Designers, please don’t use Figma to showcase your portfolio
Sharing your portfolio with the hiring team for the first time? Know your audience
I love Figma. I’ve loved it since its inception, I’ve loved it with each update and I’ve loved (and love) talking about it. I do my utmost to champion Figma for those that only know Sketch. What I don’t love however, is the number of junior designers sharing non-annotated Figma links via email to showcase work. As Lead UX Designer, I’m not the only decision maker in my team, so what may appear quirky to me appears as friction for others.
I clearly love Figma, but I can confidently say that not everyone shares my enthusiasm. Regardless of how good some applicants are, there’s a risk of rejection because there’s been no audience consideration. I might possibly understand the rationale — but will a recruiter? A CTO? A lead business analyst or senior product owner?
There’s always a danger in making assumptions, especially as a designer. If you’re applying for a new role, and aren’t 100% sure on the recipient, don’t use Figma to present your portfolio. Use a traditional portfolio instead.
