Highlight your 20%
A common approach new(er) designers follow in the design of their portfolio case studies is to follow the same recipe that they were taught in school:
“Don’t just show your output, show your process”
Many designers would go on to include a picture of their wall of post-it’s, an image of picture-perfect persona they created, examples of hand-sketchy wireframes, and the final comps in each of their case studies.
If this sounds familiar, it is because that’s what most designers do. This is that 80% in most everyone’s portfolio case studies.
It’s not wrong. It’s just not all that interesting.
The interesting stuff is the other 20%, but I often find it missing in many portfolios. If your portfolio is not working for you, you might be missing some of these ingredients. Ask yourself:
Are you doing anything to differentiate your work from those of others?
Is it clear to your audience what values you bring to the table?
Does your portfolio get someone excited about reaching out to you?
Did your incredible personality come through in your writing that makes them feel like you’d be a good team fit?
Have you demonstrated the exceptional professionalism that you brought to a project to help the team cross the finish line?
When recruiters and hiring managers see your portfolio in a sea of hundreds, its job is to help them spot you, but more importantly, have them lose sleep over you. To do that, you want to design your portfolio to highlight that other 20% — the 20% that makes you who you are and what makes you unique. In other words
You want your portfolio to be “Von Restorff’ed”.
A portfolio is not just a collection of your projects. It’s your marketing department. It’s your sales department. It’s your personal agent. Feed it good materials and it will reward you.
For more articles like this from me, check out /stevenmadesigns.
