Your work is more impressive than you think

I was reviewing a designer’s portfolio recently and the work was really strong.

The case studies were structured well. The visuals were polished.

But something was off about how she described her role.

She kept saying she “worked on the visuals.”

So I asked a few questions:

Who defined the UX direction on this project?
She did.

Who was the main point of contact with the client?
She was.

Who presented the work to executives and incorporated their feedback into the design decisions?
Also her.

She was working on the visuals, driving the UX direction, managing the client relationship, and influencing executive decisions.

That’s not a supporting role. That’s ownership. And it’s exactly what hiring managers are looking for at mid-level and above.

Why designers undersell themselves

This isn’t unusual. It’s one of the most common patterns I see when I review portfolios.

Designers have never been taught to look at their own work through a hiring manager’s lens. So they describe what they made instead of what they drove. They list tasks instead of impact. They use “we” when they should be using “I.”

The result is a case study that can read like it was written by a supporting player, even when the designer may have lead the whole project.

There are three areas where I see this happen most often:

1. Influence

Most designers describe their role in terms of deliverables.

“I designed the wireframes.”
“I created the UI components.”
“I built the prototype.”

What gets left out is the influence behind those deliverables. And, this is key.

Did you propose the direction? Push back on a brief that wasn’t working? Present options and guide a stakeholder toward the right decision?

That’s influence. And it’s what separates a designer who just executes designs from a designer who leads.

If you shaped the direction of a project, even informally, that belongs in your case study.

2. Process

Designers often show process as a sequence of steps.

Research. Wireframes. Testing. Final design.

That reads like a timeline, which is fine as long as you show thinking.

Hiring managers want to see the decision-making inside the process. Why did you choose that direction? What did research change? What tradeoff did you make, and why?

Your process section isn’t a diary of what happened. It’s evidence of how you think.

3. Collaboration

“I collaborated with the product team” tells a hiring manager almost nothing.

Who specifically? What was your role in the project- facilitating, contributing, or leading? Did you align stakeholders who disagreed? Did you translate between design and engineering? Did you influence a PM’s decision?

At a senior level, collaboration isn’t just working alongside others. It’s moving people toward a decision, navigating conflicting priorities, and building relationships that make the work better.

If you did that, make sure to say so.

The rewrite

Here’s the simplest way to audit your own case study:

Read your role description and ask: does this sound like someone who showed up and did their job, or someone who drove something forward?

If it’s the first, it needs a rewrite.

You don’t need to exaggerate. You don’t need to invent contributions that weren’t there.

Just need to describe what actually happened, and include the parts you’ve been leaving out because you assumed they weren’t worth mentioning.

They are worth mentioning.

And that’s usually exactly what the hiring manager needed to see.

If you want a direct, honest look at whether your case studies are communicating your real contribution, or whether you’re leaving the most important parts out that’s what a portfolio review is for.

→ Book your portfolio review — $95
“My callback rate doubled after Anthony’s audit.”

Talk soon,
Anthony

P.S. If you want to work through this with me directly, your specific portfolio, your specific situation a 1:1 strategy session is where we do that. $175.