Crafting an Effective Portfolio

Crafting your design portfolio takes a lot of time, energy and soul. At least, it does if you’re building it right. I’ve had the opportunity to view countless portfolios over the last 20 years or so, and can attest to the fact that the designers who put effort into their portfolio stand far above the rest. Many good designers may miss out on interesting opportunities because they don’t design their first impression. So, here are some tips that will help designers to rethink their portfolios, exposing the depth behind the screenshots and brochures they currently share. This started out as a bunch of tweets, but I think it worth pulling them together here so they aren’t lost in the stream. It was also oriented toward those who build digital experiences, but the core lessons hold true for anyone in a creative field.

Note: I’ve written A Few (More) Tips for Designers Applying for a Design Role as a follow-up to this post.

1: Explain the work. What problems were you trying to solve? Which humans did you craft it for?

2: Include the date of the work. Otherwise, you’ll be judged based on your skills of five years ago, not where you are today.

3: Show your process. How did you reach this particular solution? What did you discard along the way? This demonstrates depth and an understanding of design as a process.

4: Explain your role in the project. Were you solo or part of a team? How did you contribute? Who did you learn from? Who did you mentor?

5: Show how you “leveled up”. What did you learn from the project? What skills did you improve?

6: Outline your goals. How did you quantify success? Was this design an effective solution? How did you measure the results?

7: Review the Portfolio. Pull in someone you trust and who knows you well, to critique the portfolio as a piece of work. Does it represent *you*? Does it communicate what you value, where you are in your career and where you want to go?

8: Talk about the little things. Why did you choose that shade? Why pair those two fonts?

9: Share your sources of inspiration. What did you pull from the web? Print? Nature? Music? How did it influence the work?

10: Treat the portfolio itself as an example of your work. Possibly, the most important example. Treat it accordingly.

Related

• A Few (More) Tips for Designers Applying for a Design Role —A follow-on to this article.
• New designers: here’s what you can do to stand out — How to improve your odds of being noticed by hiring managers when you’re starting out.
• The Branching Career Path — Great people should be able to build their skills to receive the recognition & compensation they deserve, whether they wish to focus on their craft or on managing humans.
• What it Means to be Senior — A “Senior” title isn’t earned in years, but in experience and outlook.
• T-Triple-C — four traits that matter above all else when hiring.
• Designing the interview process: up, down & all around — How I interview people for my design team, peers in other teams and my potential boss.
• “You don’t have the experience for this role…let’s talk!” — Embracing Junior Designers Who Apply for Roles that Require Experience.

Big thanks to my friend JD Hancock, for the photo at the top of the post and the hundreds he provides for free via the Creative Commons License. Check them out and use them!