The New Design Portfolio (No Case Studies)

I'm not reading your case study, and I don't say that to sound harsh, but for example, a study timed 16 design leaders reviewing portfolios, and the time it

took for them to make a decision was 55 seconds. 55 seconds. So, what are they

seconds. 55 seconds. So, what are they looking at in those 55 seconds? Because

it's not your process diagrams. I'm going to show you some real portfolio, stuff you probably haven't seen before from designers who are either working or just got work right now. I'll break down what hiring managers are telling me

they're scanning for, and then I'm going to give you four paths that you can take to start creating this new design portfolio that's starting to emerge.

Now, this is all based on the conversations I'm having with design and product leaders, both publicly and privately, and based on the things we're scouting for in our own talent network.

For example, look at this. This is one designer, some AI tools. This is a full gaming experience, motion, design, controls. Done. Two years ago, this

controls. Done. Two years ago, this would have taken a team. Now, it's done by one person in a weekend with Claude Code. Now, the data backs this up

Code. Now, the data backs this up because Figma just published their 2026 hiring study. If you haven't read it, it

hiring study. If you haven't read it, it says that 73% of hiring managers are saying the need for AI tool proficiency is going up. For some places, this is not a bonus anymore. It's increasingly

becoming a requirement. And worth noting is Figma themselves just posted a monster quarter. 300 million in revenue,

monster quarter. 300 million in revenue, up 40% year-over-year, which says to me that the need for canvas tools is not going away. It's actually increasing.

going away. It's actually increasing.

But from what I'm seeing, what goes on the canvas is what's evolving. And the

work that stands out looks different than it did 2 years ago. Now, this is not a mandate. This is just a pattern that I am seeing that I think is worth paying attention to. I am in a bubble surrounded by these types of designers

and design teams. So, please keep that in mind. This does not yet appear to be

in mind. This does not yet appear to be industrywide, but it is increasing.

Wireframing, responsive layouts, translating between code and design, they used to be the whole case study.

And what I'm noticing is that the work AI helps with the fastest is exactly that foundational stuff. Which means

what's left to show is becoming different. Your judgment, curiosity, a

different. Your judgment, curiosity, a willingness to build where people can see it. So, let me show you what's

see it. So, let me show you what's catching my eye when I'm sourcing designers. And it is not a case study.

designers. And it is not a case study.

It is not a deck. Those things still have value in the interview cycle, but less so on the discovery layer. Now, I'm

helping companies like Cursor, Versel, and Figma find designers. Some of the people we're going to look at, I helped place. That's how I know this works.

place. That's how I know this works.

Look at Chloe. You can click on anything on this site. It's simple, layered. It

has these really thoughtful Easter eggs with personality. I spent 10 minutes

with personality. I spent 10 minutes here the first time I saw this. Not 55

seconds. That was 10 minutes. This is

what a playground does. It breaks the timer and it really leaves an impression. Or Preston Booth. The site

impression. Or Preston Booth. The site

is the portfolio. Every element here is a design decision that you can interact with. And immediately I get a sense of

with. And immediately I get a sense of his attention to detail and his definition of joy. This is a wonderful representation that would get a call back. We could take it a step further

back. We could take it a step further and look at Adrien Lemie. This is a design engineer who I'm quite impressed with. The visual craft starts really

with. The visual craft starts really minimal. You can tell there's something

minimal. You can tell there's something compelling here and it rewards you for digging further. The interactions are

digging further. The interactions are just as considered as the actual messaging. And while those are

messaging. And while those are playgrounds, these next ones go a little bit further. And sometimes the product

bit further. And sometimes the product is the portfolio. Sebastian Cornelius

doesn't have a portfolio that I'm aware of, but he does have Pion, a file sharing app that he's designed. opening

a document, paper effects, clever shadows. Every post he has shared is a

shadows. Every post he has shared is a micro design decision on display. And

they're not on a personal website. His

Twitter feed is his playground. This is

a collection of these micro design decisions that very clearly sell his abilities. Or you can go as far as war

abilities. Or you can go as far as war work. And if you take a look at the

work. And if you take a look at the level of detail in this little world that she has built, this is really impressive. It's not just conveying that

impressive. It's not just conveying that she's capable, but also that she puts a lot of care into her decisions. Some of

those things you might not notice if you don't stay here long enough, like the daytime turning to dusk. Some of the interactions that you can take on the different objects or entering her little

humble abode. But you can also

humble abode. But you can also experiment in public the way Victor does. And he doesn't have a traditional

does. And he doesn't have a traditional portfolio. In fact, he is very much

portfolio. In fact, he is very much sharing these experiments on Twitter.

