How I’ve been documenting my design work for the last 7 years

As designers, we often find ourselves facing two daunting tasks: updating our portfolios and preparing for performance reviews. Both can feel overwhelming, especially if we haven’t consistently documented our work.

Over the past seven years, I’ve used a simple system that has made it a lot easier. It focuses on capturing four key aspects of each project:

1. Goal: Clearly define the objective of the project. What were you trying to achieve?

2. Impact: Quantify or qualitfy the results of your work. Did you increase user engagement? Improve conversion rates? Facilitate team growth?

3. Approach: Describe the methods and strategies you employed to achieve the goal. Did you conduct user research? Run design sprints? Mentor other designers?

4. Feedback: Collect and document any positive feedback received on your work. This could include peer, stakeholder or client recognition.

Checkout the video version of this article for a more detailed walkthrough

Putting the System into Practice

Let me illustrate this with a few examples.

Example 1: Enhancing Design Craft

• Goal: Upscale the design skills of three senior/lead designers.
• Impact: Two designers received “exceeding expectations” in their performance reviews, and one was promoted.
• Approach: I conducted bi-weekly or weekly mentorship sessions, shared relevant resources, and provided constructive feedback where relevant.
• Feedback: “I truly appreciate your guidance and support throughout this process. You’ve been instrumental in my growth.” — Lead Designer

Example 2: Delivering on Roadmap Commitments

• Goal: Deliver all design deliverables outlined in the team roadmap within the specified timeframe.
• Impact: All design deadlines were met, enabling the successful execution of all planned A/B experiments.
• Approach: Planned design deliverables one or two weeks in advance of the delivery sprints.

Example 3: Influencing Strategic Direction

• Goal: Identify key competitive advantages and use these insights to influence the company’s annual planning and budgeting processes.
• Impact: Findings from the competitive benchmarking exercise directly influenced the annual planning direction and helped establish clear design priorities for the design team.
• Approach: Conducted a competitive benchmarking exercise with the entire product department (approximately 50 people).
• Feedback: “Exercise fostered valuable discussions and insights within the department, as team members brought their own observations and perspectives to the table.” — GPM

This system not only makes portfolio updates a bit easier but also provides compelling evidence of your contributions during performance reviews.

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Benefits Beyond Portfolio Updates

• Improved Self-Reflection: Regularly documenting your work encourages you to reflect on your achievements and identify areas for growth.
• Enhanced Communication: Clear and concise documentation facilitates better communication with your manager and team members.
• Increased Visibility: By showcasing your impact, you increase your visibility within the organization and demonstrate your value to the company.

Tips for Effective Documentation

• Start early: Begin documenting your work from the outset of each project.
• Keep it concise: Focus on the most important details and avoid unnecessary jargon.
• Use visuals: Incorporate screenshots, sketches, and other visual aids to enhance your documentation or at least link to them.
• Regularly review and update: Make sure your documentation is up-to-date and reflects your latest accomplishments.

Conclusion

Consistent documentation can be a real chore but it’s also an investment in your career. By implementing a simple system, you can streamline your workflow, showcase your value, and achieve greater success as a designer.

Disclaimer: The specific approach may need to be adapted based on your individual needs and the requirements of your role.

I hope this article provides valuable insights into the importance of documenting your design work.

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💬 I encourage you to share your own tips and strategies for documenting your work in the comments below. Let’s learn from each other and build stronger design portfolios and careers together!

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