3 ways to tell better stories in your portfolio

Your work is only as good as the story you can tell about it.

And there certainly isn't a rule saying you have to use the same portfolio template as everyone else. If anything... people are pretty tired of it.

If you want to stand out you'll need to break the norms.

So here are three tactics you can use to tell better stories??

?? 3 ways to tell stories like a content creator

1 — Create a curiosity gap

Most portfolios I see introduce projects with generic text like this...

Yawn ??

Instead, imagine you're posting this portfolio project on Twitter...

What would you write to get people excited to click on your tweet?

I bet you'd have a heck of a lot more success with something like this ??

Notice how the title creates a curiosity gap that makes the reader want to learn more ??

So give your projects a hook, not a label.

2 — Tell bite-sized stories

There's a reason Reels and Shorts are taking off... (hint: it's the same reason people don't want to read your 12 min case study).

So what if you broke your projects into smaller, bite-sized stories?

This has a few benefits:

• Unlocks a unique format Telling the complete story of a project in one post forces you to stay high level and you risk slipping into cookie-cutter land. Smaller stories are more engaging b/c they allow for greater specificity.
• Creates more entry points When hiring managers land on your page they are immediately hunting for something interesting as a next step. More project stories means more shots on goal.
• Makes your body of work more impressive This is the same tactic that Marco used when he didn't have a ton of work to show. I'd say it was a success because he landed the job as the founding designer at Diagram and broke design Twitter.

3 — Format like a recipe video

"The first thing I notice in portfolios tends to be visual design and attention to detail" - Noah Levin (VP of product design @ Figma)

And yet too many portfolio pieces bury the lead...

The secret is to think of your portfolio project as a recipe video.

The best creators don't start their video by pouring flour into a bowl or by showing a wad of dough on a table...

They suck you in immediately with a gorgeous shot of the finished dish (hint: your end UI/prototype) ??

Only THEN do they show their process.

The easiest way to tell a boring story is to tell it linearly. That's how you end up leading with a wall of sticky notes like everyone else ??

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