1/X During my time at Apple, recruiting was a significant effort for everyone on the team. Often, small things could make the difference between people passing on a portfolio quickly vs. taking a closer look at the end of a busy day. Here are a few dos and don'ts that might help:
2/X Remember that the person looking at your work is likely to be doing so in a rush. At each step of designing your portfolio, you should figure out how to get them to see the good stuff as quickly as possible. Don't waste time on what you don't consider "content".
3/X Lead with your best work that most reflects what you want to do. Doesn't matter if it's old work. Assume people won't look at your entire portfolio. They'll most likely start at the top, so put the good stuff up there.
4/X Describe projects by starting with the result. Ideally that's the thing you ended up making. Don't make people read thru 500 words of motivation first. Don't lead with endless process pictures. Start with the result, then show what alternatives you worked thru to get there.
5/X If you made something interactive, show the result in motion (and interactively if possible). How things move matters a lot. Even filming yourself interacting with something is more charming than looking at a bunch of screenshots and imagining all the transitions.
6/X A resume is a design project of its own. It tests whether you are a good judge of what info is crucial, how to turn that into efficient (visual?) language, and how to lay it out so it fits on ONE PAGE. Nobody is so important that they need more than one page for a resume.
7/X Don't design your portfolio using the visual language of the company you are applying at. They won't hire you because you are so good at making things look like their own website. They'll hire you because you can bring fresh ideas to the table (and your craft of course).
