Why the thumbnails of your case studies are important and how to improve yours

This episode is part of a series called Portfolio Principles. In this series, I help people to build a more effective portfolio. Get weekly portfolio building tips.
All opinions my own.

Just a few seconds. All it takes for a portfolio visitor to form a first impression is just a few seconds. In this short period of time he will set expectations, he will judge you and he will put you in a “box”.

Within those first seconds you either win or lose. Well, maybe you won’t actually lose, but you might concede five goals in the first half. In theory you can still turns things around, but in reality this is very hard.

It’s hard because proving people wrong is hard, especially when they don’t like to be wrong. Once they have set expectations about who you are, what you do and how good you are, they are biased towards them. In other words, once your visitors think that you are great, they are more likely to notice you qualities and ignore your weaknesses. They will trick their brain into thinking that they are right.

Once they have set expectations about who you are, what you do and how good you are they will trick their brain into thinking they were right.

So reasons enough to put extra care in ensuring you make the impression that you want to make. I believe that a big portion of your visitor’s first impression is formed the very first time he sees your work. Speaking of which, I am not referring to your case studies. More often than not, your first piece of work that your visitors sees are the thumbnails of your case studies.

More often than not, your first piece of work that your visitors sees are the thumbnails of your case studies.

Do you take the most out of your thumbnails? Today I want to give you some tips on how to improve the communicative value of your thumbnails. However to do so, I will have to do something that I have always tried to avoid. I am going to limit your creative freedom. I am going to limit your creative freedom for the sake of clarity. I believe that the best thumbnail isn’t the most artistic one, it’s the one that effectively communicates.

The best thumbnail isn’t the most artistic one, it’s the one that effectively communicates.

Your thumbnails aren’t a piece of art. Please don’t force a visual style onto your thumbnails. How would you feel if you go to a label store and all album covers had the same color filter? How would you be able to choose which album you want to buy? How would you be able to remember which one you bought last time?

To illustrate my first tip, let’s start by looking at two thumbnail pages from other portfolios. Guess yourself, what kind of work do you think these designers do on a day to day basis?

Now what if I told you that first portfolio belongs to a web designer? What if the studio behind the second example wants to be known for their human-centred design approach? You wouldn’t expect this based on what you see from their thumbnails, would you? Quite often I notice a disconnection between a designer’s professional title and what his or her thumbnails communicate.

You might call yourself a human-centred designer, but if none if your thumbnails include humans, you are sending out the wrong message. You might think of yourself as an interaction designer, but if most of your thumbnails focus on your pixel perfect visual design, people will think of you as a visual designer.

You might call yourself a human-centred designer, but if none if your thumbnails include humans, you are sending out the wrong message.

I think that as a general rule, your thumbnails should align with your professional title. The sum of your thumbnails should represent what you are all about. It should align with how you with the be seen. With how you call yourself.

To illustrate my second point, let’s look at the work of a talented hand lettering artist called Bob Ewing . Imagine Bob would try to pick a thumbnail for his case study in which he describes the process of designing “the ripple”. Here are some options that Bob could consider.

Even though all of these options show the final logotype, each thumbnail communicates something slightly different. Which thumbnail would you advise Bob to pick?

I think it depends on the case study that is behind the thumbnail. If half of his case study is dedicated to showing his sketches, the thumbnail with his sketchbook would be the best option. If Bob just shows polished renderings of his final logotype, the top right option would represent this best. Generally speaking, the best thumbnail is the one that best represents the case study that is behind it.

Generally speaking, the best thumbnail would be the one that best represents the case study that is behind it.

Here is another way to think about this. After a vacation you probably end up with a bunch of photos from your trip. If I would force to pick just one photo that represents your entire trip, which one would you pick?

If you went on an adventurous safari, it’s not the photo from your one day trip to the beach. Even though you have captured a beautiful sunset a the beach. Not even because you look great in your swimsuit, it doesn’t justify picking that photo.

If you had to pick just one photo that represents your entire vacation, which one would you pick?

The same goes for picking your thumbnails. When you designed an app but 90% of your case study is about the process of designing the app icon, showing the app UI in your thumbnail sets the wrong expectations.

Create a thumbnail that tells the story of what’s inside. Speaking of stories, that brings me to my last example.

I think that if you want to unlock the communicative power of your thumbnails, make sure that each one tells a mini story. Here is an example.

Let’s think about a thumbnail for an app design by Quintin Lodge, a digital product designer from New York. The function of this particular app is to give information about ski resorts.

Quintin could just show the UI in his thumbnail (left), but this wouldn’t communicate that much, would it? Adding a hand is already an improvement because it shows that he designed an app. He could also add a blurred background of a ski-slope to show some context. Even with the blurred background, this thumbnail isn’t really convincing to me. It not convincing because its unrealistic.

If you want to unlock the communicative power of your thumbnails, make sure that each one tells a mini story.

Now what if Quintin would think of a mini story in which his app is being used? A story of a teenage girl who hits the slopes with her snowboard, opens the app to check the weather with the sun in her face, causing reflection on the screen. This might look something like this.

See the difference? The thumbnail communicates the mini story that Quintin came up with. It doesn’t just show the app’s UI, it shows the app being used. Within the limited dimensions of his thumbnail, Quintin now communicates a lot more about his app that is inside the case study.

Take-aways

The thumbnails of your case studies are important because often they are your first piece of work that your visitors sees. They greatly shape the first impression of your portfolio’s visitor. To take the most out of your thumbnails, these are three general rules that you could apply:

#1 Your thumbnails should align with your professional title.

#2 Each thumbnail should represent the case study that is inside.

#3 Each thumbnail should tell its own a mini-story.

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