here's what I built and here's how I did it. And he's demonstrating that he

it. And he's demonstrating that he builds to learn and he shares his discoveries. This is the most honest way

discoveries. This is the most honest way to transition into creating personal media, too. You're not shilling

media, too. You're not shilling anything. You're just sharing learnings

anything. You're just sharing learnings with the community. It's a very honest way to kind of mentor at scale. Now,

you're probably thinking, "Cool sites, Tommy, but does this actually lead to work?" Well, that's why I'm making the

work?" Well, that's why I'm making the video. Look at Flo. She has actively

video. Look at Flo. She has actively talked about this. Never knew how to code. She started sharing these

code. She started sharing these experiments on Twitter and immediately found herself in design engineering roles in a founding designer role as a junior. She is a great example of how

junior. She is a great example of how this can work. Same with Tom Johnson. He

worked for a startup that frankly nobody knew about until he started sharing the work he was doing. And he'd even share some of his side projects. And those

side projects turned into real proof.

And now he has a job at one of the most designforward companies in tech today.

And if you really want to see how far you can take this concept, look no further than Rio Lou, the head of design at Cursor. His personal site is a

at Cursor. His personal site is a collection of these experiments.

Meanwhile, he's running one of the most important design teams in AI, and this is what he regularly shows the world.

Now, a playground doesn't get you the job. It might get you the conversation.

job. It might get you the conversation.

And that's important because right now, a lot of designers aren't even getting the conversation. And actually, I want

the conversation. And actually, I want to come back to that because one of the designers I featured in my last video sent me a direct message after it went up. And I want to read that to you

up. And I want to read that to you before we're done. But I want to ground this because the picture here is more complex than learn AI and you'll be fine. There's a paradox. Designer Fund

fine. There's a paradox. Designer Fund

tracked their portfolio saying design job postings were up 60% year-over-year.

But that same Figma study from earlier cited only 20% of hiring managers think that the market is actually improving.

So how do you square that? Because it

does appear there is demand, but there's demand for a specific type of designer.

58% of hiring managers listed visual polish and craft as their top evaluation criteria. And 56% of open roles are

criteria. And 56% of open roles are senior level while only 25% are junior.

Now, I want to sit with that number for a second because I hear from junior designers every day, and I don't think we're being honest about what that number actually means. The entry-level

jobs that are disappearing today, I'm not totally convinced they're all coming back. Not all of them. And that worries

back. Not all of them. And that worries me a little bit. It's part of why I'm getting involved with the local high schools. I'm trying to build inroads for

schools. I'm trying to build inroads for the next generation to prepare them for a market that doesn't have a clear path for them yet. And that is not enough.

But I'm not going to just sit behind a camera. I've got to try something. But

camera. I've got to try something. But

here's what I do believe. Entry-level

people are finding work. But what's

changing is what entrylevel means. The

definition does appear to be rewriting itself right now. But think about what entry level has always meant. You didn't

really know what you were doing yet. You

learned design on the job. You didn't

always know why it worked, but you learned that through repetitions, through seeing what got approved, and through watching senior designers think

out loud, through osmosis. And what I'm saying is AI tools work the same way.

Spend a month going deep on clawed code or cursor. And I'm not just talking

or cursor. And I'm not just talking about a few tasks. And tell me you don't emerge knowing things you didn't know before. The tools start by carrying you

before. The tools start by carrying you further than your skills alone. But it's

in the doing of it that that knowledge starts to transfer. Now, I've been calling this tool osmosis, and it's a new sort of apprenticeship, except it's faster than the old one, and it involves

one human instead of two. And for a junior designer, the route to becoming capable is very much still there. It's

just not routing only through job postings anymore. Now, it can also run

postings anymore. Now, it can also run through building publicly with the tools that remove the barrier to just making something. and it is beginning to become

something. and it is beginning to become a more common path. But don't just take my word for it because the macro data does support some of this complexity. If

we look at PWC's global AI jobs barometer, this is one of the largest labor studies to date on AI. They found

that industries most exposed to AI saw job numbers rise 38%. Not drop, rise.

But those jobs do look different than the ones they replaced. And this is the same story happening in design. And if

you're in a full-time position right now, that's actually a really strong place to build from. Yes, you might be too employed, and that can be a real issue as well. I wrote about that recently. But you also have the

recently. But you also have the privilege of stability. You have the runway to experiment without the financial pressure of somebody looking for work, a side project, a playground, maybe a micro tool that you build for a

friend. You can do that from safety.

friend. You can do that from safety.

Now, the designers I'm placing right now didn't start from a place of desperation. Most of them started from a

desperation. Most of them started from a place of curiosity and had the room to explore it, which is a privilege. But

here's what I would suggest doing with all of this. I think there are four paths you can take. And I want you to pick one, just one. Path one, micro interactions. For one month, I want you

interactions. For one month, I want you to focus on small moments like these.

the micro animations, hover states, loading transitions, these 15-second interactions that prove you understand how interfaces should feel. You don't

need a full product. You just need proof of good judgment. Path two, build your own playground. This is a website

own playground. This is a website hosting your experiments. Doesn't have

to be finished, doesn't even have to be polished. You can go wide with lots of

polished. You can go wide with lots of small experiments, or you can go deep like Riolu and build an entire world.

