How to Choose a CV Template: Layout, Colours and Typography by Industry

The template is the first piece of information a document gives a recruiter, and it lands before the first word is read. A good template is rarely the prettiest one in the gallery. It is the one that fits the amount of content, the industry and the way the document will actually be read: in about fifteen seconds, often on a phone screen, sometimes as a greyscale printout.

Content first, then layout

The layout decision should follow the volume of text, not aesthetics. A candidate with two entries in their work history needs a different page composition from someone with fifteen years of experience.

• A single column suits people at the start of their career, career changers and any situation where chronology matters. The eye travels top to bottom, nothing competes with the experience section, and a short work history does not leave empty areas on the page.
• Two columns pay off when there is a lot of secondary content: skills with levels, languages, certificates, portfolio links. The narrow side column keeps those elements in order, while the wide main area stays reserved for job descriptions.
• A header band (name, title and contact details in one block at the top) works in both variants and shortens the eye's path to the two most important facts: who the candidate is and which position they are applying for.

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) read applications before any human does. They handle a two-column layout correctly under one condition: the PDF must have a clean text layer with a logical reading order. Templates generated as text rather than as graphics meet that requirement. A document exported from a graphic design tool often does not.

Layout by industry

There is no single universal template, but most sectors have clear expectations. The pairings below are not rules, just a starting point that saves time.

• Finance, law, administration: a classic layout, one or two columns with a calm split, a serif typeface for the name, one muted accent. Slate and Monogram work well here.
• IT, engineering, analytics: two columns, visible skill levels, a clear heading hierarchy. Natural choices are Cobalt and Blueprint.
• Marketing, design, media: more freedom in colour and typography while keeping full legibility. Decoration should demonstrate a sense of form, not replace content. Contour and Bauhaus fit this space.
• Retail, customer service, hospitality: photo and contact details up front, a warmer palette, a simple structure. For example, Flora or Modern.
• Healthcare, education, public sector: cool, subdued shades, high text contrast, no elements that need interpreting.

The full CV template gallery shows every layout with the same sample content. That test works better than comparing empty thumbnails.

Colour: one decision, not five

The most common mistake in CV colour is excess. A document with three accents, coloured headings and a tinted background looks like a flyer, and nobody reads flyers carefully. The rule is simple: one accent colour, a neutral background, dark text.

Practical criteria:

• Contrast after printing. A large proportion of documents still end up on paper, often in greyscale. A light accent on a white background disappears in print, so section headings must stay legible without colour.
• Column background instead of coloured type. A soft, light background behind the narrow column organises the page more effectively than coloured text and does not reduce legibility.
• Consistency with the industry, not with a favourite colour. Navy, steel and graphite read as reliability. Green and teal as calm. Warm shades as openness. Red on a CV almost never helps.

In eveilo, each of these elements has its own control: column colour, document background, header band and accent change independently, and the preview refreshes immediately. A useful exercise is to invert the default scheme: a white column and a slightly darkened main area give the composition depth without adding a single colour. A short demonstration of that change on the Slate template is on the home page.

Typography: two typefaces, three sizes

Typography shapes the reading of a CV more than colour does, because it touches every line. Two decisions are enough.

Typeface. One typeface for the name and headings, a second one (or the same in a different weight) for body text. Sans-serif faces such as Inter, Lato or Source Sans are safe in every industry and stay sharp on screen. Serifs such as Merriweather, Lora or Playfair Display add gravity and suit professions where tradition is an asset. A serif name paired with sans-serif body text is a classic, proven combination.

Size and line height. Body text between 10 and 11 points, section headings clearly larger, the name largest of all. Line height around 1.4 for body text. Shrinking type below 9.5 points to squeeze the document onto one page gives a worse result than a second page.

Weight. Bold belongs to job titles and numeric results. Whole paragraphs in bold highlight nothing, because when everything is emphasised, the reader finds nothing.

Photo: it depends on the market

In the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States, a photo is normally left out, and its presence can get a document rejected on formal grounds. In Germany, France, Spain and Poland, a photo remains standard and templates with a portrait area are the natural choice there. When applying across markets, the safest option is a template where the photo can be switched off without breaking the composition, instead of formatting a second, separate file.

Testing a template before sending

Four quick checks say more than a long comparison of thumbnails.

1. Phone preview. A large proportion of recruiters open attachments on a screen a few inches wide. The text must be legible without zooming.
2. Greyscale printout. If the section structure blurs without colour, the accent is too light or the headings are too weak.
3. Selecting text in the PDF. All text should be selectable and copyable in natural order. An ATS runs the same process.
4. The first ten centimetres. Name, professional title and the most recent position must be visible without scrolling. If the layout pushes them down, decoration has taken space from content.

Template selection checklist

1. The layout matches the amount of content: one column for a short history, two for an extensive one.
2. The style fits the industry's expectations, and a bolder form is a deliberate decision, not an accident.
3. One accent colour, a neutral background, text that stays legible in black-and-white print.
4. At most two typefaces, body text at 10 to 11 points, bold only where it works.
5. The photo follows the custom of the market the document is going to.
6. The PDF passes the text selection test and the phone preview.

A template choice is easy to change later. In eveilo, the same content can be moved to another design at any time, or the colours and typography changed without rewriting a single sentence, so adapting a document to a specific job posting takes a few minutes. Writing the content itself is covered in a separate guide: how to write a CV that survives the first screening.