Breaking in: A guide to landing your first product design role

What Actually Matters in a First Design Portfolio

Figma’s product design team hires interns and new graduates every year, and they evaluate those candidates on a surprisingly flexible standard. Portfolios are personal, and as long as the work is strong, the story is coherent, and the site is easy to navigate, the format is up to you. What follows is what the team says they actually look for when reviewing early-career applicants.

Lead with the work you can talk about best

The first project a reviewer sees sets the tone, so it should be your most complete and representative piece. If you’re unsure which one that is, pick the project you can speak to most naturally—if you can tell a compelling story about it, it’s probably the right opener. Choose projects with a clear problem statement, key milestones, and a real conclusion. That conclusion doesn’t have to be a success story; being able to articulate what you learned, what you would measure, and what you’d do differently can carry just as much weight.

Tammy Taabassum, a product designer working on generative AI, stresses the reasoning behind decisions over the decisions themselves. “Why you did something is often more important than what you did because ‘why’ showcases your product thinking,” she says. “Every color, component, style, bit of copy is a choice, and being able to articulate what trade-offs you considered and the pros and cons of those choices makes it clear that you understand nuances, constraints, and the implications of different options.”

Depth beats volume

Reviewers would rather see a few well-executed projects than a long list of weaker ones. You don’t need to limit yourself to end-to-end or shipped work. Julia Han, a product designer and former Figma summer intern, points out that “interviewers often love seeing exploratory designs and future visions. These unshipped concepts can reveal a lot about your creative process and ability to think beyond the requirements.” If you want to show breadth, some designers keep a separate “B-reel” archive page for visual experiments and smaller pieces that don’t warrant a full case study.

Tell the whole story, even without metrics

Every case study should trace a through-line from problem to outcome, including obstacles, process, and reflection. If you don’t have metrics—common for student work—propose how you would measure success. Kelly Hu, who works on the Figma Editor, notes that qualitative insight counts too: “Be a storyteller! Whether you’re sharing case studies, presenting your portfolio, or answering interview questions, a well-crafted story can elevate how you communicate the value of your design work.”

GIFs and short recordings can make work scannable and demonstrate practical skills, but readability matters more than spectacle. The team recommends quadruple-checking links, image loading, responsive layout, and calls to action. Chia Amisola, a designer on prototyping, warns against risky personality flourishes in place of basic polish. “Being intentional about these finer details stands out more than trying to differentiate with riskier personality flourishes,” she says.

Keep it public and keep it current

Password-protected portfolios create friction. If you must protect your site, put the password at the top of your resume—reviewers who can’t find it easily will simply move on. Review your portfolio quarterly or bi-annually, add projects as soon as you finish them, and cut outdated work so your site reflects your current skills.

Share work before you have permission to be polished

You don’t have to wait for a full case study to start building a presence. Keeyen Yeo, a product designer, recommends sharing frequently on platforms like X and LinkedIn. “Don’t let the pressure of creating big, complex projects hold you back from sharing,” he says. “If you’re feeling intimidated, start very small like a unique interaction to delete a photo. As you build confidence, you can work your way up to larger ideas. The key is to start sharing, regardless of the scale.” Sharing works-in-progress also signals that you can iterate and collaborate, which the team says is its own kind of portfolio asset.

The portfolio walkthrough: what to expect

Your portfolio got you in the door. Now the interview is about how you talk about that work. Figma's early-career design interviews are structured to give you room to show how you think, not just what you made.

Prepare for the story, not just the slides

Research the company's mission, values, and culture before you walk in. That groundwork helps you frame your responses in a way that connects your work to their goals. But preparation goes beyond reading the about page. Review your case studies carefully and be ready to defend the decisions you made. Why did you choose that layout? What constraints shaped that feature? Reviewers on a design panel will probe your reasoning. If you're not sure where the weak spots are in your narrative, run a mock interview with a friend or classmate. Ask them to get specific and challenging with their questions, so you build comfort with going deeper on every part of your process.

Structure your answers, elevate your questions

Expect behavioral questions like "Walk us through your design process" or "Tell us about a time you handled feedback well." You don't need a scripted answer for every possible prompt. Instead, keep a mental list of three or four key projects that can serve as the foundation for any answer. Use the STAR format—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to keep these stories tight and coherent.

Your questions for the interviewer matter too. Skip surface-level queries like "What do you like about the team?" and go deeper. Ask something like, "Can you share some examples of the design team's strengths and how they've contributed to recent successes?" That signals genuine curiosity and gives you real insight into team dynamics.

Soft skills are part of the evaluation

The role demands more than visual craft. Communication, collaboration and adaptability are core criteria in a team-based environment. Look for chances in the conversation to show how you've worked through conflict, taken direction, or adjusted when a constraint shifted your plans. These stories demonstrate you're not just a strong designer but someone who makes the team around you better.

Make the narrative your own

Landing that first role or internship is daunting, but the differentiator is often simply the ease with which you talk about what you made and why. Bring your own perspective to the work, and let that confidence carry through the process. Emphasize what makes your path unique, and trust the portfolio you've built.

Cai Charniga (they/them) is a product designer at Figma who also founded the company's DesignOps function. They also tattoo professionally out of a private studio in Brooklyn.