Caught myself rolling my eyes at a 60-case portfolio review and now I feel stupid

At a meetup 3 months back, some senior designer said they still look at every single case study from start to finish even for junior portfolios. I figured it was just old school gatekeeping talk. Then I went home and actually did that for 5 portfolios I had skipped over. Found 2 candidates who had terrible thumbnails but SOLID project narratives in the details. Now I force myself to slow down and read the full case before judging. Anybody else ever catch themselves being too quick to dismiss a portfolio based on the first glance?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_richard4d ago

Oh man, the "I feel stupid" part hit me hard because I've definitely been there. I had this moment where I was speed-scrolling through a junior's portfolio and literally thought "this is just more cookie cutter work." Then I actually read the full case study and realized they had done some really clever UX research but the thumbnail was just a generic phone mockup with no context. Now I have this rule: I can't skip to the next portfolio until I've read at least two paragraphs of the first case. It's like forcing myself to eat my vegetables but sometimes you find a hidden gem. My problem now is I get too invested and end up spending 20 minutes on one portfolio when I should be moving on to the next one.

noah_black4d ago

The "eating my vegetables" rule cracked me up, I just adopt a similar approach but still end up scrolling past my own notes and wondering why I'm even here.