What kind of interaction design portfolio does the interviewer really want to see? What should be the display mode of the works in the interaction design works collection? In addition to the interactive design collections that can be seen, what other invisible "interactive design collections" need to be prepared? Next, the author talks about how to prepare the interaction design portfolio from his own experience.

Recently, major Internet companies have launched the school recruitment model, and college students who are about to graduate are eager to try. As a result, many students are busy sorting out interaction design collections, turning out old scores and putting them into volumes, so as to gather enough information on the Internet to have interaction design collections of six works. In the minds of many people, the more interactive design works, the better. At the same time, it should include product positioning, demand analysis, user profiles, information architecture, use processes and interactive prototypes. Indeed, these are the results of each stage of the interaction design process, and the display of the results can reflect the designer's design ability. However, are these really what the interviewer wants to see? Some time ago, the author experienced interviews with companies of different sizes, and deeply realized that different companies have different requirements for recruiters, including industry giants and start-ups. However, each company pays different attention to the interaction design portfolio. Some companies even don't submit the interaction design portfolio at all, which is just an interview. They didn't look at the interaction design portfolio during the interview, but just talked about it all the time.

So, after the interview, I have been thinking about what kind of interaction design portfolio does the interviewer really want to see? What should be the display mode of the works in the interaction design works collection? In addition to the interactive design collections that can be seen, what other invisible "interactive design collections" need to be prepared?

How to prepare interaction design portfolio?

　　 First of all, the interview company is interested in your actual work project.

In the interview process, although the author prepared more than ten works, the larger the company, the more interested in the actual work project. Some people just skip over some works and let the author introduce a project in detail. I didn't even look at other projects. (This should be full of tears) Not to mention other design exercises. There are two reasons. First, the interview time is limited. In a short period of more than one hour, the interviewer can not fully understand your interaction design portfolio. Instead, he has to take a point to face view from one work to see if your design ability meets their requirements; Second, the larger the company is, the more detailed its work will be, and the more important the communication and writing between different types of work will be. The standardization and accuracy of design expression and communication will be particularly important. The differences between design exercises and actual work items in design expression and communication are self-evident. Another advantage of the actual project is that it can check whether your design is reasonable and perfect the design details. We all know that designers often revise their drafts. In the process of revision, we need to rethink the problems in your design scheme and adjust your design results. This process is the period of rapid growth of designers.

　　 Secondly, the number of interactive design works is not the better.

Many people think that the more interactive design works, the better, to show their rich work experience and outstanding design ability. Actually not. For college students who have just left school, their works are relatively few. Even if they have been practicing outside for a period of time, they do some leftover work in the project, which is difficult to show systematically. This is true, and the interviewer knows it. Therefore, polish the existing works and improve them as much as possible. If you can push a work to repeat several times, and do it better each time, this will be your biggest advantage in the interview process. Be able to do a good job in one or two works, do your best, and clearly carve your skills, ideas, carefulness, logic, etc. on these products. If you want others to see it, you should be able to have an accurate (even higher) assessment of your ability. Rather than spend a year selling paintings painted one day, it is better to spend a day selling paintings painted one year.

　　 Third, compared with information architecture, use process, interaction prototype, etc., interviewers pay more attention to the design methods and trade-offs behind these contents.

The author has experienced such a scenario. When making interactive design collections, we like to put product positioning and functions, interactive design prototypes, etc. on the interactive design collections, and spend a lot of energy and space to introduce them. These seem delicate and beautiful, but they do not coincide with the focus of interaction designers in their work. Interaction designers pay more attention to two points. One is the thinking of product function logic, which enables different users to complete tasks without obstacles. The other is what kind of information the interaction designer wants to convey on the page, and the importance hierarchy of these information. Therefore, when creating an interactive design portfolio, in addition to the presentation of design results, solutions to the problems faced by different users should also be provided according to the design process of the product. This is a complete set of visual interaction design works. If we can sort out this design method and trade-off considerations and display them in the interaction design works collection, it will be the most excellent interaction design works collection.

　　 Finally, attention should be paid to the preparation of non visual interaction design works.

The content displayed in an interview is often the result of a work, but also the tip of the iceberg of a product. In the interview process, the display of interaction design works is just an introduction, and more "interaction design works" can be reflected through communication with the interviewer. Therefore, the preparation of the interaction design portfolio will not end as long as there is no formal entry. For the preparation of non visual interactive design works, different scenes can be simulated to reflect the designer's thinking and choice of design scheme. Any design scheme is meaningful only in the corresponding scenario. A design scheme that is separated from users and scenarios is nonsense. Therefore, for different works, prepare the design characteristics and design purposes of works in different scenes in detail, and reflect the logic and decision-making behind the interaction design work set. This interaction design work set is a complete interaction design work set.

In addition, we must be willing. Many candidates who have just entered the society will take out all the works that they can organize into volumes and put them into the interaction design works collection. However, some works not only fail to add points to your interview, but also tend to reduce points. Therefore, for some works with no characteristics, incomplete thinking and rough production, we should abandon them.

Again, the core of the interview is whether you have the ability to do a good job and show your ability in the process of work. The same is true of the interaction design portfolio, which is an auxiliary expression of your two skills. However, Want to go abroad for interactive design The interaction design portfolio should not only show the results, but also show the process of completing the results. Only in this way can your results be convincing and fully reflect your ability.

Recommended articles of natural light art study abroad institutions:

Notes on interaction design portfolio - portfolio training

About the future of studying abroad in interactive design and what should be prepared for the collection of interactive design works

Interactive Design Works Collection Guide of American Art School and Art Center Design School

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