When it comes to getting a job in design, your portfolio may be your most powerful ally. But how can you be sure you’ll leave the best impression on a prospective employer? Nick Abbott, an industrial designer who leads KeyShot’s education and Student Ambassador programs, shares the best tips for making your design portfolio stand out when applying for jobs in 3D and product design.
Create the Perfect Portfolio For a Product and 3D Design Role
Show Process
The procedural steps that define your renderings give people insight into your design thinking abilities, technical proficiency, troubleshooting skills, and workflow ease. “If you had to model some crazy lattice structure, unwrap a difficult object, or create a pretty intense material, it’s important to show the behind-the-scenes on how you did those things,” Nick says. “And I think this is really important for designers who want to get the job. I’ve conducted interviews, I’ve been a part of them, and we always want to know as designers why things were done. Design is subjective – what’s important is that there was a thoughtful process in making decisions.”
Include early sketches, make progress shots, use GIFs to show how you met a challenge, add short notes or summaries as breakdown slides, and note the tools you’ve used to bring the rendering to life. Hiring managers love when these details are easily accessible.
Show Versatility
How easily can you bounce between projects? How diverse are you with character and creature types? Can you pull off minimalist and maximalist, stylized and realistic? Employers are looking for your range, so it’s always wise to show the depth and breadth of your capabilities.
“There’s so many different ways to show a rendering, whether that’s photorealistic or abstract, or a technical explanation, like a ghosted render that shows internal parts or an exploded view,” Nick says. “It’s more than just a bunch of renderings on a plain background.”
You don’t need to have worked across multiple industries, but being able to use several different tools, rendering techniques, and art styles to convey your capabilities and process can help set you apart from the crowd of applicants.
Credit 3D assset creators
Whether you’re incorporating pre-made models for composition, texturing practice, or scene-building, always acknowledge the original creators. “Sometimes you could just download an object online and then render it and someone might think, oh, this person designed the object, but in reality, they just rendered it,” Nick starts. “You don’t want to miscommunicate that what you rendered is what you’ve designed.”
The design industry is rife with plagiarism and hiring managers actively look out for uncredited assets. If you use third-party models, specify your contributions (e.g., “Texturing and Lighting by Me, Model by XYZ”). With this, you’re able to tell that you understand collaboration and ethical industry standards.
Nix the skill level indicator on your resume section
If you include a resume section in your portfolio, avoid skill level indicators. “70% in KeyShot or Blender” doesn’t tell much without context. Employers will wonder about the specific aspects you’re referring to—sculpting, retopology, or texturing? Instead of a vague score, demonstrate specific competencies through your project variety and technical breakdowns.
What a Great 3D Designer Portfolio Looks Like to Hiring Managers
Nick breaks down the minds of 3D design employers and what they see in portfolios to consider them outstanding.
Five 3D Designer Portfolios We Love
Robson Renders: Portfolios like this one usually hold a vast range of work to explore so they’re placed in other pages (portfolio, work, services, etc) in the menu. The designer does a good job of using some of his best in the homepage, set to a preview feature that takes you on a short ride. It’s like watching a really good trailer of an awesome movie.
He gets in-depth and thorough with works that showcase precision and a polished visual narrative in the additional pages, but still doesn’t take things overboard.
Jordan Donaldson: Jordan creates photorealistic 3D renderings for high-end cosmetic and jewelry brands and you quickly grasp this within the first two swipes. His portfolio is a rich catalogue of work that shows and tells. Jordan uses lighting, texture and a clean design layout to accentuate his architectural renders which are meticulously categorized to highlight the depth of his technical skills. This makes it easy for visitors and potential employers to explore his work.
Bradley Brister: Bradley is a performance footwear designer and product design engineering graduate who builds 3D models. Bradley’s portfolio (which doubles as his website) is more information rich, featuring bright colors and green to embody the industry he’s grounded in, and is split into different sections that show a distinct selection of works. It’s also precise and offers clarity to employers looking for practicality.
Joey Lopez: We love Joey’s portfolio because it’s immersive, has a storyline, and shows great range. The website has a type of experimental style that if done poorly can be a bit disorderly, but Joey is able to match the quality of his renderings to the quality of the experience you get when viewing them. Featuring both static renders and animated models, it’s a good example of how 3D designers can show versatility with a unique perspective.
Adeline Masbrata: Adeline’s portfolio is as process-thorough as it is immersive, and as colorful as it is laid back. She gives visitors enough background information into how her ideas evolve from concept to final render without boring them, and shows work only within the interiors and household appliances niche but in different rendering styles.