We’ve all been told to prepare one: the dreaded elevator pitch. Well what is it? According to Wikipedia, an Elevator Pitch is

An elevator pitch, elevator speech or elevator statement is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a process, product, service, organization, or event and its value proposition.

The name ‘elevator pitch’ reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes and is widely credited to Ilene Rosenzweig and Michael Caruso (while he was editor for Vanity Fair) for its origin. The term itself comes from a scenario of an accidental meeting with someone important in the elevator. If the conversation inside the elevator in those few seconds is interesting and value adding, the conversation will either continue after the elevator ride, or end in exchange of business cards or a scheduled meeting.

While in the process of tweaking my resume, I thought that my summary sentence needed a bit of work. I wanted my summary to be more UX focus, rather than highlighting my design history. Do you have any thoughts?

Old Summary

Building on a strong foundation in journalism, design and graphics, my skills in visual communication encompasses all disciplines including User Experience UX Design, Interaction Design and Art Direction.

New Summary

A User Experience Designer utilizing design thinking, analysis and research to create software, products and digital experiences that are aesthetically pleasing and easier to use.

Granted, this is a bit verbose if I was summarizing what I do in a quick 30 seconds. But I wanted to present something that packed a powerful, descriptive punch. It certainly is shorter than my original summary. And it focuses more on UX design, which I was advised that my resume needed to portray more. I think that the new Pitch accomplishes that task. But if you have any feedback on how it could be improved, please don’t hesitate to comment and share your thoughts.