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Creative · Two columns · ATS 3/5

Editorial CV template

A masthead name, a standfirst summary and two text columns — a CV set like a feature.

Creative templates spend their design budget where a studio reviewer will notice it, which is the opposite of what an automated screen rewards — a trade-off worth making deliberately. A two-column page without a photo, which buys you room for a long skills or certification list without pushing your experience onto a third page.

Live preview of the Editorial template, rendered at full page size with an example CV. The preview is the same code that generates your PDF.

The design

About the Editorial layout

Editorial borrows the anatomy of a magazine opener: your name is a masthead ruled top and bottom across the full width, and your summary runs underneath as a standfirst in larger type with generous side margins. Everything after it flows into two text columns, alternating left and right in your chosen section order, each heading opening with an oversized accent initial. No photo, no icons-as-decoration — the typography does the work, which makes it a strong choice when the CV is read rather than scanned by software.

Who it’s for

The readers and situations this layout was drawn for.

  • Writers, editors and journalists
  • Communications and PR professionals
  • Consultants presenting a dense, text-heavy record

Key features

What is actually different about this template on the page.

  • Full-width masthead with thick and hairline rules
  • Summary set as a wide-margin standfirst
  • Two text columns divided by a hairline rule
  • Oversized accent initial on every heading
  • Skills written as prose rather than charted

ATS score 3/5 · Moderate

How this layout behaves in an applicant tracking system

It scores 3 out of 5: expect the content to survive and the structure to be approximated. Where the sidebar text lands in the extracted version is genuinely unpredictable between systems.

Skills, languages and certifications sit in the side column, so those are the entries most likely to move in the extracted text; experience and education stay in the wide column and stay in sequence.

Frames, tinted panels and centred headings are drawn rather than written: they never confuse a human, but they are the reason the extracted text can come out in a different shape from the page you see.

A single column parses more reliably than two, in every system we have tested against. If the application goes through a portal you do not recognise, or the employer is large enough to screen automatically, send a one-column version instead — the ATS CV templates are built for that job, and your content moves across without being retyped.

Parsing checklistATS score 3 out of 5
Reading order
Two blocks
Headings
Real text
Tables
None
Images
None
Selectable text
Yes

Scores are our own assessment of how a parser handles the layout — never a guarantee about one specific employer’s system.

In practice

Three situations Editorial is the right answer to

Templates are chosen badly when they are chosen in the abstract. Here is what sending this one actually looks like.
Case 1

A pitch to a client or an agency

Attached to a proposal or an introduction rather than an application form. Density and hierarchy matter more than machine readability, because the file is going straight to a human. A typical example: Writers, editors and journalists.

Case 2

Work that speaks first

Tools, software and links live in the side column while the wide column keeps the projects and the story behind them, which is the order a design reviewer reads in anyway.

Case 3

A design-led application without a portrait

You want the page to be art-directed and you would rather not put your face on it. The composition carries the visual interest, so nothing looks empty where a photograph would otherwise sit. Editorial has no photo slot to remove, so the same file works in every market you send it to.

Make it yours

Customising Editorial

The template sets the structure; everything inside it is yours. Colours, fonts, spacing, section order and paper size are all controls in the CV builder, and the preview updates as you change them — nothing is applied blind.

Accent colour

Editorial ships with #1c1917 as its accent. The accent is doing visible design work, so choose it deliberately: pull it from your portfolio site or your personal identity rather than accepting a default. One strong colour beats two competing ones on a page this expressive.

Fonts and heading style

A display or editorial face for headings over a quiet body face is the pairing this layout is drawn around. Let one voice lead — setting both at high contrast is what turns an art-directed CV into a noisy one. Heading case — uppercase, capitalised or as typed — is a separate switch, and it changes the character of the page more than most people expect.

Spacing and density

The column split is fixed, but everything inside it is not: type size, line height, section spacing and page margins all adjust, and on a divided page the margins are the setting that buys you the most room without crowding the rule between the columns.

Sections and order

Projects, awards and links carry more weight than a long employment history. If the work itself is your strongest argument, move projects above experience — it takes one drag in the editor. Every section can be renamed, reordered or hidden, and Pro adds custom sections for anything the standard set does not cover.

Paper size and export

A4 or US Letter, switched in one control, with the layout re-flowing to the new page rather than being scaled to fit. The PDF is generated from the same code you see in the preview, so what you approve on screen is what downloads.

Editorial: common questions

Only moderately — it scores 3 out of 5. A divided page with visible styling is the combination parsers handle least consistently, so send this version to people and a single-column version to application systems.

Alternatives

Related templates

Other layouts worth comparing before you commit — the closest matches from Creative first, then designs with a similar ATS score from other families.

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Creative Professional

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Graphic Designer

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Start your CV with Editorial

Open it with the example content already in place, replace it with your own, and download a PDF when it reads the way you want. Switching to another template later keeps every word you have written.

Free to start. A Pro or Lifetime plan unlocks this design and every other one.