Capability

Way With Worlds: Worldbuilding and Real Life Benefits

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Cityscape Manhattan

Now and then in my writing I discuss the benefits of Worldbuilding in real life, such as improving record keeping and the like. Truth be told there are other benefits than the more technical and procedural skills, but I never really thought about it much or where to put them. Then I realized, I could write a column on it.

Yeah, I know. Should have thought of that early.

So, let’s take a break from good and evil, science and technology, politics and religion, and discuss just why all these elaborate setting-creations, timelines, and notes benefit you beyond your ability to create a good game or comic or story. This is how Worldbuilding improves you and your abilities in general ways, ways of insight and dare I say it, character.

This may sound a little weird. You may truly enjoy that giant mecha slam-bang universe you created, but you hardly think transforming robots really is going to make a difference in who you are or how you see things.

Actually, you’re wrong. Having done world building myself (in complete and far more unfinished projects), having analyzed it, having talked to writers and artists, I’ve been amazed how the act of world building actually improves people as people. They become, in a way, better and more insightful.

If you’re aware of it, of course, then you can appreciate it, use it, and enhance it. I’m not saying everyone should sit down and create an epic sci-fi universe or fantasy epic, but I’m noting that it does more than you may think.

If you know it, you can use it.

Here’s where it helps.

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50 Shades Of Resume #50: Sew, Sew, Sew

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Resume 50

Melissa Washin is a creative person. She likes to get hands on. She likes to make things.

She made a resume out of cloth.

So you can see what I saved this one for last. It’s rare you find someone who’s resume is a piece of fiber arts – and this comes from a guy who lives a few miles a way from a fabric arts museum. It’s a resume on cloth.

Now beyond the fact that it’s the only cloth resume I’ve seen since . . . ever, there’s also some important lessons here.

  • First, let’s be honest, this makes an impression. It’s a very unusual idea – and really makes me think of how we can use different materials for resumes. Having once seen a metal business card, I can say non-standard materials have an impact.
  • Secondly, what she does with this unusual material is put on a standard resume. That’s actually a smart idea in that, since she has such an unusual material, a tamer design may be in order.
  • She uses patterned cloth. That’s important because if it had been simple white cloth it wouldn’t have made quite an impression.
  • With the resume design, she uses different colors of fonts to make sections stand out. That also works on the cloth design because a straight mono-color resume would seem too dull. Balancing the unusualness with the standard design is probably a bit of a challenge.
  • It shows imagination. Again, when’s the last time you’ve seen a cloth resume? Even if it is never used, it’s a great portfolio addition.

Critiques? Not any really. This is a great intersection of “stunt” resume and regular resume, and well done.

This may not be the kind of resume you can use anywhere, but it’s mere existence shows that its creator has skill and imagination. Some resumes, as noted, are great as projects all their own.

As you may guess, for my cosplay readers, I’m going to suggest that this might be an idea to try out in one form or another.

Steve’s Summary: Sadly I double I’ll ever see a cloth resume in my IT career. But say I did see this somehow and it’d get my attention right away – it makes you want to know more about the creator because how does one come up with something like this?

[“50 Shades of Resume” is an analysis of various interesting resumes to celebrate the launch of the second edition of my book “Fan To Pro” and to give our readers inspiration for their own unique creations.]

– Steven Savage

50 Shades Of Resume #49: The Coordinated

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Resume 49

Alexander Parker’s resume and business cards are part of a coordinated project – the design of each reflects the other. Alone that’s pretty neat, but the resume design is also pretty impressive.  Together it’s a serious job search combo.

Let’s discuss the coordinated idea first – it’s basically a good strategy (and one I’ve been emphasizing over time in this project). The use of the “Alex icon”, the font, the “funnel” border designs, all unify the look. What I like about that:

  • It shows planning and consideration.
  • It’s a clear, effective design, showing talent.
  • The card functions almost as a mini-resume.
  • The effort is also subtle – it’s not “in-your-face” and I think that makes it effective.

But let’s look at the resume:

  • This is another good example of a two-column resume – employment on the left, skills and education on the right. It works quite well – and using borders to offset the skills/education are adds some additional division.
  • The Work Experience section is a classic piece, with detailed descriptions.
  • I like the “iconic” picture of the creator. It adds personalization while still maintaining the simple ensign. Speaking of . .
  • This is a good, effective, precise design. It’s got some color to jazz it up, smart design, but it’s not aggressive about it. It’s very effective.
  • The chosen color scheme works well – the lime green stands out without overdoing it.

Any suggestions? Only one . . . well, related ones.

  • As usual, I’d put skills higher up. There could probably be more skills as well. I might add more or categorize them.

Steve’s Summary: The kind of resume I like to see – I can share it with anyone, it shows creativity and thought, and innovation as well as tradition.

[“50 Shades of Resume” is an analysis of various interesting resumes to celebrate the launch of the second edition of my book “Fan To Pro” and to give our readers inspiration for their own unique creations.]

– Steven Savage