These beliefs held me back with getting a design job…

“What makes you think you’re going to get the job when so many great designers are applying for the same job?”

“You only have 1 case study. No company will take you seriously, so there’s no point bothering until you create more projects”.

“Your projects are really boring; companies won’t be impressed with them.”

“Your website is so basic. You don’t have any animations, and the design isn’t great”

These comments sound really harsh when typing them here. But these are what I told myself when looking for a mid-level job 😕

These comments, often based on my false beliefs about my job search, really held me back when looking for a job.

👉🏽 I hesitated when applying for jobs that looked great.

👉🏽 It took me a lot longer to get my portfolio complete.

👉🏽 I didn’t feel confident when I was invited to interviews as I thought they would see they made a mistake inviting me after speaking to me.

I was a hot mess 😅

But these comments I was telling myself were completely false. And holding me back for no reason.

I wish I had someone at the time to snap me out of it so I could get on with building my career.

So that’s what I’m going to do today in this post, and hopefully, you’ll leave feeling more hopeful with your job search.

Myth 1: You have to have lots of case studies

In the first few years of my career, I had 2 case studies in my portfolio. I was a junior/mid-weight designer, so I didn’t work on many cool projects worthy of a portfolio.

The goal of a portfolio is to showcase what you are capable of. You can achieve that in 1 or 2 projects (as long as they’re projects, you can showcase your entire design process). I would only consider adding more projects if you have gaps in your projects; for example, you haven’t demonstrated your research skills or your prototyping skills. It doesn’t make sense to include projects duplicating the same process and set of skills.

Focus on 1 or 2 projects and do these really well instead of doing an average job on 3+ projects.

It’s only when you’re applying for senior or lead roles that employers want to see examples of different problems you’ve solved in different contexts. This is where more projects become important.

Remember, hiring managers only have a short time; if you have multiple projects, they won’t have the opportunity to look through them all.

Myth 2: You have to have a beautiful custom-built website

Yes. If you’re applying for a web designer job. But you’re not. Building a website will not be a skill you will utilise on the job, so why spend so much time building a beautifully made website to showcase that skill?

Of course, your portfolio must look great, be accessible, and be easy to navigate. But you can do this using website builders such as Squarespace or Wix. There are also many portfolio-creating platforms, such as Framer.

Instead of spending days building a website, use that time to optimise the content in your case study. This is why I use Notion; I don’t want to spend any time on layout, positioning, text styles, branding, etc. I get a better return using that time to work on the case study content.

Myth 3: Your visuals and images should be glossy and beautiful

Our design process is not glossy and beautiful. The sketches I create when trying to solve a complex problem aren’t designed to be seen by others. But I add them to my case study! Because they show my real process. They show my real thinking.

Too often, I see designers adding beautiful sketches and perfected wireframes. These tell the hiring manager you spent hours creating a wireframe. That is costly for them as it isn’t a good use of time. That’s not the message you want to get across.

Add the messy sketches you wouldn’t want to show in a meeting. Add your messy FigJam boards with all your initial research and thinking. This is a great insight into your mind. My rule is never to recreate anything to add to my portfolio. I take a picture as it is and add it straight in!

Of course, you want to implement a more finished approach for your final design. But not for your design explorations.

Myth 4: Your final design needs to be completely innovative and solve a huge problem

A lot of designers think their project needs to be an amazing, new experience that is completely innovative.

It doesn’t need to be.

It is rare for designers to have huge projects that allow them to reinvent the wheel or redesign an entire app! The problems we actually solve for businesses are often smaller and less glamorous, especially earlier in our careers. One of the first projects in my case study was adding payment card details to the user’s profile.

The final design often doesn’t matter - what is more important is how you got to that final design and why you made your design decisions. Ultimately, we must communicate our process of getting from the problem to the solution. Regardless of what the problem or the solution was. Your problems and solutions will differ for the company you will work for.

Myth 5: Portfolios have to take weeks to create

My portfolio used to take me weeks! I would procrastinate for the first few weeks as the thought of working on it would put me off starting. I would then begin creating it with little direction or structure that seemed never-ending. To top it off, the perfectionist in me meant it was never complete, as it was never good enough 😩.

Case studies take so long because we don’t have a clear guide on what to include and how to include it. This leads to overthinking everything. With clear guidance and action steps, creating a case study won’t feel like such a huge daunting task. You’ll know exactly what must be done and how to do it. It will be a matter of putting a few hours aside to get it done.

This is why I implemented multiple activities throughout the Case Study Craft Program (click on the Nav bar to take a look). I want it to be as easy as possible to complete the tasks and activities using the templates and frameworks I apply, guiding you on exactly what needs to be done.

I hope today’s series helped break some of your limiting beliefs when it comes to creating your portfolio that are holding you back!