Because the current job market for graphic design is so competitive, even a single misstep can cause a hiring manager or recruiter to pass on an applicant.

This list of common portfolio issues is aimed is at designers looking to get hired into full time design roles and doesn't necessarily apply to freelancers, agencies, etc. though some items may be relevant.

Not loading straight to your work.

Hiring managers and recruiters expect to see your work as soon as they’re on your portfolio, and they’ll be frustrated if they have to click through multiple pages to find it. Your work should be right there on the home page, and it shouldn't require scrolling to see the first thumbnails

Social media links that are broken, that link to the default platform home page rather than to the designer's profile, or to an account with no posts, or to an account that's set to private.

A very common issue that immediately shows a lack of attention to detail, which is overall the biggest portfolio issue. The designer didn’t bother to click on every link on their website before sending out into the world.

Consider eliminating these links altogether. Aside from LinkedIn, there is little advantage to sending visitors to your website portfolio to another platform that you don’t own and control. Other designers are just a click away. Other platforms’ layouts have limited customizability.

Think about why you would choose to send visitors away from your portfolio website – your home base – once you already have them there. If you have projects on Instagram, Behance, Dribbble, etc. that aren’t on your portfolio – why aren’t they there? And if you’re showing the same projects on those platforms that you have in your portfolio, why would anyone want to see them again, in another place?

Most visitors won’t click on those links – but even if they ignore social links, you’ve still given them an option that they’ve bypassed, creating a sense of FOMO.

Use social media to get people to your portfolio. Use your portfolio to get interviews.

Show visitors the minimum amount of elements that they need to consider contacting you for an interview.

Websites that present the designer as an agency offering freelance services to clients rather than as an individual designer looking to be hired into a full time design role.

The messaging for getting freelance clients is completely different from the messaging used to get hired into a full time design roles. Organizations don't hire companies into roles; they hire people. You can't split your website into both – your entire website must have one single direction and purpose, which, when you’re looking for a full time design role, is to secure job interviews. The more successful you make yourself look as an active freelancer or studio, the less attractive you are to an employer.

Too much focus on art, illustration, photography, or other non-design skills.

A classic mistake from new graduates who'd rather be doing something more artistic than straight graphic design. When working designers need images, audio and video clips, illustrations, or other assets, most will either use stock assets or custom assets created for or supplied by the client. Those who hire designers will see a focus on non-design skills as coming from someone who doesn't understand their role and may not be happy working as a designer, causing them to move on to the next portfolio.

Lack of full projects with multiple images showing different deliverables along with text descriptions that talk about the work that was done for the project.

Full, robust projects that tell stories are what get designers hired.

Long blocks of centered text.

Centering long blocks of text is a sign that that someone hasn’t formally studied typography, or that they did but for some reason they ignored the basic rules. Centered text is only used in very specific situations and almost never for blocks of text longer than a couple lines. Wine bottles and wedding invitations are the commonly cited exceptions.

Forced justification of narrow blocks of text, especially with the default settings that only add space between words and not between characters.

Don't use any default without questioning the results and then exploring the settings. Forced justification works best with wider text blocks and condensed fonts, and with hyphenation enabled.

Inappropriate images: nudity, curses, violence, middle fingers etc. 

Even if the individual person first reviewing your portfolio doesn't have a problem with these things, that person will most likely have to get hiring approval from at least one other person. Especially in corporate situations, no one wants to risk getting in trouble for forwarding something potentially problematic through the company email.

Most of the work uses edgier words and images is created by freelance designers, not full time designers hired by an employer. Leave it out. You can always put that work back into your portfolio once you’ve been hired.

No About page/bio.

You need to talk about yourself somewhere on your website in order to present yourself as a real person and not just a collection of design projects.

Images too small/composited as multiple-up / not taking advantage of screen size/space.

Don't assume people will click to enlarge images because the vast majority won't. Viewers of your portfolio want to get through it as quickly as possible. Small images only register to the user in a basic way – "they designed a brochure". Only at a large size can the viewer really see the design and connect with it.

Additionally, if you composite images into a grid rather than using a platform’s tools to create a native grid of images, they won’t reflow vertically on smaller screen sizes like tablet and mobile.

Think of each project in your portfolio as a design in and of itself.

Typos, bad grammar, etc. in work or descriptions.

Many hiring managers will close a portfolio at the first typo because it’s an indicator that there will be more. You can’t catch all potential errors on your own, so ask at least two other people to thoroughly review your portfolio before sending it out.

A focus on non-commercial styles: grunge, anti-design, brutalism.

Most full time design jobs have little to no need for these styles, and seeing them featured prominently in a designer's portfolio will turn off hiring managers and recruiters. Show the kind of work that organizations who are hiring designers need.

Widows, orphans, and runts in work.

If you don't know these terms, your work most likely contains them. If your portfolio has a project with a runt, it’s almost guaranteed that there will be many runts. Type is the core of design, not understanding the basic rules will turn away anyone hiring a designer who knows this.

Not showing work that contains a large amount of text.

The biggest and most common technical challenge of designers is working with long text, especially in multi-page documents. Experienced designers can instantly see who can handle this well and who can’t – show that you’re in the latter group. This is why a portfolio filled with album covers, fake movie posters, concert posters, etc. isn’t ideal. Those types of pieces don't show that a designer can handle working with large amounts of text which is what many pieces of marketing collateral require.

Cliché personal/conceptual projects / conceptual projects all consumer focused / lack of range in type of client, style and approach in conceptual work.

Go onto job sites, look at lots of job postings for design roles and document the kind of work each organization produces. Much of what you see won't be consumer focused but instead will be B2B – business to business. Showing these kinds of projects is an instant level up because so many businesses offer products and services to other businesses.

Mockups rotated too much or with too much background area.

This falls under using the default without questioning it. A mockup of a brochure, book, flyer, etc. that's rotated more than roughly 20° isn't effective. If you were photographing a printed piece that you created, you'd never lay it down on a table at an extreme angle. People won't really see the design. Modify the mockup to be at less of an angle. Similarly, crop out any excess background area.

Too much logo slapping to fill out a project.

People want to see a design adapted to many print and digital pieces. Showing a minimal number fully designed pieces followed by the logo on various items doesn't fool anyone. Create full, robust pieces for each project. Use variety – for example, if you’re showing a series of ads for a product or service at different sizes (which is a good idea), use different headlines and imagery for each ad to show how you can adapt a concept into a creative campaign.

Contact form only / no email address.

Many hiring managers and recruiters will want or require your email address. By having only a contact form, or even by having a clickable mail icon that opens a blank email, you’ll be creating frustration in those who you want to hire you.

Anything other than a website portfolio with a custom domain. 

PDFs are especially problematic as they display in the browser by default and at a much smaller size with lots of extra space on the side. You can't control how someone views your PDF and sites like Behance, Dribble, etc. put you one click away from the next designer on a platform you don't own or control. Even the act of securing a domain and building a website shows the kind of discipline needed from a designer and it's often the baseline required.

Project featuring licensed comic book characters, licensed anime characters, etc.

Showing fan art of characters you didn’t create is a huge red flag that you don’t know what you want to do. Graphic design isn’t illustration. If your instinct is to show your art/illustration abilities in a portfolio that’s designed to get you hired into a full time design role, take an honest look at why you have this desire. It will damage your ability to get hired as a designer.

And for resumes:

Not including a portfolio website link or including a non-clickable link.

You must have your portfolio listed and it must be clickable. Every single action you take in every single thing you do must remove friction from the person viewing your work.