On design portfolio

I reviewed quite a few design portfolios recently as our team is on an urgent hunt for talents. I want to talk about some common problems for those portfolios and what I wish they can have.

One of the biggest problems is that many portfolios are trying to sell me how wonderful the projects are instead of showing what a great designer she/he is. They contained lengthy project background, templated with the same design process or flooded with information about user research, but failed to tell what type of designers they are. Sometimes I almost felt that they are looking for investors instead of looking for a job.

This makes me question the designer’s ability of problem solving because he/she does not really understand what the purpose of the portfolio is for. In my view, the portfolio is to showcase what kind of designer you are and why they should hire you. Also to strike an impression, it’s really important to think about what you want the interviewer to remember you for.

So it’s critical to pick carefully the projects or case studies that can showcase who you are. I mean, in the end, interviewers are looking for a candidate with the fit capabilities. Think about what your key strengths are and what projects can showcase them. Nowadays, we are increasingly looking for design talents that can wear multiple hats or have multiple skillsets as full-stack product designer. So here are the things for consideration: picking something that shows your product thinking, something that shows your visual chops, and someting that showcases your collaboration and communication with partners or stakeholders.

For a particular project or case study, here are what I want to learn about and might be reference: a paragraph to tell what it is, what problems you are solving, a paragraph to show your role in it and why your involvement makes a difference, some key screens/steps or the golden path, what the key results are from the design, and what you learnt from all of this.

At last, be concise and visual about it. When I screened the portfolios, I just flipped through them quickly until I find something that catches my eyes. I am only human and I think a lot of interviewers would act like me. So making your portfolio concise and visually appealling will always give you some advantage. Another thing is if it’s in PDF or PPT format, avoid using weird size or long portrait layout. Just keep the normal 16:9 ratio so it’s easier for screeners to follow on their computer.

Hope it’s helpful but also hope that my team members will never need to reference it.