Advanced two-column LaTeX CV Template | Part 1

by Alessandro

Updated: this post is getting too long, it’s going to be divided into multiple parts. The second part is now available at this link

In this post and in the following parts I will cover and try to explain how to design a two-column layout in LaTeX.

This CV template will have a humanistic look and feel, and it will represent a useful option for those who want to emphasize their work experience over the education they received.

For example, it would be a good solution for professionals with 4/5 previous jobs, who want to give a detailed explanation and description of their previous occupation.

A preview of the result follows.

Let’s give some structure to our task:

  1. How do we get the two column layout?
    The answer is: by dividing the document into  two vertically aligned minipages;
  2. How do we get the section titles to look like these?
    The answer is: we need to use the titlesec,  color, and xcolor packages. Their documentation, as always, is available on CTAN;
  3. Which fonts do we need to typeset this document?
    To reproduce exactly the screenshots, you would need Hoefler Text, Zapfino, and Gill Sans.
    Even though these fonts are not freely available, Mac OS X users like myself have them already installed in their system.
    Other operating system users might try the following free OpenType alternatives: Gentium, Doulos SIL, Fontin, and some of the fonts at this website.

Let’s get started then!

The preamble: required packages

  1. document class is article; 
    \documentclass[10pt]{article}
  2. load graphics packages 
    %symbols - the ones you see on the left of the email and of the phone
\usepackage{bbding}
\RequirePackage{color,graphicx}
\usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{amssymb}
  3. Define the following colors for the document

    %Setup hyperref package, and colours for links, text and headings
\usepackage{hyperref}
\definecolor{linkcolour}{HTML}{FF0080}	%light purple link for the email
\definecolor{shade}{HTML}{D4D7FE}		%light blue shade
\definecolor{text1}{HTML}{2b2b2b}		%text is almost black
\definecolor{headings}{HTML}{701112} 	%dark red
\hypersetup{colorlinks,breaklinks,urlcolor=linkcolour, linkcolor=linkcolour}
  4. The following tell the compiler which fonts to use: 
    \usepackage{fontspec,xltxtra,xunicode}
\defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text}
\setromanfont[Mapping=tex-text]{Hoefler Text}
\setsansfont[Scale=MatchLowercase,Mapping=tex-text]{Gill Sans}
\setmonofont[Scale=MatchLowercase]{Andale Mono}
    Hoefler Text From Wikipedia

    Hoefler Text From Wikipedia

    5. Gill Sans Font

    Gill Sans Font

  5. The geometry package will help us with the horizontal and vertical margins 
    % See geometry.pdf to learn the layout options. There are lots.
\usepackage[hmargin=1.25cm, vmargin=1.5cm]{geometry}
  6. We then customize the footer with the fancyhdr package 
    \usepackage{fancyhdr}				%custom footer
\pagestyle{fancy}
\fancyhf{}
\rfoot{
\color{headings}
{\sffamily Last update: \today}.
Typeset with \XeTeX
}
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
  7. Finally we customize the section command 
    \usepackage{titlesec}				%custom section
%CV Sections inspired by:
%http://stefano.italians.nl/archives/26
\titleformat{\section}
{\color{headings}
\Large\raggedright}{}{0em}{}[\color{black}\titlerule]
\titlespacing{section}{0pt}{0pt}{5pt}

The “Title”

The title is very easily obtained: it is a) sans-serif, b) centered, c) Huge (or Huge in LaTeX terminology)

\par{\centering
{\sffamily\Huge Albert Einstein
}\\

we then add the fancy Curriculum Vitae line just below the name

Fancy Heading

Fancy Heading

with the following commands:

\begin{document}
{\color{headings}
\fontspec[Variant = 2]{Zapfino}
Curriculum
{\fontspec[Variant = 3]{Zapfino}V}it\ae}
\\[25pt]\par}

These are the available options with the Zapfino font and the [Variant = <number>] option in fontspec
Zapfino Variants with Fontspec

Upcoming in Part 2:

  1. Splitting the document with vertically aligned minipages;
  2. Designing the Work Experience and Education Section;
  3. Experimenting with more fonts (maybe in Part 3).

Click here for PART 2

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Related posts:

  1. Advanced two-column LaTeX CV Template | Part 2 + TeX Source
  2. Non-prehistoric LaTeX Resume Template — Advanced Graphics and Typography
  3. Writing Your Professional CV with LaTeX
  4. The “Linux” LaTeX CV Template
  5. CV Tip: Letterspacing your name with XeLaTeX + Fontspec