Design Warm-up #3: How hiring managers look at portfolios

On June 6 at 13:00 MSK, we’re hosting Design Warm-up #3 online. This time, the topic is portfolios.

But we won’t talk about how to make a case study look beautiful. Instead, we’ll discuss why portfolios often don’t work, even when they look visually fine.

Our guest is Evgeny Trofimov — a senior design leader and hiring manager with 12+ years of experience in product companies. Evgeny has worked at Apple, Bumble, and Badoo, and also runs FAANG Careers, a Telegram channel about careers in big tech.

During the session, we’ll look at portfolios from a hiring manager’s point of view: what catches attention in the first few minutes, and what makes someone close the tab.

What we’ll cover

We’ll discuss:

— why a portfolio is a pitch, not a museum of work
— how to shape your portfolio for a specific role
— what to show when your projects are under NDA
— how to avoid getting lost in details and turn a case study into a clear story
— what mistakes stop strong designers from moving forward

After a short lecture, we’ll have a practical part: participants will try to rethink the structure and logic of their own portfolios during the session.

There are only 6 spots for the practical part, so we have enough time for reviews and proper feedback.

When

June 6
13:00 MSK
Online, Zoom

Cultivating Client Relationships

We’ll publish a separate post with the registration link soon. If you want to join the practical part, try to catch a spot.

If you don’t manage to register, you’ll still be able to watch the session online and do the task with us. After the session, you can share your result in our community chat @Designwarmups_chat — people there often discuss work and help each other with feedback.

Later, we’ll publish a YouTube recording and short reels with the main ideas from the session.