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Explain the need and constraints
Start with the brief and limits: audience, time, equipment, formats or technology. Distinguish a real commission from a personal exercise. If details are confidential, rephrase the context and check what you may show. A well-known client name does not replace explaining the problem.
Make everyone’s role visible
Describe your work and team contributions. For code, state implemented features, testing conditions and limits. For a photo series, explain selection and coherence. Credit people and resources. Readers should distinguish what you designed, executed, adapted or merely presented.
Support outcomes with evidence
Use a final version, annotated detail, demonstration or authorised excerpt. Do not invent metrics or client reviews. If impact was not measured, state observations and unknowns. Before-and-after comparisons should explain differences and keep conditions comparable.
Check access and contact
Open the portfolio while signed out, on a phone and with another person. Check links, readability and contact options. Date the project. Keep a presentation copy and remove documents whose permission changed. A case should remain understandable even if the demonstration link stops working.
Choose the right check for the situation
These editorial pointers help prepare and review your work. Choose the situation matching your content; check current features and conditions in the cited sources before applying it to a service.
| Situation | Useful action | Mistake to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Team project | Describe your contribution, other roles and what you may show. | Claiming all results of shared work. |
| Project without public figures | Present the problem, process, deliverables and observable limitations. | Inventing an improvement percentage to make the project persuasive. |
| Client confidentiality | Obtain required permissions and remove elements that cannot be published. | Hiding only the name while screenshots still identify the client. |
| Older project | Date the context, explain your role at the time and preserve a readable version. | Presenting an old interface as the current state of a product. |
Hypothetical example: apply the method
A designer presents a poster. She explains audience, three constraints and two composition choices, then shows the authorised version. She states that no impact study was conducted instead of promising increased attendance.
Template to adapt
Copy this outline into your working document. It collects no information on this site; complete it for your situation.
Project and date: Need: Constraints: My role: Choices: Evidence: Limits: Credits and contact:
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Frequently asked questions
How many projects should I show?
Choose those explaining your work to the intended audience. An arbitrary number does not guarantee relevance.
How do I show team work?
Identify your contribution and others’, with necessary permissions for presented documents.
Continue with related content
Sources and scope
Primary references consulted for factual points. Methods and templates are editorial suggestions; service conditions should still be checked in current documentation.