How to Create a Design Portfolio That Drastically Improves Your Job Prospects
Some things are better shown than said. For that reason, design portfolios have been a part of industrial practice for centuries. A good design portfolio doesn’t just tell people you can design—it shows them. It doesn’t simply claim you have skills—it makes those skills obvious through compelling, visual evidence. Portfolios are the visual manifestation of your work.
When used well, a design portfolio becomes one of the most powerful tools in your early career. For example, imagine you are hiring a mechanical designer. I apply and claim ‘CAD skills’ on my résumé – do you have enough to want to hire me? No, you don’t. Now look at my portfolio. How has your ability to judge my skill changed? It’s valuable to know that a noticeable percentage of applicants will not have a portfolio. If a team wants to hire skilled designers, those without portfolios simply won’t make the cut.
This article offers a simple, yet disciplined, guide to portfolios for engineers who want their work to speak for itself.
Historical Origins of the Design Portfolio
The concept of a portfolio has a long-standing history in design practice. The word itself comes from the Italian portafoglio, meaning “case for carrying loose sheets” [1]. Early examples appear as far back as the Renaissance, where architects like Michelozzo used collections of drawings to present design proposals to wealthy and influential clients who commissioned architectural works [2]. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, famous for their sketches and mechanical ideas, functioned as personal archives documenting both thought process and technical exploration [3]. His sketchbooks, however, were more than personal journals—they were strategic tools for persuading, negotiating, and securing commissions. His technical drawings weren’t just ideations; they were evidence of personal capability that opened doors to funding, patronage, and influence among the most powerful figures of his time [4, 5].
By the late 19th century, architectural firms in Europe were producing formal portfolios—collections of polished drawings and plates—to secure commissions and document their capabilities [6]. In the early 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio (1910–11) became an influential example, introducing his work to European audiences and shaping modern architectural thinking [7]. Today, the design portfolio continues to be a valuable tradition, serving as both a curated showcase of capability and a visual record of professional growth [8].
While there is evidence of design portfolios being used by engineers (in the 20th and 21st century) to highlight CAD projects and Capstone experiences, design portfolios remain a somewhat underused tool within engineering – which only heightens a prospective employer’s interest when you provide one or refer to yours during an interview [9].
Why You Should Have a Design Portfolio
Your design portfolio serves two critical functions: it is both instructional and archival. Instructional, because it allows others—be they employers, colleagues, or clients—to quickly understand your capabilities. Archival, because it captures your design history, ensuring your best work doesn’t get forgotten.
Many years ago, I was interviewing students for a prestigious opportunity. One candidate brought a portfolio—unprompted—and when I asked why, the person replied:
“Without a portfolio, how else are you going to know I can do the things I say I can do?”
That is exactly right. Having hired many people both in an industrial and academic setting, I can say without doubt that words without evidence (words on a resume, or said in an interview) carry very little weight compared to the persuasive visual evidence provided in a portfolio. A portfolio for this reason improves your chances of getting the job because it makes the reviewer’s job incredibly easy. You’ve shown them your skills, clearly and visually– now they want to hire you.
But the portfolio is also archival. Now that my career is in its 3rd decade, I often think about past projects, grateful for those I have a portfolio entry for, and wishing I simply had a photo of those that have no entry at all.
What Belongs in a Design Portfolio
A strong portfolio tells the story of what you’ve designed and how you’ve designed it. For engineers, this usually includes:
Final Designs: Renderings, photos, and animations of your finished products, parts, or prototypes.
Process Documentation: CAD strategy sketches, early iterations, analysis results, and testing photos.
Personal and Team Projects: Individual projects demonstrate self-sufficiency; team projects demonstrate collaboration. In team projects, be clear about what you contributed.
Technical Breadth: Include a variety of projects—product design, mechanism design, system-level design—whatever reflects your capabilities.
Your portfolio is a representation of your skills and your attention to detail. It should reflect both your technical ability and your craftsmanship in how it is prepared.
