“Lots of creatives have a password-protected part of their portfolio”

Creative Career Conundrums is a weekly advice column from If You Could Jobs. Each week their selected panel of professionals from the creative industry answers your burning career questions to help you navigate the creative journey.

This week’s question:

“I’m looking to take the next step in my career and apply for a new design job, but I’ve hit a roadblock when it comes to my portfolio. All of my current client work is confidential, so I can’t share any of it. I have older work from previous junior roles, but I feel like it doesn’t showcase the best of my abilities.

Is it a red flag to load up a portfolio with personal passion projects when applying for mid-weight roles? Is there a good way to deal with talking about confidential work?

How can I build a good portfolio when my best work is confidential?”

Katie Cadwell, co-founder of branding studio Lucky Dip and The NDA Podcast:

Everyone understands that you can’t publicly show parts of your portfolio. It’s a problem most creatives face – even studios that work with the biggest names aren’t allowed to put that work online.

Lots of creatives have a password-protected part of their portfolio – they share that password with a select few studios with the caveat that it’s under NDA. Of course, there’s still some risk associated with that method. The best scenario is waiting to talk through that work in an interview setting. Show them, but don’t send them a copy. Basically, avoid a digital paper trail.

Adding a list of client names or logos is another workaround. It means you can demonstrate the type of work you’re doing without breaching contracts. If you have ever seen Apple listed on a portfolio, they’re doing exactly that. Apple are a client notorious for iron-clad contracts stopping creatives from showing work (but everyone wants to shout about the fact they’ve worked with them).

You absolutely can include passion projects. I’d encourage it. They are the projects that demonstrate your skills better than client work. It shows your creativity without constraints of a brief, with every decision made by you.

If you have junior projects that could use an update, then do it. There’s no shame in saying you’ve included those to give a flavour of your experience (even if they are outdated) and would love to share other projects that aren’t ready to be released.

Don’t be afraid to show your full portfolio – just ensure it’s to the right people and you keep complete control of who has access to it.

In answering your creative career conundrums we realise that some issues need expert support, so we’ve collated a list of additional resources that can support you across things that might arise at work.

If You Could is the jobs board from It’s Nice That, the place to find jobs in the creative industries.

Want to stay on top of your job search? Or keep an ear out for when your dream job arrives on our site? Click here to set up tailored job alerts arriving straight into your inbox so you never miss an opportunity. See below for the latest opportunities: