Creating a Design Portfolio When Your Work is Under NDA
Actionable advice on what to do when you’re trying to honor a contract while creating a stellar design portfolio
So, you signed a non-disclosure agreement with a company (or multiple companies) where you’ve worked on exciting projects, and now you can’t highlight any of that work in your portfolio. Sound familiar? Needless to say, this can be incredibly frustrating when you’ve put hours and hours of your time and energy into crafting great experiences that you’d be proud to show off. But alas, you’re told you can’t.
But before you lose all hope staring at your blank portfolio, consider some of the tips below.
Check the terms of the NDA
There are many different types of NDAs. First and foremost, check the length of the NDA(s) that you’ve signed. You may have signed one that’s timeboxed to a couple of years or one that’s perpetual and doesn’t expire. If it’s the former, the good news is that when it does expire, you’ll likely be able to showcase your work in its entirety. If it’s the latter, then the best thing to do is to either find other creative ways to show the same project (see some of the options below) or write that specific project(s) off. If you have plenty of other work to show, I would take the second option but since you’re reading this article, I’m guessing you want to find out how you can still use this work in your portfolio. In which case, read on.
Ask for permission
This might be a long shot, but it’s worth your time. Shoot your manager (or the person currently leading the team) an email to see if they’d be willing to be flexible on some of the terms of the NDA by allowing you to:
• Include just the company name/logo in your portfolio — depending on the terms of the NDA, this may or may not be ok so it’s always good to check.
• Password-protect project(s) — assure your manager in your message that you’ll only share projects with a select group of recruiters and hiring managers, and they will be password-protected to preserve anonymity.
• Change UI and branding details — you can also let them know that you’ve changed all identifiable information in the project along with some of the branding elements to make sure the project and company aren’t recognizable. Doing so still preserves the authenticity of the project while allowing you to honor the terms of your contract.
Go high level
If the above isn’t an option and the NDA’s terms are non-negotiable, describe your experience with working with the team, solving user/business/technical problems, and validating concepts at a high level without using any visuals or imagery from the project. I know it sounds tough and super dry to present a case study like this one but trust me, you can make it interesting through the story that you choose to tell. This will give a hiring manager enough of a signal that you understand the process of building and iterating on successful products. They’re likely to empathize with you about missing visuals if you make them aware early on why you aren’t able to include them.
Add conceptual projects
Although showing real-world examples of experiences that you’ve shipped is often always preferred, there are times when it’s completely acceptable for a portfolio to have a couple of conceptual projects sprinkled in. A hiring manager is interested in evaluating your understanding of the process for designing and building products that have a tangible impact on the users’ and company’s goals and also if you know how to collaborate with others to get there. If you add conceptual projects to your portfolio, you can go all out on showcasing your process and how you would go about solving a pain point that users have. What the hiring manager won’t be able to get a solid signal on through conceptual projects is how well you collaborate with others, but they don’t have to. They have a few other avenues to do this, so it’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t happen through your conceptual project(s).
Don’t let an NDA leave you feeling stuck in your job hunt. Get creative and find alternative ways to showcase your knowledge and expertise to the hiring team.