How to Build a Portfolio That Gets You Hired
Plan with Purpose
Ask: How will this project show up in my portfolio? Don’t wait until the end to start capturing visuals and creating a narrative.Curate Selectively
Focus on 3–6 standout projects. Note that it is useful to have a large portfolio that you remove entries from to produce a specific portfolio for a particular purpose (get a particular job, win a particular award, etc). As such it is good to image every project you are working on and how it becomes a portfolio entry.Show Process, Not Just The Outcome (Product)
Walk the viewer from problem to prototype to polished solution, with attractive visuals and succinct narrative. To achieve this, you will need to collect images along the way. Do yourself a favor and take good photos in landscape view with a good clean background.Show, Don’t Tell
Include enough text to guide the viewer, but let the visuals do the heavy lifting. A good rule: if a reviewer can’t understand the point of a page in 30 seconds, it needs revision.Quality over Quantity
One to three pages per project is usually enough. A single high-quality page can be more powerful than ten cluttered ones.Focus on Visual Presentation
Clean layouts, professional renderings, sharp photos, and clear explanations. Your portfolio is a design project—treat it like one.Brand It Well
Use consistent fonts, layout, and a personal touch. Think of the portfolio as your engineered brand statement [10]. Put your name on each page, subtly.Always Build
If you are a student, have the goal to produce one visually engaging portfolio entry for every technical course you take. Do this every semester and you will have dozens of entries. If you are a professional, tell your bosses that you value your portfolio and want to include some of your professional work. The boss will often let you include images that won’t compromise the company’s competitive advantage.Use the Portfolio (this is not the time to be humble)
Have both a physical version for interviews and a digital one for recruiters—or consider an online PDF/website. Use the portfolio in the interview, while answering questions. “Why would you be a good fit for this company?” “Because I am passionate about my design work, for example take a look at this project” (then show the portfolio). Leave the portfolio at the interview (you want them to see it later. too).
Mistakes to Avoid
Not Treating Portfolio as a Design Project: Your portfolio will take planning, effort, time and iteration. Seek feedback from people who will give you a critical review.
Ambiguous Contributions: Always clarify your role—down to which CAD model or test setup was yours. Do not include any design work (graphics or otherwise) that you didn’t do.
Visual Neglect: Low-res images or messy page layouts undercut credibility.
Too Much Content: Brevity wins. Remember your audience; the people making a hiring choice are busy and have many candidates to review. Make their job easy. Remember that they are judging your ability to do all kinds of work (not just design work) from your portfolio. They are judging your attention to detail, your ability to communicate, your ability to engage an audience, and they are judging your design work.
Final Thoughts
A design portfolio is not just a tool to get a job—it is a long-term professional asset. It helps you communicate your capabilities in a way that words alone cannot, gives hiring committees the evidence they need to select you, and becomes a lasting record of your development as a designer. This matters in the short-term because it increases your job prospects, but it also matters across your career. A well-maintained portfolio reminds you of your progress, gives you confidence in your own abilities, and can even help you tell your professional story to others—whether in an interview, a presentation, or a mentoring setting.
I encourage you to start your portfolio today. Not tomorrow. Today. You will never regret capturing your best work, but you will absolutely regret letting it slip away undocumented. Your design portfolio is your visual résumé, your proof of practice, and your professional story—all in one. Build it, use it, and keep it alive.
REferences
[1] Hoschette, J. A. The Engineer’s Career Guide. Wiley, 2010.
[2] Kearney, S. “Digital Portfolios in Architecture.” Journal of Interactive Media in Education, vol. 2020, no. 1, 2020.
[3] Kemp, M. Leonardo da Vinci: The Marvellous Works of Nature and Man. Oxford University Press, 2006.
[4] Pedretti, C. Leonardo da Vinci: Engineer and Architect. McGraw-Hill, 1997.
[5] Wallace, R. Leonardo da Vinci: The Flight of the Mind. Macmillan, 1999.
[6] “Antique French Architecture Portfolios.” Miss Mustard Seed, 2023, https://missmustardseed.com/antique-french-architecture-portfolios/.
[7] “Wasmuth Portfolio.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasmuth_Portfolio.
[8] “What is the Real Role of a Design Portfolio Website?” UX Collective, https://uxdesign.cc/what-is-the-real-role-of-a-design-portfolio-website-ee0b5b76112b.
[9] Mattson, Chris. “How to Get the Job - Part 1.” The BYU Design Review, 17 Sep. 2019, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/how-to-get-the-job.
[10] 180 Engineering. “Top Tips for Building an Outstanding Portfolio.” 180 Engineering, https://180engineering.com/top-tips-for-building-an-outstanding-portfolio-as-an-engineering-or-tech-professional/.
To cite this article:
Mattson, Chris. “How to Create a Design Portfolio That Drastically Improves Your Job Prospects.” The BYU Design Review, 18 August 2025, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/how-to-create-a-design-portfolio-that-drastically-improves-your-job-prospects.
