THE DESIGN PORTFOLIO

The concept of a design portfolio dates back to when designers were called “graphic designers”, and their artefacts had a longer life span. Nowadays, designers involved in delivering digital experiences know that their work will last in the blink of an eye.

My approach to not creating and curating a design portfolio started many years ago. I decided to avoid this task because it offers a low return on investment.

In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on why design portfolios aren’t that helpful in showing recruiters and managers how real design talent can unlock business value.

Intro

Once upon a time, designers were labelled as “graphic/web designers”. These folks created physical artefacts with a relatively longer life span. Their work could be showcased in analogue portfolios to help hiring teams form a decision and hire them. Fast-forward to today, where digital experiences dominate the landscape, and it’s clear that the nature of design has shifted dramatically.

In this post, I’ll share my thoughts on why design portfolios are irrelevant nowadays in showing recruiters and managers how talents can deliver a design that unlocks business value.

I remember being proud of my brownish cardboard folder, packed with high-quality A4 sheets showcasing my sweet-and-tear design deliverables. I was facing job interviews with tuning and printing design outputs overnight. As soon as I went through the interview, I realized that all that investment was outdated for many reasons. Hence, my decision to stop creating and curating a design portfolio started many years ago. It wasn’t a snap decision. I observed the industry’s changing dynamics and found that the effort required to maintain a portfolio often yielded a low return.  

What Is a Design Portfolio?

According to the University of Arts of London, a graphic design portfolio represents all the designer has accomplished and illustrates what she/he is trying to achieve.

Not every project in your folio needs to be polished and fully resolved, your process and your creative journey is as important as the final outcome. Your portfolio should visually communicate; your skills, your process, your personality and your potential

― Rachel Kirk Univerity of arts of London, How to create a graphic design portfolio

The traditional design portfolio concept has significantly changed in the digital design world. Today’s designers’ task is to ideate and craft fast-paced website interfaces, mobile apps, etc.

The current design scene shows how the lifespan of digital experiences is short and hectic. Indeed, most will last in the blink of an eye.

The combo of digital business needs and technological progress dictates the design solutions’ short life span. In addition, users adapt to the technology mutations and change their behaviours. These three factors demand that design promptly adapts to new business and user needs.

A static deliverable like the design portfolio doesn’t meet the needs of designers who must always be ready to showcase their product design process to grab a good job opportunity.

Why Design Portfolios Fall Short

1. Static Representation of Dynamic Work – Portfolios are static, while design artefacts are dynamic. Recruiters can’t understand how a designer adapts, evolves, and tackles problems over time just by looking at a curated selection of projects. In addition, do recruiters and hiring teams expect candidates to showcase epic fails? Is it relevant for the hiring teams to figure out how talents try, learn and fail?

2. Limited Insight into Problem-Solving Skills – A portfolio highlights well-finished products. It doesn’t provide a self-explanatory view of the designer’s thought process and problem-solving skills. In addition, the designer portfolio can’t explain how the talent contributions generated business value. Employers are interested in the designer’s capability to unlock business value, not just their work’s aesthetic and functional appeal.

3. The Role of Collaboration – Modern design thrives on collaboration, validation and iterations. A design portfolio can’t describe the cross-functional effort of delivering digital experiences. I suppose that hiring teams must understand how talents interact with teams, stakeholders, and users throughout the design process.

4. Evolving Tools and Platforms – Today’s digital landscape is ever-evolving. Designers must be adaptable and up-to-date with design trends, tools, and technologies. A portfolio that isn’t frequently updated can quickly become irrelevant. If a talent is busy unlocking business value for its current employer, he will never have time to update the design portfolio!

What creates value  

Companies must understand that they must exchange useless design portfolio requests with a simple question. What can the talent’s expertise bring to the table? For instance, submitting a task to highlight the candidate’s hard and soft skills and enable a valuable conversation between the candidate and the hiring team.

In a nutshell, a well-briefed designed task enables the candidate to get familiar with the company’s design maturity and adequately prepare a narrative tailored to the business needs.

In addition, hiring teams can evaluate all four points listed above and provide a better understanding of what the talent is capable of and what the “not yet” areas are.