Why Designers Hate Updating Their Portfolio and How to Make the Experience Less Painful

Hate seems like such a strong word, but I actually do think it applies here. Designers all share the same pain when updating their portfolios. We all have a design process, but for some reason, updating the portfolio isn’t part of that process.

I’ve identified one common pain point between the creatives on my team. We’ve all put in long hours to get the projects done and launched. The last thing we want to do is go through all our files and resize them to present online.

If only updating a portfolio site was as simple as uploading the final jpegs of your project, but no. You can’t just upload a jpeg of a homepage for a web design project. Since case studies the trend these days, you would need to break up the homepage into sections to make call outs.

So… in order to update your portfolio, you have to gather all the elements and then lay them out to fit the dimensions of your site. This is an entire project on its own. I would say this is like doing laundry where you’ll be really happy when you’re done, but I don’t think I can even promise that. This is why most of us aren’t interested.

Here’s my advice to make the experience “less bad”.

1. You’re Not Alone

I think it’s best to get in a good mindset and not go down the self-deprecating route that you’ll never get through this. You believed in Santa for years when you were younger, you can believe in yourself now. (For the record, you can still believe in Santa. I’m not going to Santa-shame anyone.)

2. Set up a Folder Organization System

To even get started, it can be daunting to even think about where your files are. First, you need to get organized from the beginning. This starts with having a folder structure. For anyone that wants to fight me on this, I’m assuming you’re reading this because what you’ve been doing hasn’t worked. Trust in the process!

Here’s how I organize my folders:

I have what I call a “Skeleton Folder,” similar to a skeleton key I suppose. It’s a folder structure that I can use for any project at work or freelance. Notice that I have a “Portfolio Folder,” where I drop in assets along the way.

In that folder, I have both a Sketch file and an InDesign doc. These are set up with different sizes that I often upload to my portfolio site. For those of you that do animation, you should set up a file for motion.

You may need or want to mock something up. There are a bunch of sites that have pre-made mock-ups for you to use, such as Mockupworld.

Setting up a file like this in advance saves you a lot of time in the long run. For me, I feel like I’ve already started the process. Check off “Create a File” from the to-do list!

3. Break Down Your Process for a Design Project

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, it’s important to add gathering assets to your process. Have a look at typical the design process at my job.

Where I find the best place to add this to your process is at the end or close to the end of a project. If I’m working on a web project, I like to start laying out my exports while the project is in dev. In regards to the timeline, I give myself a personal deadline. When the first dev link is due, I goal to have a few assets of the project created. I finish creating all the assets by the launch date of the site.

4. Create Assets Along the Way

Now that you’ve figured out when to create assets from your final exports. There are more assets that you can use for your portfolio. Most jobs care more about your process than what the final project looks like. Document, document, document!

If you’re a UX designer, this should be easy. You’ll always have things like personas, user interviews, empathy maps, and sketches to use. Don’t through any of these out. Snap a picture and drop it in your Portfolio Assets Folder!

For graphic designers, save your sketches of preliminary ideas. With your files, it’s a great habit to version them. You’ll have all the designs that you’ve created throughout the project. Here’s the first and final version of a layout that I designed.

Lastly, you should have a checklist for all the assets you need for each project. You’ll need a hero image for the project page, a thumbnail for the homepage, full-bleed images, or even a carousel. Whatever you think you’ll need, make sure you check all the boxes.

5. Write out a First Draft

At this stage, you’re supposed to write an ugly first draft. As designers we want everything to be beautiful, but this is not the time to be a hero. Get to writing some ideas and thoughts down and it will come together.

If you’re going the case study route, start writing down your process for the project and highlights. It’s fine to have a template or two on how you explain each project. Here are some ideas:

“For Back-To-School season, we partnered with [insert client] to…”

“My role in this project was…”

“I lead the design by…”

“One hurdle we had to overcome was…” “We solved it by…”

“I learned…”

6. Edit and Spell Check

I’m not the best with grammar, but even if you are, it’s hard to proofread what you wrote. I do use a few tools to help me out. Grammarly is a great extension to have. It catches most of your spelling errors. Hemingway Editor is another tool I use. I drop in all my text and adjust, especially when it calls out if a sentence is hard to read. You have to remember that you’re writing copy for potential employers and clients to read. They want to understand what you’re trying to communicate in the simplest way.

7. Upload

Eventually, you’ll have to sit down and upload your copy and assets to your portfolio site. For this, you can either add it to your process or you can reserve some time in your schedule to update. You choose.

When you do get to the point of upload, at least you have everything gathered, organized, and ready to go!

Conclusion

The general idea behind this is to chip away at the iceberg and do little things along the way. Although this doesn’t magically give you a portfolio site, it sets you up for success. We love success!

Let me know what you thought of this. I’ve found this process the most helpful for me. Comment below if you have any questions.

Keep on creating!

Why Designers Hate Updating Their Portfolio and How to Make the Experience Less Painful

1. You’re Not Alone

2. Set up a Folder Organization System

3. Break Down Your Process for a Design Project

4. Create Assets Along the Way

5. Write out a First Draft

6. Edit and Spell Check

7. Upload

Conclusion

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