couldn’t tell them I downloaded it from you lock-stock-and-barrel, but I do want to thank you for putting your excellent work out there for us non-graphics wise shlubs.

Best of all, I received two offers of employment yesterday (a very lucky Friday the thirteenth, indeed!) alone, both for vastly more than I had been making. The interview gets the job, but the resume gets the interview, so I do want to thank you for your thought and effort on the subject. Nice job!

Thanks for the gracious note, Mike. I’m glad to have done a small part.

Click here to check out the resumé template.

I just finished reading The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need. It’s brilliant. And I’m now going on a crusade to make it required reading in every high school and college curriculum.

The book is by Daniel H. Pink, and you’ll find it in your bookstore’s business section. But this ain’t your ordinary Deepak Chopra mumbo jumbo. Instead, the slim book packs in six illuminating career lessons, cleverly told as manga comic book. That’s right—it has pictures.

The manga follows Johnny Bunko, a young accountant sick of his mundane job and unable to break free—kinda like Fight Club. Through the miracle of uh, magic chopstikcs, Johnny unleashes a cute fairy that guides him through the secrets of a sastifying career.

I won’t spoil the rest, but here’s glimpse of the six lessons:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

You can get a bigger sneak peak on Johnny Bunko’s official site:

If you’re looking to get unstuck from your soul-sucking career, then this book is a must read.

Note: I love my job. :-). I read this for research.

Posted in: Careers

Ever wonder where the iPhone antenna was hidden? Here’s Apple’s official answer:

Clever iPhone engineering integrates those antennas into a few unexpected places: the metal ring around the camera, the audio jack, the metal screen bezel, and the iPhone circuitry itself.

Amazing.

With all that ingenuity, it’s a shame Apple will force in-store activations on its buyers.

Thanks to Ryan at DDO for pointing this out.

Holger Struppek, Design Director at Hot Studio and formerly of Pentagram, has a nice case study showcasing the redesign of Wells Fargo’s ATM interface.

Check it out:

Maybe, it’s time for me to ditch Bank of America. Read and see more images of the project here.

It’s great to see examples of design like this—mundane, everyday experiences improved through design.

Click to continue

Posted in: Design, Rant

Wanna know how much dough designers make? Check out the AIGA Survey of Design Salaries. Results for 2008 are out.

It’s dubbed “definitive,” but take it all with a grain of salt.

You can view the results on their site or download the PDF.

Posted in: Career, Design

The world has enough interviews of rock star designers, so I’m interviewing everyone else—designers who are happy, without the fame.

Let’s start Stephanie Orma, a former student from my alma mater, the California College of the Arts. I first met her when I was a TA for Jim Faris’s information design class.

I recently caught up with Stephanie and asked her a few questions about her struggles, inspirations, and future:

Click to continue

Posted in: Design, Interview