Resume Icons, Logos, and Symbols

When designed well and used with intention, resume icons, logos, and symbols can turn a good resume into a great one. They help break up text, draw attention to key areas, and add visual structure. But when used poorly, they can confuse readers or hurt your chances of landing an interview. This guide explains how to effectively use visual elements in a resume without distracting from your experience.

Whether you’re thinking of adding a phone icon next to your contact number or using logos to represent past employers, here’s everything you need to know.

Why Use Icons, Logos, and Symbols on a Resume?

Icons can guide the reader’s eye, give structure to your layout, and make it easier to spot important details like contact information or skills. They’re sometimes expected in graphic or user interface (UI) design resumes.

In moderation, symbols can:

• Improve scannability
• Help organize content
• Modernize a resume’s look
• Offer a cleaner visual hierarchy

Used correctly, icons don’t just “decorate” but serve a clear purpose.

When Visuals Help and When They Don’t

Know your audience and industry

Not every industry values a sleek visual resume. In fields like marketing, design, or tech, visuals are often welcome and even encouraged. A more traditional, text-based resume is expected in law, government, or academia.

How applicant tracking systems respond to icons

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are often the first filter. While most systems today can handle basic symbols or Unicode characters, some still get tripped up by image-based elements or fancy formatting.

If you’re applying online, it’s safest to:

• Use a plain-text version for ATS
• Keep icons outside main content blocks
• Avoid embedding logos directly into bullet points or headers

Want to skip the formatting guesswork? Use one of these basic resume examples built for ATS compatibility.

Best Places To Use Resume Icons

Contact information section

This is the most common and safest place to include icons. A phone symbol next to your number, or a LinkedIn icon beside your profile link, can help make your resume feel tidy and intentional.

Key skills section

Icons aren’t usually necessary here, but subtle symbols (like checkmarks or bullets) can help visually group your skills. Just don’t go overboard.

Better approach:

• Leadership
• Microsoft Excel
• Strategic planning
• Project management

See more skill-building advice in this list of top resume skills.

Resume header

A small symbol, like a line divider, star, or minimalist design accent, can add personality to your header if it’s clean and doesn’t touch your name or job title.

Resume Logos: Yes or No?

Company logos: Branding or distraction?

Including a company’s logo might seem like a nice way to show where you’ve worked. But unless you’re submitting a visual portfolio or design-focused resume, it can be more distracting than helpful.

Consider this instead:

Bold the company name in text. Hiring managers recognize names faster than they process images. Let your experience speak louder than a logo.

School logos: Worth the space?

Avoid adding university or certification logos unless you’re a recent graduate applying for design-related roles. Most hiring managers care more about what you learned, not how it looks.

Common Mistakes With Resume Symbols

Overuse or misuse

Just because icons are trendy doesn’t mean every section needs one. Overloading your resume with visuals can make it look cluttered and distract from your qualifications. Every icon should serve a purpose — not just take up space.

Avoid:

• Using icons next to every job title or date
  This breaks the flow of the experience section and shifts focus away from your accomplishments. Let your role and impact speak for themselves without unnecessary decoration.
• Mixing emojis with professional icons
  Emojis are often colorful and casual, which clashes with resume-safe icons’ clean, neutral look. This inconsistency can make your resume appear less serious.
• Turning your resume into an infographic (unless requested)
  Stick with traditional layouts unless you’re applying for a role that explicitly asks for creative or visual resumes (like graphic design or marketing). Infographic resumes are often unreadable by ATS software and may hurt your chances.

Mixing too many styles

If you use icons, make sure they share a consistent design language of the same line weight, color scheme, and shape style. Inconsistent visuals look disorganized and may signal a lack of attention to detail.

For a clean, professional look:

• Stick to black or dark gray icons
• Avoid 3D, shaded, or colorful graphics
• Choose a single icon set and use it throughout your resume

If you’re not sure what works, try a modern resume template that integrates icons seamlessly.

Prioritizing design over content

Your resume’s content matters most. Visual flair should enhance your message, not overwhelm it. If icons, symbols, or graphics occupy more space than your job achievements, certifications, or skills, it’s time to edit.

Always ask yourself:

• Does this visual improve clarity?
• Does it make the resume easier to scan?
• Or is it just filler that adds noise?

If it’s the latter, cut it.

How To Choose Icons for Your Resume

Stick to simple and consistent styles

Icons work best when they’re subtle, purposeful, and consistent. Choose one visual style (such as thin line icons, solid black shapes, or outlined symbols) and apply it uniformly throughout your document.

Avoid mixing:

• Cartoon-style emojis with flat icons
• Colorful symbols with grayscale icons
• Rounded designs with sharp-angled ones

Consistency helps create visual harmony and shows professionalism.

Free resources for clean, resume-friendly icons:

• FontAwesome (includes a resume-focused icon subset like envelope, phone, and location pins)
• Icons8 (offers downloadable packs in uniform styles)
• Google Material Icons (ideal for minimalist design)

Each platform allows you to search by style or category, making it easy to find cohesive sets.

Recommended file types and formats

Using the right icon format for resumes created in Word, Google Docs, or design software ensures your visuals display properly across devices.

Best practices:

• Use SVGs or PNGs for clean, high-resolution icons
  SVGs are scalable and crisp in print or on screen. PNGs are widely supported and easy to drop into resume templates.
• Make sure icons are embedded (not linked)
  Linked images can break or fail to display if the file is opened on another computer or uploaded to a job portal.
• Test your PDF before sending
  Some platforms strip out images or corrupt file formatting. Download your final version and view it in multiple browsers and devices to ensure everything looks right.

If you’re using a prebuilt template, confirm that it’s compatible with your file format and preserves icons after export. Many professional resume templates already include optimized icon formatting, so you don’t have to tweak it yourself.

Resume Templates With Clean Icon Use

If you want to include icons but aren’t sure how, let the design experts help. ResumeTemplates.com has a full library of templates that blend text with subtle visuals.

Here are three strong examples:

• Basic templates that use layout and font, not symbols, to stand out
• Modern resume examples for jobs in design, tech, and marketing
• Professional resume examples with clean headers and icon accents

Example: A Simple, Stylish Resume Header With Icons

This layout uses icons only in the contact section, keeps the header clean, and lets the summary and experience take center stage.

More Resume Tips and Examples

Looking for more resume design guidance? Explore these resources:

• Job Title Examples for Your Resume
• Modern Resume Examples
• Resume Action Words