8 Ways Marketing Tactics Can Get You Hired

Designing a portfolio to market the real product: you

Photo by Alice Achterhof on Unsplash

I’m often asked to review designer portfolios from students anxious to lock down a dream job or young designers looking to move up the ladder. I’d love to review each one in detail, but it takes too long. In both cases, my feedback tend to be the same, and it’s inspired by product marketing principles: Your portfolio is marketing and YOU are the product.

This way of thinking is usually foreign for designers (it was for me before learning this at Innovatemap). And if you’re like me, you might even cringe at the word “marketing.”

I understand, and I’m here to help. I’ll demystify this concept and explain how you can (and should) apply it to your portfolio.

But first, if you’re worried I’ll hold you to a standard of stunning, award-winning portfolios, here’s a screenshot from my 2007 portfolio:

Yep, I got a job with this. I think you’ll be ok.

Feel better? Good!

1. Focus your message

What do you do well, and what do you love to do? Students, in particular, dump everything imaginable into their…