The most important design elements for a resume?
- Use a mix of bold type, italics, bold italics, varying font sizes, small caps, and upper-case lettering for emphasis and to control the reader’s eye — but don’t go overboard with typographic variations.
- Type should be between 10 and 12 point. 11-point type is ideal.
- Balance the material on your page.
- Allow sufficient white space with margins of .75” to 1”. Note that Microsoft Word’s default margins of 1.25” are generally wider than needed.
- Bulleted lists are extremely reader-friendly.
- Be consistent with headings so the eye can follow a pattern.
- Do not use justified text blocks. Type should be flush left with occasional centering.
- Do NOT italicize your entire resume or large blocks of type as italics are hard on the eye.
- Don’t use more than two fonts.
- Underlining tends to add clutter.
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