That moment I realized my portfolio was just a boring list of logos

I spent 3 years showing off client names like Nike and Target but never explained what I actually did for them. A senior designer at a Portland meetup asked me 'so what was your role exactly' and I had nothing. Has anyone else gone back and rewritten their whole portfolio after a reality check like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

blair_taylor3226d ago

This hit me like a ton of bricks about a year ago when a startup founder looked at my Behance and just said "cool, but what did you actually do?" I had this whole section bragging about designing for Starbucks but it turned out I just resized their social media templates for a third party vendor. I literally went home and deleted half my work and started over with detailed case studies instead of pretending I was best friends with every brand manager.

violar3526d ago

Actually that Nike logo thing is a bit tricky - you probably weren't working directly with Nike the brand, more like a vendor or agency that had them as a client. Just make sure you're being real about the connection when you rewrite things.

vera_johnson926d ago

Three times in the last month I've seen people online say they "worked with big brands" when it was really just a small contract through a third party. It's a small stretch, but those little exaggerations add up fast and make people question everything else you say. Better to just be plain about the actual connection and let the work speak for itself.

emma_flores26d ago

Oh man, totally get this. My friend spent weeks rewriting his portfolio after a creative director flat out asked him "but what did YOU actually do on that project?" right at a review. He had zero answer. Changed everything.