Year 2018 — The Movement From Skill Progress Graphics?

Please Say Yes.

How many times have you come across someone’s resume and you’ve seen this?

Solid graphic design skills, bro.

Really. You’ve mastered 100% of graphic design? Compared to who and who said?

I like blue.

I’ve seen this a lot when searching for resume inspiration and really started to think through it recently. I won’t lie. My current resume has them. Look here. So I’m saying I understand 100% of design. That’s quite impressive, but it’s not true. No one understands 100% of design. We are constantly growing, evolving, and changing with time, trends, and technology. Now if I had said “I am 100% passionate about design”- that would have been more logical. I don’t mind criticizing myself and my decisions, how else can I grow as a designer? As a human?

Dang, you is creative.

Looking at this image with creativity maxed out at 100%, who is that compared to? What makes you think you are an amazingly creative person? I believe that to be admirable, but mistaken. It is a subjective thought. I, as anyone should, appreciate you thinking you’re at a 100% level of creativity. But is it 100% a hundred percent of the time? Around 5pm of a nine hour day are you still at 100%? Doubt it. Also, is it 10/10 skill points? Years?

The thought of putting any skill at 100% is not only false, it weakens your resume and could potentially put you at risk on the job hunt. A level at 100% says you can not grow any further, you have nothing else to learn, you are maxed out. You should always leave room to grow, especially in a creative field where there are so many avenues you could explore. There are many different rabbit holes to go down and if you say you are at 100% how can you be open to going down any more rabbit holes to learn anything new? You do not want that. Complacency is your worst enemy.

Is it though?

Solution? On your updated resume highlight your tools and proficiencies in a list and make sure your work speaks for itself. Make sure your portfolio demonstrates your 100% creativity level. You could also display your top skills in a more creative way then using a progress bar — see what I just did there. Just for this article, I’ll demo my resume concept planned for 2018. It’s a work-in-progress.

I like blue. Vol. 2

I’m sure there is an argument for progress bars or donut graphs or whatever but I have a feeling that we will be heading in the direction away from them. They sure are pretty but I don’t think they’re necessarily realistic to your skill set in this modern age of tech and design.

This article was a designer’s opinion. Is that opinion valued at 100%? :D

A good snippet from stack exchange:

Is having a skills bar chart on a resume a good idea?

Thanks for reading!

See my work and stuff here: www.kaseyrandall.com and follow me on dribbble.