Portfolio Round: Present your PORTFOLIO WORK like a Pro!

[@ikennagibson3933]

Chethan! I knew you will drop a bombshell. This is so good, explaining your design decisions that tells a story is just a deal breaker for any hiring manager. I want to ask a question, so there has been so many controversies regarding how too many case studies look the same this days, most especially the conventional way of presenting them ex: Overview, problem, solution etc. my question is do recruiters have a problem with this format of presenting a case study or they are have a problem with designers not leveraging the art of story telling or both? cos right now I am working on a case study that presents itself in this conventional way but the difference is I tried as much as possible to tell a story. Also is it fine if I decide not to share a prototype of a product on NDA but rather share a few screen shots with explanation on how that very screen works?

[@DesignPilot]

The only thing that matters is that, it needs to make complete sense even if it looks like a template. But in my experience if you know what you’re doing, it will never look like a template. Coming to your 2nd question, yes it’s fine.

[@ikennagibson3933]

@@DesignPilot Thanks chethan🙌🏻

[@srayangoswami6174]

This is the best impactful video on portfolio presentation I have ever come across. The perfect demonstration of crisp storytelling. Thank you Chethan. This is a career booster.

[@divyanshpandey9140]

Big fan of opacity shortcuts on keyboard, thanks to you!

[@coolaman2014]

This is pure gold Chethan :) Thank you for being very comprehensive and sharing tips on this, it is very useful for designers across all levels.

[@daisy-lw4tf]

Wow!! Awesome one. The real example really helped to understand better. Thankyou so much!!

[@prathameshagrawal9879]

Loved it. Due to watching each and every episode, I also fell in love with Satoshi Variable Font 😄

[@ikennagibson3933]

Can’t wait for this one chethan, cos I am currently working on my portfolio and it’s quite challenging

[@alkesh482]

nicely put simple and minimalistic

[@djashawe88923]

Thanks for the great content. As case studies heavily involve data-driven design, designers entering the field often face a challenge when working on fictional case studies - they lack real users for conducting user research, testing, and measuring success metrics. Any advice on how you navigated this challenge when you were starting out would be greatly appreciated. 🤓👍

[@DesignPilot]

It’s quite the opposite. The industry doesn’t expect too much data and research from freshers. They expect to have basic knowledge about it, top notch visuals design skills and expect to see sensible user flows and solutions to the problem

[@djashawe88923]

@@DesignPilot Thank you sooooo much for your prompt and thorough answers. I've been watching your video one by one.

[@Ghanesh1986]

Just a curious thought... along with sharing portfolio links (PDFs / Figma etc) what is your thought on sharing case study videos with the companies one is applying to? How would that be perceived and considered by companies or hiring managers?

[@DesignPilot]

So here is my personal opinion as this is a new trend I’ve seen a lot of freshers do. I believe it’s ineffective for product designers to make these videos since recruiters are looking for very specific things in a case study. It’s so easy to find what they’re looking for in a written case study. They probably need 1 or 2 minutes to make a judgement. But it becomes hard when they have to scrub through a video to find things. You can make a short video, but I don’t think you’re doing enough justice to your project.

[@Ghanesh1986]

@@DesignPilot Thanks! But what if videos have these section breakups that the viewer can jump to like yours with chapters they can skip too that will show both visual deck and explanation ? And with playback speed control it's easier to watch it in different speeds.

[@DesignPilot]

It’s not the best experience man. It’s unnecessary effort.

[@clearlyvips]

Hey Chethan, while presenting in an interview can we present our case study which is on notion (with major flows/screens embedded as slides) or do we have to make a slide deck/ppt? I feel that making a ppt feels templatized as we have to cut down many things where in a case study we can just skip through non important parts while walking through. What do you suggest?

[@DesignPilot]

Think about this. What’s easier for the listener to consume? Bullet points and your verbal explanation or big blocks of text? People can read you case study anytime in detail. But they are testing your communication and story telling skills here. So you need to be talking a lot and not reading stuff from your case study.

[@clearlyvips]

@@DesignPilot got it, thanks a lot:)

[@Marina-ub3js]

Hello Chetan, may I know what is the difference between a presentation shown as per the video and the case studies shown on a website? Does one need to have both?

[@DesignPilot]

The presentation is basically what you present during interviews

[@abhishekgharia8808]

Need some guide about using notion Chetan bro

[@DesignPilot]

There are many tutorials online. You can check those out actually.

[@forhaduix]

Waiting b...

[@karimvenom6459]

how do you get a job Or build a portfolio when the only case studies that are acceptable are the one you solve during your work time not outside ?

[@DesignPilot]

That isn’t true. Any personal project is also considered

[@nrbhagwat1]

Hi Chetan, I have only hypothetical projects in my portfolio, will any interviewer or company consider this?

[@DesignPilot]

Yes

[@shivangisen9870]

goddddddd