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That conversation with a stranger at a coffee shop made me redo my whole portfolio
I was grabbing a latte last Tuesday and this older graphic designer saw me scrolling through my site on my phone. She asked if she could take a look and I figured why not. She pointed out that all my case studies were just pictures with no context about the problem I was solving for the client. She said something like "I can see what you made but I can't tell why you made it." That hit me hard because I've been showing off pretty screenshots for two years without explaining my thinking. Now I'm rewriting all my project descriptions to include the client's original goals and how I got to the final design. Has anyone else had a random stranger give them feedback that totally changed their approach to their portfolio?
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danieljenkins4d ago
That line about "I can see what you made but I can't tell why you made it" is brutal because it's true for so many people's portfolios. I'd take it a step further and say you should add the failures too, not just the shiny final result. Clients I've talked to really respect seeing how you tried something that didn't work and what you learned from it. Makes the whole thing feel honest instead of just a highlight reel.
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