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How to make your portfolio stand out
As the spectrum of design skills grows — from only visual design 20 years ago to data analysis and user research now — so do the design portfolios and the case studies needed to showcase these skills.
Thousands of near-identical portfolios with near-identical case studies arise. Bootcamps emerge to teach more designers how to stand out less.
This is bad for candidates as it’s almost impossible to stand out with your unique skills; this is bad for employers as it’s impossible to distinguish between candidates anymore. Hours are wasted creating and reviewing portfolios that don’t really help answer whether a candidate has a specific skill.
To make it worse, we start to forget why these artifacts exist and treat them as an end goal: hiring managers think they have to ask for it, candidates believe they have to show it.
To break free from this cycle, we need to look at the current content of a typical case study and come up with a better way to present skills and expertise that were involved in the project.
Typical case study
Here’s a typical case study and how to make it show who you are and your unique skills.
1. My process
What does it show? Either everything is very well structured and organized in your life or… you read a lot of books and know how the design process “should” look on paper.
What it’s supposed to show? How did you plan your work in your unique context; how did you overcome different obstacles on the way to learn about users and fulfill their needs and business mission.
How to make it better? Either skip it altogether or tell your own story.
2. Picture of post its on a window
What does it show? Hm, you have window and post its?
What it’s supposed to show? Ability to ideate and consider the broad spectrum of ideas before jumping into a specific solution. Your ability to involve team and stakeholders in your process.
