How big brands win the competition

In my spare time, I sit down with designers and go through their portfolios, helping them sharpen up for a tough market, in a tough moment. Most of them make the same mistakes. So here they are: the practical notes that come up in almost every conversation. Consider it a public service. No strings attached.

1. Presentation says more about you than the work does

You designed something brilliant. You solved a real problem. Then you presented it in a case study with stale mockups, on a site that isn't responsive, that's hard to read, that's forgettable.

As a designer hiring other designers, that tells me everything about how you'll handle a product, or a client's brand. It's the design version of "the shoemaker's kids go barefoot." Don't let it be you.

2. Your domain and your platform are part of your story

You put up a site with your work on it. Good start. Now go further: spend a few dollars on your own domain, and a few more on a basic plan for whatever you built it on (Framer, Figma, Webflow, WordPress, Wix, whatever).

We're in the business of how things look. A free-plan banner or a platform watermark undercuts everything above it, like serving a tasting menu on paper plates. Respect the work enough to remove the training wheels.

3. Typos are a hard no

It's 2026. AI tools, guides, agents, automations (and actual human friends) are everywhere and free. There's no excuse for sending out anything less than neat. Would you ship that copy to a client? To print? To production?

Review before you send. One typo, spotted on a quick scroll, and most reviewers stop reading right there.

4. Don't make your viewer cringe

AI-generated mockups. Generic stock photography. That one image with seven fingers. Copy that was clearly typed into a prompt and pasted straight out. All of it is instantly recognizable, and none of it does you any favors.

Show that you know how to choose imagery, edit it, build a composition, land a message, art-direct a screen. The moment a reader spots an em dash "—" doing suspicious AI-generated-copy things - they've already checked out, because now they know you didn't even read it yourself.

5. Celebrate the design. Actually celebrate it.

Too many portfolios lean on the same style-guide template: a row of color hex codes, a font specimen running A–Z, a handful of icons that don't quite belong together.

Typography, iconography, color, composition: that's not a checklist, that's the craft. If you can't present it with confidence, it's fair to wonder whether you can wield it with confidence either. Found a font you're genuinely excited about? Show it like it matters. Don't bury it like a placeholder.

Was that helpful? Send us your portfolio, we'd genuinely like to see it.
And if you want a second pair of eyes before you hit publish, get in touch.

We're always happy to help.