product design portfolio

Recruitment is a meeting of like-minded people. It is to gather in one place for a greater achievement that is difficult to achieve alone. Companies want people to solve problems, and talent wants to be rewarded. Each other's needs will vary greatly depending on the business, service, type of organization, and problem faced. All of our recruitment activities can be seen as a process of confirming what each other wants. So how do designers and companies identify with each other? How should designers prepare their portfolios?

what each other wants

what I want

First I need to know what I want. There must be money, fame, power, colleagues, design results, and positive influence. You need to know what you want so that you can set the criteria for finding and supporting organizations based on what criteria. At this time, I think it would be good to have an answer to why I am designing, beyond 'I work to make money'. It is because I think people who have a bigger goal that they want to achieve on their own are attractive and have a lot to contribute, rather than joining the company or getting a job title.

• what you want to achieve through work
• why design
• design you want to make
• Colleagues you want to work with
• What you want in 10 years

what the company wants

The talent companies want varies from situation to situation. To identify the talent you want, identify the key services your company focuses on and what role design plays in those services. We then discover the design organization structure and how individual designers contribute to the service. For organizations of any size, it shouldn't be difficult to find out how designers work. If your organization is not yet very large or if your information has not been exposed to the outside world, it is a good idea to at least request a tee time to check the following.

• The role of design within the service
• The role of design in the minds of product makers (PO, PM, developers, etc.)
• The Role of Designers in Real-World Projects
• Filling vacancies or filling due to business expansion
• Areas to contribute when joining
• Benefits of joining

A good product design portfolio

Once you've figured out what you want and what the company wants, it's time to prove what you can contribute to the company. We communicate what experiences we have with resumes and portfolios, and conduct interviews to deepen our understanding of each other. It may seem like a difficult and complex procedure, but it has one goal. How will this person behave and create results when working together? is what I'm curious about.

Resumes, portfolios, and interviews are slightly different in form, but in the end, it is to check the applicant's values and capabilities from various angles. That's why it's more important to incorporate how you can contribute to the company in your resume, portfolio, and interview rather than focusing on following the cover and table of contents of a great portfolio.

As defined earlier, what a good portfolio looks like can be different depending on what each wants. Last time, as an applicant and interviewer, I summarized the criteria for judging a good product design portfolio.

visual design

• This is a must-have skill for designers.
• We will check the plasticity of all submitted productions. (ex. resume, portfolio PDF layout, font, etc.)
• Make sure you have an understanding of design techniques that have been proven to work. (ex 8pt grid)
• Make sure you use visual elements that clearly read your intent.

logical thinking

• The ability to make valid arguments based on evidence.
• See the process of understanding the background, defining a problem, and forming a hypothesis. (ex. project problem solving process)
• Determine how validly the problem definition and visual implementation solves the problem. (bad ex. I used a lot of white space to make the user feel comfortable.)

drive for results

• It is the ability to push through to the desired outcome.
• Check what you did rather than where and how long you worked.
• See what specific actions you have taken to ensure the experience you want to deliver to your users.
• It's not always successful, but make sure you put in some effort to get better results yourself.

dream

• Identify the goals you want to achieve as a designer.
• See if you want to make a lot of money, or if you want to make a name for yourself, or if you want to make an impact in your business.
• Companies and applicants work together to see if they can help each other achieve their dreams.

This is my opinion based on my experience as a leader of a large research institute, a single designer at a startup, a small design team at a startup, and a design team at a mid-sized startup. It can feel like a limited field of view because I have no choice but to see it based on my personal experience. Thank you for your understanding.

Product Design 101