Design Portfolios

Chapter 6Bring It All Together

Just four words: Story, Style, Substance, Sharing

My primary objective for authoring this book has been to help you understand—from the unique perspective of a design industry recruiter who is also a designer—what recruiters actually look for when they review a student design portfolio. I have long felt that there is a need for such a book because, every week, I receive job applications containing portfolios that are little more than random “collections” of student work. They may contain the candidate's academic credentials and past project experience, but beyond that, there's scant indication of what kind of future employee they might be and how they might perform as a professional. Have you ever wondered why recruiters ask interview questions like, “What are your greatest strengths?” or “Are you a team player?” They ask those questions because they want to know about more than just your academic credentials and project experience; they want to know something about you.

Honestly, it doesn't surprise me at all that we receive student portfolios like this. I too was once a design student struggling to create my first portfolio, with little awareness of what a recruiter might be looking for. As a student, I naively thought that finding my first professional job would be much like finding every other job I'd ever had: I'd submit my application, a recruiter would review my qualifications, and, assuming I was qualified, “check all the boxes.” With ...