The above examples are from this website: https://uxplanet.org/10-tips-on-typography-in-web-design-13a378f4aa0d

Unlike regular CV's you use when applying for normal jobs that aren't apart of the design community, design CV's are more bright, bold, colourful and requires a lot more thought to be put into it. 
Firstly is the format. Never use Microsoft Word like you do for regular CV's. Instead, use InDesign and always export it as a PDF. To make your creative CV stand out more, make it interactive by including clickable links to your blog and/or social media sites. Also good to mention is don't make it long. Make it a single page document at A4 size.  
​Skills. When it comes to listing your skills, you should always mention how well you understand and how well you can use different Adobe software's. You can always add a little graph at the bottom to show these skills. 
Always add some personality to your CV. Last thing a client wants is a boring and repetitive CV. Instead, add little icons or designs to your CV without overwhelming everything. This can be part of your hobbies or just to simply give it a more playful look. 
As much as you want your CV to be bright and colourful, don't overdo it to the point where it becomes 'blinding'. Maybe stick to 1 or 2 colours and always have a white background and black text.
It doesn't matter if you've never worked for a design company or a client. Instead, list personal projects you have done or even unpaid design jobs. (For example, competitions)

Entering Competitions: Entering competitions can be a great way of gaining exposure and building up your confidence when it comes to design. Plus, there's almost always a cash prize or a chance to work for a Graphic Design company. Even if you don't win, the company or judges have seen your work so either way, you've gained exposure!
​Designing For a Close Family Member: Knowing you have a Graphic Designer in the family is always a good thing and beneficial. Especially if you have your own business. Doing the odd design here and there for family members isn't a bad thing. Especially if it's relatively easy or quick. Asking said family member to show off your work and get people talking about it can feel even better than getting money for it. You also gain a good reputation for yourself and your design career.
Designing for a Charitable Organisation: Contributing to charitable organisations by using your graphic designer skills may be beneficial to your career in the long run. But it's also good to make sure that you stand to gain something such as experience that'll become useful in the future, access to other professional designers or referrals to paying clients.

What I noticed about these chosen pages, is how bright and colourful they are. They stand out, the brightness catches the viewers eye and you're instantly pulled towards them. This is what I want my Instagram page to look like.  

Building and creating a website is part of my degree. Not only this but having a website will make it easier for protentional clients to see my work an decide whether they want me to create work for them.

Below are just a few of the websites I have looked at and researched how to create a professional website/portfolio.
https://marieennisoconnor.medium.com/how-to-create-professional-graphics-even-if-youre-not-a-graphic-designer-a8fc1bad85bd
​https://www.graphicdesigndegreehub.com/lists/5-tips-to-design-your-graphic-design-website/

For the next semester, I'm doing to create an action plan that will help me expand my skills using the Adobe software's I mentioned in my last blog post. 

Over the Christmas break (when I have more free time), I'm gonna keep learning how to use Illustrator and After Effects as knowing how to use both of these software's is gonna help me in the long run when I apply for design jobs. I'm going to start small. For example, create short GIFs just so I get the feel of what After Effects is like and slowly develop my skills until I can comfortably create decent length animations. After Effects is my main software to learn as in the past, I have failed projects for not using After Effects as I didn't know how to use it. 

One of my short term goals will be using Illustrator more when doing future projects. As I always use Photoshop, using Illustrator will expand my skills more and make my professional CV stand out showing that I can use multiple Adobe software's. 
It's not only Adobe software's I need practise on. I also need to practise putting my ideas down on paper instead of always in my head and manage my time more efficiently. This is a thing that can effect my grades and if I get bad grades, I won't graduate. 
Next semester, I will focus more on putting ideas down and not just sticking to one idea. I will also create more development work and document my design journey in more detail.  

https://www.graphicdesigndegreehub.com/lists/5-time-management-tips-for-graphic-designers/
https://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design-tips/tips-brainstorming-inspiration-12359-10
​https://trydesignlab.com/blog/how-do-designers-come-up-with-ideas-9-ways-get-unstuck/

 In my last blog, I spoke about my skills and what I'm good at. But there's always room for improvement. There's always more to learn. No matter how good you think you are at things. A skill I want to improve on is Illustrator and After Effects. Whenever I'm doing a project, I always stay within my comfort zone which I need to change. For future projects, I will hopefully be using more of these software's. Especially Illustrator.

This blog post is all about identifying my strengths and weaknesses in my work.

First, I will talk about my strengths. A large strength of mine is collecting inspiration and ideas for my given brief. For example, in one project, I had to design some soda cans and my idea of design was Pop Art. As soon as I thought about a design style, I went straight to researching and collected many ideas to use. 

Above is one of my can designs using inspiration from Pop Art. 

When it comes to Graphic Design and the projects I complete, I always come back to one type of design and that's packaging. I enjoy packaging the most as it gives me the most joy and motivation. Everyday, I see myself looking at different package designs whether it's can designs, food packaging or skin care. There's packaging designs for anything and everything. 

Above is just a few examples of packaging designs I have gathered throughout my time studying at UoC

Branding. 
Another big interest of mine is branding. A lot of my better projects have been related to branding. The thought of designing your own logo and slogan and everything that comes with creating a brand excites me. There's so many ways you can create a brand and it's a popular section of Graphic Design. I'm wanting to go into branding when I finish my studies.  

A few websites and blogs I have looked at while researching for my projects.
https://www.lean-labs.com/blog/creating-a-brand-identity-20-questions-to-consider
https://blogs.spectrio.com/building-out-your-visual-brand
https://www.packagingoftheworld.com/
​https://thebackmatter.tumblr.com/

Throughout my 4 years of studying Graphic Design, I have come to learn more about Adobe software's in more detail. One being Photoshop. Photoshop is the Adobe software I know the most. From the basics of typing and moving images to creating detailed designs using shapes. I know how to use most of the tools from the paintbrushes to magic wand tool. Most of my designs are done on Photoshop.
InDesign is the second most used Adobe software I know how to use. I used InDesign a lot during my 1st and 2nd year of my studies. From creating book jackets to editorial designs and layouts.

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-use-photoshop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVW8AF2TMnw&ab_channel=Dansky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9D_0UQrOhA&ab_channel=BringYourOwnLaptop
https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/the-beginners-quick-start-guide-to-indesign--cms-31243