How can you tailor your product design portfolio to showcase your strengths?

Knowing your audience is CRITICAL for almost every interaction we have in life. When considering your product design portfolio, think about the following: - What are your and your stakeholder goals? - How can your portfolio contribute to achieving those goals? - How do your choices highlight your superpower?

Focus on highlighting key strengths and achievements. Begin with a concise introduction, emphasizing your design philosophy and approach. Showcase a diverse range of projects that align with your expertise. Clearly articulate the problem-solving process, demonstrating how you address challenges and deliver innovative solutions. Use visuals and case studies to provide in-depth insights into your design thinking and its impact. Tailor project descriptions to emphasize relevant skills sought in the industry, showcasing versatility and adaptability. Incorporate user feedback or project outcomes that validate your design decisions. Lastly, maintain a clean and organized presentation, ensuring a seamless and engaging viewing.

Make sure to adjust your portfolio each and every time, tailoring it to the specifics of your audience. Walk a mile in their shoes and ask yourself what it is that matters most to them, what relevant information should you be highlighting?

Tell a story with the portfolio and show your viewer the problem solving approach used to solve the problem you're showcasing. Show the thought process and approach used in arriving at the solution. Also, show your collaboration with teams as cross functional collaboration is key to achieving proper outcomes. Lastly, seek feedback from colleagues since the feedback will help you improve this presentation.

Knowing your audience is critical. Not just the organisation but also the roles and profiles and what they are going to do with the final product or outcome. Tailor as per them

In the design world, sometimes fewer is really better. Outstanding designer portfolios stand out from the ordinary when they follow one design ethos and language - consistently executed across mediums and projects. Take Banksy's work for example. He has retained his identity of sending political and socially relevant messages through his works - placed at strategic locations around (mostly) Europe and usually built around existing public utilities and installations.

A portfolio should showcase a variety of projects, because having experience and knowledge in different fields is a big plus. It means you can apply divergent thinking as well as evaluate different options and resources and choose the best course of action. A portfolio which shows only one field, in depth, will not help if the goal is that of expanding horizons and embracing new challenges. The projects showcased in the portfolio should also highlight in quantitative ways how the product changed for the better. Statements such as "I improved customer retention" are too vague. How much did the retention rate improve? What caused it? Using a STAR approach to tell the stories can help better formulating your project wins.

The best advise that I have received and I would bestow upon all, is that knowing the needs of the stakeholders. I am aure you have done amazing things, but selecting the right projects actually shows that you are socially focused on stakeholders needs. Product managers are problem solvers, not a salesman. So, choose projects based on your clients needs, not what you do best. This will build trust and you will have saved time by not getting involved in unnecessary projects.

Ensure your portfolio is easy to navigate, interactive, and responsive. This not only showcases your design skills but also makes it easier for viewers to access and understand your work.

Here I wish to share one case where customer feedback helps us to design a product which exactly suits to consumer requirements. Hot and cold water purifiers under AO Smith brand umbrella. Today it is doing so good as it matches the expectations of the end users. Today I come across many enquiries from different brands to help them to develop similar or better product for them.

One thing I have found helpful (in 25 years of building digital products) is to create a narrative and story around the why and how. What problems are we trying to solve and how do we make people's lives better? Try and put the team in people's shoes, be that by speaking to users or trying the current services. Bring the experience home and walk a mile i their shoes

Reflecting on my experience as a Branch Director at BBVA, storytelling was integral to conveying our achievements. Similarly, when tailoring your product design portfolio, infuse narratives into each project. At BBVA, I revamped our customer service approach, and in my portfolio, I crafted a story around the transformation. By detailing the challenges, solutions, and outcomes, I not only showcased design proficiency but also provided context to my decision-making. So, let your portfolio be a storytelling canvas, allowing your audience to not just see your designs but understand the journey behind them. How have you incorporated storytelling into your design portfolio? Let's share insights! #ProductDesign #PortfolioNarrative #DesignJourney

Highlight those particular skills that are important to your audience. While having a decade of experience in banking may be relevant for a potential client in FinTech, that may be irrelevant for one in EdTech, just as an example. I still want you to please think of how your finance-related skills can map to the needs of an EdTech environment. Transferrable skills.

To start, communicate your personal brand to entice clients to want to work with you. Show off your design sensibility. The site’s look and feel should reflect something unique about you. Companies also tend to assess cultural fit for their teams. Open with a brief intro, what you do, where your passion lies, and a short blurb about your experience. A profile photo is not a requirement, but it helps establish a personal connection

By carefully choosing projects, undertaking engaging introduction, and logical organizing the elements, drafting a narrative showcasing diverse skills and problem-solving prowess. The portfolio needs to become a visual illustration, enriched by client testimonials, defining roles, and an ongoing commitment to evolution. It is important to transform the portfolio into a compelling story, inviting the audience to explore the creative landscape of a talented designer's evolution over time.

The definition of a portfolio should take into account the competitive advantages and strengths of the brand. In all my choices, both in B2B and B2C experiences, I have always started from this premise, considering the strengths and weaknesses of the brand, and seeking clear differentials in line with the brand's values.

Maybe you should have another section in the doc talking about the tools that designers and PM's can use to showcase their capabilities. GitHub.io Behance Wix Etc...

To establish a personal connection with a person going through your portfolio you can consider the following: 1. The Personal Touch: - Share a concise anecdote or personal experience that shaped your approach to design. 2. Storytelling / Journey: - Present your projects as stories, highlighting challenges, solutions, and personal growth. - Showcase not only your skills, but also your journey and evolution in your product experience. 3. Showcase Yourself: - Identify recurring design elements that represent your style. - Show how these elements are integrated in different projects. Especially projects that include special interests or passions of yourself.

This is one of the most difficult things to do in writing, but it is indeed essential. Again, walk a mile in their shoes. Wouldn't you cherish the opportunity to get to know a bit more about the person across the keyboard, to get a glimpse of their personality traits, maybe get a hint as to whether you could potentially find common interest, picture an image of how it would be like to collaborate closely and build trust?

Search for the PAIN/PROBLEM for each audience niche. Speak in their language. How do you learn what language to use? Ask them what their biggest problem is and what it would mean they could do/avoid personally and professionally if they could fix it.

In my experience, it is important to showcase: TESTIMONIALS Collect testimonials from clients in text format or video. Nowadays, video is the best way to present them, as it effectively captures overall body language and provides insights into the projects and deliverables. This approach will have a higher impact.

I've found that incorporating feedback into my portfolio has been instrumental in its evolution. When I adjusted the layout based on suggestions from a senior designer, it not only improved usability but also demonstrated my responsiveness to constructive criticism, a key trait in the field.

You have to consider the platform where you can showcase your products. There are different avenues for these like github, hackster, tindie or even launch a crowdfunding project. All these platforms are good to promote and showcase your products.

Share a 1 page sample of some work but share the rest behind a password firewall so that you can track who has actually seen the portfolio. Adding a password protection layer also helps create a slight exclusivity and differentiates you from those endless portfolios that looked similar once upon a time across Behance and Dribbble.

Showcase the best work, not all the work. Be selective about what to show and why—people have limited attention spans. Consider showing some of the ideas that didn’t work and why. What directions have you explored but did not take? Along with design artifacts, tell a story and outline how you tackled the challenge.

Showcase cannot just be just you telling the story about your work, it will be more convincing how other people comment about your work! One good approach is to obtain and publish testimonials or statements from stakeholders of how does your work make impact to them, and what value your work brings!