Around a year ago, a girl messaged me over LinkedIn. She introduced herself and then her next message was:

“May I have just a few minutes of your time for my portfolio review?…
I am trying really hard to revamp my portfolio for the last few months and wanted to get your feedback on the same.”

I agreed to her request and we set up a call in the next few days.
I took some time to understand the context of her projects and then started to articulate the changes that needed to be done in her portfolio.
She seemed really stressed out and confused.

I realized something was off so I took a step back from her portfolio and started a casual conversation on a different topic. Once she was comfortable, I asked her what’s making her stressed about her portfolio?

“Actually, the things that you are asking me to change…the last senior designer who reviewed my portfolio, asked me to do it this way.” She said.

“Hmmm… okay, but there must be a reason behind it, right?” I said.

“I don’t know…” She replied hesitantly.

“Anyway, let’s move on…Why didn’t you do it(something) this way?” I asked.

“One designer from XYZ company reviewed my portfolio last month and he told me not to do it this way” She replied.

I was a bit surprised. Then I asked the most important question of our conversation:

“Tell me honestly, before you came to me for your portfolio review, to how many designers you have been?” I asked.

“Around 11–12.” She answered.

I was shocked! On further inquiry, she told me she has been getting feedback on her portfolio from designers all over the globe from top-notch companies since the last few months and in every call, they tell them 8–10 new changes to do. And she now feels really tired of making all those changes and gets confused upon hearing contradicting statements.

This was one year ago. Since then, I have spoken to 50+ design aspirants who are in a similar situation. This has led me to write down my thoughts and share them on this platform.

If something is free, don’t overdo it

This might sound controversial at first, but hear me out in the context I am writing (getting portfolio reviews).
Since the last 2–3 years, a lot of communities have started great initiatives where anyone can connect with senior designers free of cost. As a matter of fact, I am also a member of some of those and I connect with design enthusiasts every week.
To utilize those platforms effectively, there is no harm in connecting with multiple people and increasing your knowledge base. I support it thoroughly.

But ask yourself, are you really getting any benefit by asking 10–12 design mentors to review your same design case study?

Mostly, there is more than one way to solve a problem

Often when you try to get feedback on the same thing from different designers, it’s quite rare they will give you the exact same feedback. Most of the time it will differ from designer to designer.

This doesn’t mean that one designer is less than the other designer in any other way. Both are equally proficient in their subject.

Their feedback differs because in the real world, most of the time, there is more than one way to solve a problem. And every designer has their own way to solve it.

What would I suggest?

Stick to a single mentor

Feel free to explore multiple mentors and have calls with them to get acquainted, but once you find a mentor whom you like, trust them & start having recurring calls with them instead of jumping on to the next mentor.
Once this mentor completely reviews your portfolio, you are done! Congratulations.
Let’s say, if you still have some doubts, you can show them to a second mentor. But that should be the hard stop.

You have to commit to yourself that I am ready with my portfolio and now I don’t need any more reviews.

Want to know more about me? Or interested to talk about mental health or life in general? Ping me over LinkedIn and we can connect!