How to give a great portfolio presentation in an interview
Issue 4: Consolidating 7-years of observations as a hiring manager. Use these tips to avoid common mistakes and stand out as a product designer in a portfolio interview round.
Every designer knows the anxious anticipation of presenting their portfolio. The pressure to demonstrate competence and leave a lasting impression can be daunting, especially when packed into an hour-long meeting with strangers. However, you can ensure you nail it every time with the right approach. Here’s how:
Concisely narrate your journey
Share context about who you are, the companies you’ve worked for, and what kinds of problems you like to solve.
A portfolio presentation should feel like telling a story: introduce the character (you), set the scene (the organization, problem space, your team), and the conflict (the problems you worked on).
Begin with a snapshot of who you are, your background, design principles, and your unique strengths, such as thriving in building products from scratch or conducting impactful research on a tight budget. Discuss your accomplishments and side projects, and align your previous initiatives with your prospective company’s values and interests.
Ground your audience
Diving deep into your work requires setting the stage. Within 3-5 minutes, acquaint your listeners with:
Your past company’s customer base and revenue model.
How success was measured.
Your specific role within the organization.
Strategically select your projects
Based on the job description, decide which projects to showcase. An early-stage startup hiring its first designer would prioritize different skills compared to a well-established organization with a mature design team.
Choose projects that demonstrate the following:
Product thinking
Interaction design
Visual design
Intentionality
Growth mindset
Self-awareness
Remember, showcasing all skills in a single project might be challenging. Consider diversifying your presentation with a couple of projects that highlight different strengths.
Explain how you identify problems
Too many designers jump head-first into the problem (“Our onboarding process was lacking, so we…”). Paint a picture of the problems you encountered and help your interviewers understand the why.
Things to consider:
How did you identify a problem’s true essence?
What data, customer feedback, or signals did you use to identify problems?
How did you prioritize problems?
How did you set measurable goals to validate if you’ve successfully solved the problem?
How did you define constraints and trade-offs
Every project comes with constraints, which can both challenge and inspire. Share stories of navigating these challenges, limited resources, or internal bureaucracy (“We had only 2 engineers and 2 weeks, or we were building a new platform with no existing data...")
Detail your critical thinking process, how you pushed boundaries, and how you balanced innovation with customer-centric decisions.
Interviewers want to know:
How do you think critically about risks, dependencies, or side effects?
How do you overcome constraints customers won’t care about (e.g., regulation, development philosophy, bureaucracy)?
How do you navigate technological and organizational roadblocks?
Remember, the protagonist in every great story faces difficult obstacles and must sacrifice, be creative, or redefine themselves to win.
How you work collaboratively with a team
Design is undeniably a team effort. Elaborate on how you collaborated with other stakeholders, the synergy between research, data, and engineering teams, and the balance between adhering to existing design norms and on-the-fly innovation.
Share fresh insights
Captivate your audience by sharing unexpected learnings from your projects. Did a particular strategy produce unforeseen results? Or you gleaned unique insights about the industry, the business, user psychology, or the broader industry. This is the moment to let those gems shine.
Show how your work evolved over time
Demonstrate your adaptability by shedding light on your design process, from initial ideas to the final product. Detail the iterations, the influence of feedback, and even discuss concepts that didn’t make the cut.
Conclude this section by showing the live final product when possible. For scenarios when this isn’t possible due to confidential data, suitable substitutes can be high-fidelity prototypes or screen recordings of a feature using realistic data.
Quantify your success
Did your solution achieve its intended goal? Offer qualitative and quantitative outcomes backed by relevant charts, metrics, or customer testimonials. Don’t shy away from discussing failures as learning opportunities or highlighting non-obvious wins like mentoring junior designers or gaining recognition in the industry.
Bonus: Identify non-obvious outcomes like:
Developed new components that improved the organization’s upstream design system.
Open-sourced some novel tool or technology.
Mentored a younger designer throughout the project.
Received external recognition from the press or influential customers.
Published a blog post so that other designers could learn from your experience.
Engaging your audience
Throughout your presentation, foster interaction. Use live demos, encourage questions, and maintain a two-way dialogue. Delineate your specific contributions and emphasize the importance of teamwork in design.
End on a high note
End your presentation by discussing your personal growth and what differentiates you from others in the field. Open the floor for feedback and discussions, or invite collaboration. Leave your audience intrigued and inspired.
Additional tips for a winning presentation
Ensure your presentation looks polished with consistent visuals. Let your inner designer shine.
Incorporate multimedia elements like GIFs, prototypes, and animations.
Like a standup comedy routine or a speech, rehearse multiple times and seek feedback to refine your delivery.
With these guidelines and adding your unique flair, you’re well on your way to delivering an unforgettable design portfolio presentation.
I’ll be publishing a subscriber-only edition with the portfolio presentation that got me hired at Shopify, so subscribe below 👇