9 Tips to Make Your Design Portfolio Stand Out
A while back I posted about designers playing it too safe with their portfolios, and I got a fair few messages afterwards asking what to actually do about it. So here’s the longer version.
It’s a mix of what I see on my own desk day to day, and the feedback clients pass back to me once they’ve had a proper look through someone’s book. Some of it is about standing out, and some of it is just making life easy for the person on the other end.
Advice from someone who looks at design portfolios all day
- Have a personal / play section
Yes, design is your day job. But hopefully it’s also something you genuinely enjoy and have a passion for. You’re makers, and you like making things, so show it!
Self-initiated work is often where your true taste comes through, and sometimes it’s honestly your best work. No client, no brand guidelines, no committee signing it off. Just what you make when it’s completely up to you. I’d often rather see a weird passion project than a fourth polished brand refresh.
- Keep the mess
Hold on to your scamps, sketches, discarded concepts and the feedback that changed the direction of the work. It’s a visual record of your ideation and how a concept evolved, and it’s much more insightful (and impressive) than you think.
Even if it’s on a scrumpled-up bit of paper in the bin… unscrumple it, scan it, and put it in your book. It shows authenticity and real creativity, and it’s one of the few things AI and templates can’t fake.
- Show range, and break out of your comfort zone
This obviously depends on whether you’ve been exposed to a wide range of projects. But if you can show completely different styles and tones of work while keeping the quality high, that tells a client you’re versatile.
I often come across portfolios where it’s very clear all the work has come from the same designer. Same layouts, same colour palettes, same process they like and feel comfortable with. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can feel a bit like they’ve got the blinkers on. This is especially vital if you’re going for agency or studio roles, where you’ll be jumping between clients with very different personalities.
- Build bespoke folios for different niches
If you’ve worked across different channels or niches, build a separate portfolio for each. Perhaps you’re a branding designer who has also done packaging and activation/shopper marketing. You could have one folio that focuses on each.
A candidate recently sent me a retail-specific version of their book for a POS brief, and it made my job (and the client’s) so much easier. It gives you a head start when you’re reaching out to specialist agencies, and saves the reader digging through work that isn’t relevant to them.
- Write case studies (they don’t need to be essays)
It doesn’t have to be long and wordy. Just something that gives context and explains your rationale: what the problem was, what you did, why you did it, and what part you personally owned.
I think this is particularly important for big branding projects, where a piece of work has undergone thorough strategic thinking to transform a brand, or for multi-layered integrated campaigns. I find product and UX/UI designers are particularly good at this, maybe because they’re more technical and methodically minded. It’s something creative designers can sometimes neglect.
- Craft gets you noticed, ideas get you hired
This links to the point above. I recently had a client pass on a seriously strong Senior Designer / Art Director. They loved the execution, but felt the folio leaned too heavily on craft and didn’t show enough creative ideation.
At a senior level, beautiful execution is a given. What separates people is showing where the idea came from. So if a campaign started with your thought, make that really obvious.
- Show the results, especially for performance and social
At the moment, performance and social is king. It’s where clients are spending their money, and it’s honestly becoming an invaluable string to your bow. A few of the in-house briefs I’m working on right now list always-on paid content as one of the biggest parts of the role.
So if you’ve designed for social or performance, what results did it garner? Did engagement go up, did conversion improve, did one variant smash the others? I know it seems a bit sad, because I’m a big fan of design for design’s sake (because it looks nice!). But how your work performs is important in this day and age.
- Have a hero project ready to talk through
More and more clients want you to walk them through a key project or two that relates to the work they do. Sometimes that’s in a first chat, sometimes it’s a full presentation.
Have one piece ready that you know inside out: the insight, the idea, the execution, the results. Practise talking about it out loud, because that’s a very different skill to having it look good on a screen.
- Make it easy to say yes to
Less glamorous, but it matters. Have your folio ready to go, because sometimes I get a brief at 3pm for someone starting tomorrow. A 24 hour delay can mean someone else swoops in and lands it first.
Send a link rather than a huge attachment. If it’s password protected, pop the password in the email. And check it actually works on a phone, because plenty of hiring managers have their first look on the train home.
Quick questions to ask yourself
- Have you checked your links? Broken links, either within the folio, or broken links to the entire folio altogether can immediately count you out of the race.
- Does it open without permission requests? Google Drive, DropBox, password protected sites – check it all.
- Is your file a manageable size? Too big, and it might be too hard to download, or bounce off servers altogether.
- Have you viewed it on multiple devices? How does it look on mobile and on desktop?
- Have you included work that aligns with who you’re pitching to? Chasing food and drink roles? Include work like this. Chasing events roles? Include work like this. Chasing charity work? Include work like this.
- What’s the date of your latest project? Include what you think is relevant, just make sure if you have some older work, that you also include some new stuff too.
- Do you have permission to share everything you’ve included? NDAs, confidential work – just make sure you’re allowed to share everything.
- Have you proofread it? Typos happen, but they can undo a great project.
- Is your email and phone number clear and obvious? It’s a simple one, but you’d be surprised how many people forget to include it.
Get in touch directly with Luke at luke@creativenatives.com.au or connect with him on LinkedIn to discuss your needs.