Just realized my portfolio was missing the messy stuff after a coffee shop chat

I was grabbing coffee last Tuesday after a rough client meeting, and this senior designer I know sat down next to me. She looked at my portfolio on my phone and said "your work looks too perfect, like you never struggle." At first I took it as a compliment, but she kept pushing and said junior hires want to see how you fix mistakes, not just the final polish. She told me about a case study she did where she showed three failed wireframes before the final one, and she got way more interviews that season. It hit me that I've been hiding all the problem solving and just showing off the shiny end result. I went home and rewrote my main project page to include two early drafts and a paragraph about what I learned from each one. Has anyone else tried showing their rough process and seen better reactions from recruiters?

2 comments

2 Comments

betty_ward4d ago

jfc that "looks too perfect" line hit me too. I had to redo my whole portfolio after the same feedback.

josephs265d ago

That thing she said about "your work looks too perfect" really hit home for me. I've noticed this same pattern in everyday life, like how people only post the vacation highlight reel on social media but never show the flat tire or the lost luggage. We get so caught up in polishing things that we forget the messy middle is where the real learning happens. In my experience, showing the struggle makes you more relatable and proves you can actually solve problems, not just clean things up. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen contractors and other trades get way more respect when they walk a client through what went wrong and how they fixed it. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think that designer gave you some solid advice.