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Service designer’s portfolio: obligation or asset?

UI and UX designers typically present their portfolios during the recruitment process, showcasing their skills, experience, and unique problem-solving approach to potential employers.

At a glance

However, based on conversations with service designers close to me, I have noticed that such expectations are rarely found in the Polish job market. There are many hypotheses explaining this situation, but they will not be the focus of this article. Apart from meeting recruitment requirements, there are many other reasons to have and regularly update your portfolio. Let’s look at these reasons – perhaps they will convince you too?

Regular work on the portfolio as a tool for self-reflection

One of the most common ways of presenting experience in a portfolio is the case study. Designers usually choose 3-5 diverse projects and describe them step by step, highlighting key decision points, tools, and techniques used, and finally discuss the impact of these factors on the entire process. Creating such material is difficult and time-consuming, and requires a lot of energy.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need to create a portfolio in a short time, you might unconsciously use a template description of projects, such as: title, date, role, client, goal, process, conclusions. Most likely, in such a case, you will lack time and energy to “connect the dots,” i.e., to understand what you have learned while working on different projects.

Therefore, the best practice is to regularly document and describe projects immediately after completion, regardless of whether they will go into the portfolio.

This approach can be part of a project retrospective and has many advantages. First and foremost:

  • develops the habit of systematic work,
  • is an excellent exercise in formulating conclusions, helping to develop critical thinking,
  • provides an excellent opportunity to experiment with different forms of presenting project results.

With time for reflection, we can create a multi-dimensional portfolio

Over time, with a collection of completed projects, you will gain the ability to act on a higher, meta-level. You can start asking yourself questions and seek answers: What are my strengths and weaknesses? What have I learned over the past years? Which direction do I want to follow? Do I fall into process patterns? If so, how can I change that? What do I have influence over? What distinguishes me?

With such material, the demand to prepare a portfolio will not scare or worry you but will become an opportunity for creative thinking and experimenting with different ways of presenting your story. With ready examples, you will be able to select those most important for a given role, highlight your uniqueness as designers, and positively surprise a potential employer. And perhaps you will even find time to get feedback on your portfolio.

Read also: Professional predispositions for working as a designer

Presentation of projects in the field of service design

We are facing another challenge here. Product, visual communication, or interface designers often present the visual aspects of their work in their portfolios, while for service designers, key are the design processes, interactions that can be presented, for example, using storyboards, designed user paths (Customer Journey Maps) with communication elements during the process, or service schematics (Service Blueprints), often presented in diagram form.

In the case of on-site projects, it is essential to obtain photographic documentation. For online projects, it is worth showing how service designers use tools like Miro to visualize materials and prepare workshops. A significant part of service designers’ work involves facilitating workshop sessions, which is difficult to present without the appropriate materials.

What other elements should be included in a service designer’s portfolio?

Section “About me”

In this section, you have space to talk about your design skills, motivation for working in service design, and elements that did not fit in the CV.

Introduction to the project section

In the introduction, emphasize your diverse experience, not limiting yourself to projects presented in the portfolio. Explain why the selected projects are most representative of your style and skills, usually focusing on four key ones.

Description of each project

Briefly present the goal, process, and outcome of each project. Remember, these are the main framework descriptions aimed at providing context for presenting your profile – your skills, design dilemmas, or conclusions drawn. Perhaps, with the perspective of time, you will be able to share a reflection on how you would solve a similar problem now, differently, better?

Also check: Rebranding and career change – where to start?

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About the Author
Magda Kochanowska
She has been involved in design for 20 years, combining design practice with scientific activity and an academic career. Since 2013, she has been running companies specializing in designing processes, services, and experiences - currently Design-Nurture. She is a lecturer at the Faculty of Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, in the postgraduate Total Design Management studies conducted by the Warsaw University of Technology Business School and the Institute of Industrial Design, and the academic head of the postgraduate Service Design studies at SWPS University. Before founding Design Nurture, she carried out projects for, among others: Board of Innovation, Black Red White, EIT Food, Goodie, ING Bank (Poland and the Netherlands), Mercer, City of Warsaw, Bank Millenium, Milton Essex, Nationale-Nederlanden, Polpharma, PTBRiO, Saint Gobain, Santander Bank, Santander Leasing, Sensirion, Szlachetna Paczka, TUiR Warta.

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