Comments on: Portfolio 101: Pick a Least Favorite

By: minxlj

minxlj — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:01:55 +0000

I’d never come back with some standard response like ‘I love it all equally’ because it can never be true, and if the interviewer is asking that question they obviously don’t want to hear the standard response.

I don’t want to work for the type of company who just want to hear me lie and say everything’s great – I’d much rather go for the one who appreciates my honesty. Because that’s the only way GREAT work ever gets accomplished, when people are honest enough to say when something’s crap.

By: Dennis Lee

Dennis Lee — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:00:25 +0000

Yeah, I do agree with Steve. Being a student designer myself, I often have to wonder what the interviewer is looking for?

A superconfident, balls-on-my-face designer or a guy honest with his own work?

Most of the time it really depends on the interviewer and how at ease he makes the interviewee feel.

Haha, but most of the time I go the honest route.

By: Chanpory Rith

Chanpory Rith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:42:53 +0000

Hey Steve, thanks for the critique. I love your suggestion for reframing the question to help the interviewer feel less insecure. My goal is to try to get the designer to think critically about their work. And your suggestion would achieve that very well.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:13:20 +0000

The problem with your question isn't the question, but the atmosphere of this kind of interview would make a designer second-guess themselves, thinking you're trying to trick them, tripping them up, or you're waiting for a standard response - like the ones you're getting.

I'd expect you'd get better responses if you asked them to pick out a design or two that they wished they had more time to improve, now that they have perspective on it. Sounds less tricky.

By: Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:59:06 +0000

Some great questions there. I just had a look at mine to see what was my least favourite, mostly the ones I didn’t spend as much time on.

Want to review my portfolio… I can take a beating. http://justcreativedesign.com/portfolio/

Jacob

By: Chanpory Rith

Chanpory Rith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:57:58 +0000

Hi Billslm. Indeed, hindsight is 20/20, as they say. I hadn’t heard of the Picasso quote, but I love it.

By: Chanpory Rith

Chanpory Rith — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:56:28 +0000

Hey Brad, I think you're right.

It's easier to spot specific mistakes and negatives once you start looking. I like to ask for the least favorite, rather than the most favorite, because then the designer gets to decide whether or not she leaves that piece in for the future. It's better to know what to take out, than what to leave in.

By: Billslm

Billslm — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:16:24 +0000

You probably already knew this but here goes: When Picasso was asked to name his favorite painting he said, "The last one."

As a composer, I would say that my least favorite work is anything I did before the last one depending on how many zillion times I listened to it.

By: Seraph

Seraph — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:55:57 +0000

I actually know exactly which project was my least favorite. Working on it practically hurt in a physical way...especially when the client ok'd it and said it was "perfect".

Ugh....not good memories.

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:44:23 +0000

I think there's another reason this might be a revealing question.

When I look at movie or book reviews, I always check the negative reviews first. Our good reviews tend to be non-specific, I think because it means that the product in question tends to be in tune with expectations and aspects of ourselves that we take for granted. Also, there's no social obligation to say why something is good.

On the other hand, bad reviews tend to get very specific, and if I spot bad reviews calling out defects that I think are positive features, I've learned a lot more than I would have wading through the good reviews.

So I wonder whether this question might also be effective by forcing the interviewee to a greater level of specificity than he'd have gone to if you'd asked him the exact same questions regarding his decisions on his favorite piece.

Just my $.02.