If you’re applying for design internships or junior roles in 2026, your portfolio is your strongest currency. Not your grades, not your certificates, not the software you know.
And here’s the truth most colleges won’t tell you:
Many design studios don’t have HR teams.
Your application is reviewed directly by founders or senior designers — people who have limited time, sharp instincts, and zero tolerance for friction.
That means the traditional “rules” of applying don’t really apply.
This is the real playbook.
A large percentage of portfolios today are opened on phones, not laptops. Hiring managers review your work:
If your portfolio breaks on mobile — misaligned text, tiny fonts, videos that don’t load — the reviewer will not “come back later on desktop.” They will simply close it.
A design portfolio is not just about design.
It’s also about accessibility, clarity, and respecting the reviewer’s time.
Your portfolio should open straight into your work. Anything else is unnecessary friction.
Avoid:
Every extra click is an opportunity for the reviewer to exit.
Your goal is simple:
Shorten the distance between “link clicked” and “work viewed.”
A Drive folder full of PNGs is not a portfolio. It’s a file dump. There’s:
Design is not just execution — it’s communication.
If you haven’t designed the way you present your work, it signals that you’re not ready to design for others either.
A portfolio itself is a designed product.
Treat it like one.
This is where design hiring has changed dramatically.
We don’t check social media to judge you — we check it to understand you. Your world, your taste, your energy, your interests.
And we’ve hired — or paid extra attention to — people simply because their personal interests made them memorable.
Musicians. Athletes. People who love reading. People who sketch daily. People who share their travels. People who are socially active. People with side projects. People who love pop culture.
Your personality is not a distraction.
It’s a dimension.
Your interests show how you see the world — and in a creative field, that’s invaluable.
So yes, please link your social media and LinkedIn — but keep them intentional, updated, and reflective of your creative self.
Individuality is your biggest asset. Don’t hide it.
Your appearance does help with recall. A face makes you memorable, especially when studios are reviewing dozens of applications in a day.
So yes. Keep a clean, well-lit, cropped headshot as your display picture across your platforms: Instagram, LinkedIn, Behance, your Gmail profile, and even in your CV if you want. It helps the reviewer match names to faces and builds familiarity when they see your work again later.
But be intentional about what photo you choose.
In fact, ask a parent or a trusted older person what feels classic and timeless.
Trends change. Filters change. What feels “cool” today will look odd next year.
(Think of how having weird, quirky email IDs was “cool” in the 2000s — same logic!)
Your DP is for recognition, not for self-expression experiments.
Where to draw the line:
Avoid turning your CV or your entire portfolio landing page into a giant photo of yourself with graffiti, stickers, graphic overlays, or heavy effects.
A photo should support your application — not overshadow your work.
Keep it clean, keep it timeless, keep it secondary.
College emails expire.
Students stop checking them.
Servers change.
Access gets revoked after graduation.
Studios often reach out months later for new openings.
If your email bounces or goes unanswered, the opportunity dies right there.
Use an email ID that will survive long after college.
Reviewers rarely go deep into portfolios. They scan quickly:
That means your first impression matters more than your whole case study.
Weak thumbnails = weak interest.
Long introductions = guaranteed drop-off.
Clutter = confusion.
Good design communicates fast.
Your portfolio should too.
A CV is not a poster.
It is a functional document.
Use:
If someone can understand your experience and skills in 10 seconds, you’ve done it right.
Add a simple, honest “About You” section
No clichés. No dramatic life stories.
Just a few clear lines about:
Studios hire people, not robots. Let them meet you.
Small detail. Big signal.
Fairly obvious, often overlooked.
Avoid:portfolio_final_really_final_version8.pdf
Use:Aarav_Jain_Portfolio_2025.pdf
Professional filenames show organisation and clarity — qualities every designer needs.
Your portfolio is not a scrapbook.
Young designers often include older work thinking “maybe someone will find something interesting in it.” But older work usually dilutes your overall quality.
Be ruthless.
If a project doesn’t reflect your current capability, remove it.
Your weakest project often speaks louder than your strongest one.
Don’t divide your portfolio into five sub-disciplines if you’re not equally good at all of them.
We often click the last or middle category out of curiosity and sometimes end up seeing the weakest section first — shaping an inaccurate impression.
Lead with your strengths.
Position yourself clearly.
Don’t dilute your value by chasing variety.
These points may feel blunt, but they come directly from the way independent agencies hire.
Most design studios don’t have HR teams.
We don’t use Applicant Tracking Systems.
We don’t rely on automated filtering.
Your application is viewed by:
Which means:
If you’re applying to studios like ours, these are the real-world rules.
