3 months ago a senior designer told me my portfolio was too safe

Last week I finally went back and looked at what she actually meant. I had all these polished projects but none showed a single failure or rough draft. She said flat out that hiring managers want to see how you think through problems not just the final pretty picture. So I spent last Saturday digging through old files from 2021 when I completely botched a brand identity for a local bakery. I put the ugly early versions next to the final result and explained what went wrong each step. Got a second round interview yesterday with a studio in Portland. Has anyone else had luck showing the messy behind the scenes stuff instead of just the finished work?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubyk2619d ago

But isn't showing your mistakes exactly how you prove you learned something? If I see a portfolio with nothing but perfect work I assume they're either lying or never took a real risk. I keep my worst early concepts in my book on purpose. Lets me show exactly where my brain went wrong and how I fixed it. That bakery story sounds like a strength not a weakness if you frame it right.

miles_burns19d ago

I kept my rough early versions in my book too and it landed me two jobs out of three.

taylor.reese19d ago

Hard disagree that showing ugly early work is automatically a winning move. Some hiring managers just want to see clean final results and don't care about your thought process. Had an interview last year where I showed rough sketches and the guy literally asked why I couldn't just get it right the first time. That bakery story could backfire if they think you're incompetent. Really depends on the place and the person looking at your stuff.