Tom, a few years ago, I would have completely agreed with you. Now, however, I’m not so sure.

Yes, as a research-led service designer, it’s hard to put together a compelling visual story if it’s based around the tools of the trade (journey maps, blueprints, ecosystems et al. These things are ubiquitous and will always be very client-specific.).

And yes, the work we do often results in changes that are either impossible to be captured in an image or yet to be executed.

But… and it’s a big but:

We’re storytellers. Stories are the means by which we get our clients to connect with the people they serve. And stories are the means by which we get our prospective employers to connect with us.

So perhaps there’s an opportunity to think of our portfolios not as a book of polished deliverables and a list of the tools we used to gets there (yawn), but as a series of stories that help communicate our philosophies, our triumphs and our failures and, most importantly, the value that we’ve delivered to our clients