Weâre currently on the hunt for our first full-time designer at Astro HQ. After combing through hundreds of applicants, Iâve noticed a few mistakes that designers make over and over again when they submit their work. Leaving a solid first impression is everything when it comes to making it to the interview round. Here are a few tips to polish your portfolio and stand out as a designer:
1. Make sure your portfolio is easy to access
Itâs surprising how many portfolio links Iâve clicked that have lead me to a âhost not foundâ error. Double check that your site is up and it isnât password protected. And if I have to contact you first to get a portfolio link, chances are youâll get skipped over instead. It might sound like a minor inconvenience, but when youâre one of 500 applications, I donât have time to hunt down your portfolio.
2. Break up your work by category
I love it when a candidateâs work is broken up into categories, such as â mobile, web, illustrations, branding, etc. It makes it much easier for me to hone in on the skills Iâm looking for. For example, at Astro HQ we care a lot about mobile UI/UX design, but branding skills arenât as high of a priority. So itâs great if I donât have to wade through dozens of branding pieces to find the mobile UI/UX work youâve done.
3. Highlight what youâre most proud of
Many portfolios I check out are HUGE, and it can be overwhelming. Instead, choose some of your favorites in each category and make those the first pieces of work I see. That puts your best foot forward and doesnât require me to find the gems among dozens or even hundreds of portfolio pieces.
4. Show less process, more design
Many portfolios bury the final design under pages of research, user interviews, and wireframes. While itâs nice to see some of the design processes, letâs be honest â Iâm mostly interested in the final result. When working with a visual designer, what counts is the effectiveness and appearance of the final design. Understanding your process is something that Iâd rather learn more about during an interview with you. At a minimum, put your final design at the beginning so I can choose whether or not I want to delve into your process.
5. Use high-quality assets
Itâs tough to judge a portfolio piece when itâs highly compressed and pixelated. It also doesnât reflect well on a designerâs attention to detail. Itâs hard to tell â is that part of the design or is it a JPEG artifact? Please save your image assets as high-quality JPEGs or PNGs. Better yet, make it so that I can click on it to get a super high-resolution copy for when I want to inspect a pixel-perfect mockup.
6. Get rid of the dated stuff
Your portfolio doesnât have to contain everything youâve ever worked on. Itâs best if itâs a highly curated selection of your favorite and recent work. Some portfolios Iâve encountered have work dating back to the early 2000s with heavy shadows, gradients and skeuomorphic elements that look really dated today. It leaves the impression that you havenât done much recent work and Iâll wonder if youâre keeping up with design trends. Donât get me wrong, the best designers know when to break from the trend â but that also requires working within whatâs current.
7. Include a stretch piece
The problem with design trends is after looking at hundreds of portfolios, they all start to look the same. I see the same bright colors, with the same translucency and gradients over and over again. That shows me you can produce (or copy) designs that look modern and trendy, but it doesnât show me your range. I want to see your creativity come through. After all, designers are called creative professionals for a reason! Show me something wild and crazy, and that youâre capable of innovative design that could be the next trend.
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