How to make a design portfolio for a job interview?
Structure your portfolio to remove cognitive friction.
Present each design in the case study format.
Design for the job that you want, not the job that you did.
Be vocal and confident about your impact and results.
Use mocked-up data. Do not use real data including company logos, actual screenshots or numbers.
Creatives are expected to have a portfolio of their work. But, how can you best structure it and write it to catch the attention of the recruiter and the hiring manager?
Behavioural scientists have proven that people do not make logical, rational decisions all the time. In fact, much of the decision-making is done subconsciously based on feelings and emotions. People fall back on hardwired, automatic shortcuts called heuristics when they are uncertain and need to make a decision.
You can trigger these shortcuts to evoke emotions that will persuade people to decide in your favour.
In short, you can persuade others through your content by leveraging behavioral science principles.
I recently worked with a client who was ready for her next senior-level design jobs. She is a UI/UX designer with an area of specialisation in designing analytical tools and data products.
Her goal for her portfolio was to demonstrate her experience and expertise over the years and position her for the next level.
How do you present your design portfolio to a prospective employer?
Reduce cognitive overload when reading the portfolio.
Accessible and easy to understand even by those who are not UI/UX designers.
Use power words to describe her contribution and results on the projects. You can read more about power words here.
Demonstrate her career growth over the years.
Convery her problem-solving skills through real-life examples that she had worked on.
I combined my previous experience of working on resumes, and LinkedIn profiles with her portfolio design to come up with a basic framework. This framework can be used by you to design your own portfolio.
How to design your portfolio?
Structure your portfolio to remove cognitive friction.
A professional introduction slide with your LinkedIn profile URL (hyperlinked).
Ensure that the LinkedIn profile link is personalized to you and does not have alpha numeric characters. Here’s how you do it.
A summary slide that lists what your portfolio will demonstrate in the next few pages - name the design problems and the solutions that you came up with.
If possible, mention your role for each project. Eg: Re-designing the C-suite dashboard for the company’s sales data. As senior UI/UX designer, 2021
2. Present each design in the case study format.
You will be hired because you solve design problems. You make visuals simple to read, intuitive and easy to navigate. Therefore, demonstrate that you are a problem solver when it comes to delivering user-centric designs.
Structure your case study examples to answer the following:
What was the problem?
What was your design idea and process?
What worked and what did not work?
What was challenging about the project?
What was the end solution?
How did the end-user benefit from your design solution?
Conserve mental effort by showing the brain what it wants to see.
Use call-outs in bright colours different from the portfolio theme colours to highlight your contribution.
Point out what did you add, modify, omit or re-design.
Present the “before” and “after” of the design on the same page to allow for easy comparison.
Do not put the before and after on two different slides. The brain has to put more mental effort to remember the two images and then, compare both. Most people would tune out when presented with such an activity. So, get their attention by showing what needs to be seen.
3. Design for the job that you want, not the job that you did.
Pick the best and strongest work in your area of specialisation.
Be prepared to talk about failed and unsuccessful design projects during the interview. It is ok to fail at things but it is important to learn from those failures. So, when talking about the unsuccessful design projects, make sure you share your analysis of the problem and what could have been done better.
The ability to own up to mistakes shows maturity and growing mindset.
4. Be vocal and confident about your impact and results.
Use power words such as increase, superior, reduced, delight, incredible, recognized, tested etc. to describe the problem, solution, results and your impact.
Use numbers for results and impact to enable easier cognitive processing and understanding. Eg: Reduced the number of options from 8 to 4 in the drop-down menu.
5. What should you not include in your design portfolio?
Please use mock-up data and not the actual data.
Do not use actual company logos or names. All companies tend to sign a non-disclosure agreement with employees and you run the risk of violating it if you disclose any company-specific information outside.
Do you need help with your portfolio?
If you are willing, I can take a look and help you design a human-centric, easy-to-understand portfolio.