What I learned from meeting junior designers and reviewing their portfolios

Almost a year ago, I started setting aside time every month to review portfolios from junior UX/UI designers. I wanted to give back to the design community, giving guidance to those just getting started in an industry I know can feel demanding and daunting.

Ten reviews later, I’ve started noticing patterns. Often, it has less to do with Figma skills and more to do with who these designers are as people and how they think about their own growth in a field that’s constantly evolving.

The portfolio patterns I kept seeing

Let’s start with the obvious part: foundations matter. Knowing how to do user research, build flows, create screens and prototypes, and properly apply typography, color and accessibility standards is not optional. That is the baseline.

What I kept seeing, though, was not a lack of knowledge. There was a gap between understanding the process in theory and showing evidence of it clearly in practice. A few things came up again and again.

• Projects tried to show everything and ended up communicating very little. Each project should answer one simple question: What do you want someone to remember about you? For example: I am passionate about user research, or I know how to manage complex requirements, or I want to display an interest in a specific field or industry.
• Strong work was hidden behind poor layout. For designers, that is a serious problem. Visuals were often too small, key insights were buried in long paragraphs, and important pieces like flows or prototypes were missing. In many cases, the work may have been good, but the story was hard to follow. If your portfolio has poor contrast, accessibility issues or confusing navigation, it raises fair questions about your overall skills as a UX/UI designer. Your portfolio is your most visible case study. The portfolio itself needs to be treated as a UX product in its own right.
• There was little personality or reflection. I often found myself wondering: Who are you as a designer? What did you learn from this project? What would you do differently today? Without that layer, the portfolio could belong to almost anyone. What defines you as an individual and makes you a valuable addition to a team?

Strong foundations and a clear demonstration of craft are what get you noticed in the first place. Without them, the most creative and insightful ideas will be lost.

But the portfolio was never really the point

What stayed with me after each session was rarely the portfolio itself. It was the person behind it.

Some designers came in guarded, already expecting criticism. Others showed up with a notebook, open and genuinely eager to learn. That difference matters more than people think.

One person in particular stood out. They had interviewed with us before and had not moved forward, not because of a lack of skill, but because we simply did not have the right opening at the time. Instead of moving on, they booked a portfolio review with me. That caught our attention.

When I mentioned it to the team, the reaction was immediate. This was someone who was not waiting for permission to grow. They were going to keep improving either way. Later, when the right opportunity opened up, they came back, and we hired them.

That story stayed with me because it reflects something important about hiring, or at least the way we think about it. We are not evaluating a finished product. We are making a bet on a person. We are looking for someone who will keep growing over time. Someone who is curious, reflective, and proactive. Someone who will not wait to be told what to learn next.

What no tool will ever replace

Almost every designer I spoke with had some version of the same concern: Am I using the right tools? Should I know this already? Am I falling behind?

Over the past 10 years of my career, the tools I used in the early days (Illustrator for UI, InVision for prototyping) are no longer relevant. That is normal. The tools will keep changing. They always do.

What matters more is everything underneath them: understanding people, thinking clearly about the problems you’re trying to solve, telling a compelling story, making sense of complexity, and designing with real business goals in mind. Those skills are still essential. They will continue to be so.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the latest tools, or worry about keeping up with rapidly evolving technology. But getting distracted by tools before building strong fundamentals is not the best use of your energy. The designers who will thrive in the next 10 years are not the ones with the most comprehensive tech stack. They are the ones who understand why they make the choices they make and who are willing to keep learning.

For example, we are currently living through an AI transformation that is already reshaping the way we work and the future of design practice. I have seen a lot of resistance from designers toward this. Some of it is understandable. But to keep growing and thriving in this field, we need to engage with AI and help shape its role in design, not just push against it because we are comfortable with a certain way of working. That’s about an attitude of open mindedness, curiosity and a desire to constantly learn new ways to create high quality outcomes.

The real differentiator: your relationship with growth

If I could leave one piece of advice with every junior designer reading this, it would be this: Treat feedback as a gift. Especially when it’s uncomfortable.
The designers who resisted feedback during our sessions, who focused on proving the reviewer was wrong, or showed visible frustration, were closing the very doors they were trying to open.

If you become too attached to one tool, one process, or one way of working, you risk becoming rigid in a field that rewards adaptation. 

The designers who stood out were not always the most polished technically. They were the most curious. The most open. The most honest about where they still had room to grow. The ones who showed they were ready to learn. That’s who I want to collaborate with. 

Closing thoughts

The beginning of a design career can feel hard, because it is hard. The job search can be discouraging. It is easy to compare yourself to others, question your skills, or wonder whether you are already falling behind in your abilities. But the designers who make it are rarely the ones who looked the most polished on day one.

Successful designers are the ones who kept showing up. The ones who stayed curious. The ones who kept learning. Be that person and opportunities will open to you. Take those opportunities and the rest will follow.

You can apply here if you’d like to join the Osedea team. 

‍