Well,
I’m just trying to stay above water,
you know?
Stay busy, stay working
I was telling you like,
the key to this joint,
the key to staying on top of things
Is to treat everything like it’s your first project
Know what I’m saying?
Like it’s your first day,
like I wasn’t even an intern or nothing
That’s how you try to treat things, like
Just stay Humble
– Notorious B.I.G from My First Song by Jay Z

As a part of the annual review process, the company I work for, Roundarch, requires everyone to collect a bunch of things – updated resumes, bios, project reviews and a one pager.
When I first heard about the one pager, I thought it was stupid. It’s a 1-page powerpoint slide containing a full page design/illustration that represents you. It’s not a bio. It’s supposed to be more visual and creative. Some people treat it like a scrapbook, some make it a parody of something else. Some feature more outside-of-work interests and some feature more work-related content.
The whole point of the one pager is to have something projected in front of the managers and VPs when they conduct your annual review.
I so decided to drop the attitude and have some fun with my one pager. This isn’t a first impression since I’ve been working for Roundarch for over 6 months, but it’s an impression none-the-less so I didn’t want to half ass it. I should treat this like a real project. I should treat it like my ‘first song’.
I choose the parody route for my one pager.
I chose to make myself a Transformer.
Like design, a good parody is all about the details.
I also decided to deliberately break the rules for my one pager and make it a two pager. I think you’ll agree it was a crucial part of the equation (click on the images for full size versions):



For those Photoshop-savy people out there, you’ll see how handy the Multiply layer effect is for things like Tech Spec decoders.