portfolio review checklist (before you send the link)

The checks I run before anything goes out, learned mostly from the ones that came back with a confused reply attached.

Rename the file

'Untitled_portfolio_v9_FINAL_final2.pdf' has definitely cost someone an interview, don't let it be you

Check every link opens in a new tab

Kill the stock photo hero image

if I see one more unsplash desk-with-coffee shot I'm closing the tab

Write one line of context per project

Remove the projects you did in school

unless it's genuinely your best work, and it rarely is three years later

Get someone outside your field to read it

your mom counts. she'll tell you what's confusing faster than a designer will

Check the color contrast on your own site

Cut the process slides down to one

Make sure the case study has an ending

so many just stop at 'and then we shipped it.' what happened after?

Test the contact form yourself

mine was broken for four months and I only found out because a friend asked

Read every headline out loud

Check it on a phone, not just your laptop

Pin your best project first, not your newest

Sleep on it before you hit send

pin this above the desk. the 11pm portfolio send is never the good version

Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.

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