Treat it like a living collection, not a deliverable. Path three, create software

deliverable. Path three, create software as a gift. Now, this was coined by my friend Kyle Santos. Build something

small for something specific. A tool for your partner, a website for your friend's band, maybe a dashboard for that local nonprofit. Because shipping

something for a real person is the fastest way to produce work worth showing, Sam Dape does this extremely well if you need some inspiration. You

don't have to be an expert and you definitely don't have to act like one.

You just have to be willing to learn in public. Today I tried 3JS for the first

public. Today I tried 3JS for the first time. Here's what I built and here's

time. Here's what I built and here's what I learned. Now you might say, Tommy, I don't know how to present this on social media. But that is the same exact problem we all had with case studies. But the difference is on social

studies. But the difference is on social media you can share so frequently that each post is low stakes. And if your work has some motion, like if it's actually moving, the packaging barely

matters. The work does most of the

matters. The work does most of the talking and 30 microshares beats three case study cycles every day. Each one is a feedback loop and that is 30 loops to learn from in a short amount of time. So

where should you post? Well, take it from me. I probably know better than

from me. I probably know better than most. X first. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is

most. X first. Yes. Yes. Yes. This is

where the companies I work with are discovering talent. This is where I'm

discovering talent. This is where I'm finding most of the people I scout. It's

just built for it. I've placed designers on X who had no following, but their work went viral. Then Instagram second and motion plays especially well there.

Packaging's a little bit more important and LinkedIn third. A little cringe, but it still matters. A lot of the hiring managers, that's where they're scrolling. And your format could be

scrolling. And your format could be here's what I built. Here's what I learned. And here are the tools I used.

learned. And here are the tools I used.

And and that is it. Just go ship it and let yourself be bad at the beginning.

Now, I do want to be straight with you.

Nothing I've shown you guarantees you a job. What I can share with you is what

job. What I can share with you is what I'm seeing, which companies are hiring, what they're looking for, and what's working for the designers I'm placing.

And I'll share what the research is showing, like Daria, the CEO of Enthropic, telling Harvard that he thinks half of entry-level white collar jobs could disappear within 5 years. Or

the Guardian reporting that US employers cited AI in 55,000 job cuts in 2025.

Now, these are not predictions. These

are cuts that already happened factored to AI. But the shift does seem to be

to AI. But the shift does seem to be rewarding people who are showing their work versus explaining it in a document.

So please show your work live interactive in motion. I don't care if you've been doing this for 1 year or for 20. I don't care if you're a student or

20. I don't care if you're a student or a director learning to code for the first time. In fact, Joe Ashula, the

first time. In fact, Joe Ashula, the product design director at Ledger is teaching himself to ship right now. He

is ignoring the levels of cringe that come with posting about it publicly.

Everybody's in a brand new season. You

are not unique. And the tools are changing right alongside the way we are discovering designers. So my challenge

discovering designers. So my challenge to you, build one thing this week. Maybe

a micro interaction, a playground, or a small tool for a friend. Post it on X and tag me. I've got my eyes out. I am

always on the lookout for people to spotlight. In fact, I was sent this

spotlight. In fact, I was sent this message from the last video, and I'm going to keep this anonymous, but they said, "Hey, man. I just wanted to say, "Thanks for putting out that video and showcasing some of my stuff. I have seen

some incoming activity from it." And I get notes like this from most of the people I spotlight, and I'm going to start sharing them with you because I want you to see what happens when you start putting your work out there. These

videos are starting to function as this discovery engine for designers, and that is a really cool insight to accidentally stumble upon. It is now becoming part of

stumble upon. It is now becoming part of my mission. So, help me help you get

my mission. So, help me help you get found. Share your work and tag me. I'm

found. Share your work and tag me. I'm

watching. There are so many companies right now who do not know how to find the designers they're looking for.

They're not on dribble. They're not

reading case studies. They're looking at exactly what I just showed you today, social media feeds and playgrounds. And

my goal is to connect those two sides through our talent network. You can

apply through the link in my description. If you don't get accepted,

description. If you don't get accepted, it's not because you're not good enough.

It's because you probably don't fit the very specific types of designers that we are sourcing for. I just shared how some companies are finding designers right now, but this is all still hard to

navigate. And what does it actually mean

navigate. And what does it actually mean to be an AI native designer, not as a job title, but as a description of the type of work you're familiar with? Well,

we're experimenting with a rubric for that, and I'm going to share a video on it soon. Stay curious, and I'll see you

it soon. Stay curious, and I'll see you next time.