⚡ TL;DR
- • 5 dimensions: Visual design, UX patterns, accessibility, content quality, case study depth
- • Scoring: 0-100 composite score — most portfolios land 45-70
- • Free: Single page critique, unlimited, no signup
- • Full site: $5 — every page scored + holistic flow analysis
Why We're Telling You This
Most feedback tools are black boxes. You get a score and some advice, with no idea how it was generated or what it's actually looking at. That makes it hard to trust — and hard to improve.
We think you should know exactly what's being evaluated. If you know the criteria, you can self-audit before submitting. You can focus your energy on the dimensions that matter most for your career stage. And you can decide whether our feedback even applies to your situation.
Here's everything we check, why it matters, and how it affects your score.
Visual Design & Polish
This is usually the first thing that registers — before anyone reads a word, the visual quality has already made an impression. We're not looking for trendy design. We're looking for intentional design.
What we evaluate:
- • Typography. Is there a clear type hierarchy? Are font choices consistent? Is body text readable (16px+, proper line height)? We cover typography principles in depth in our typography guide.
- • Color usage. Is the palette intentional and limited? Does color serve a purpose (hierarchy, emphasis, branding) or is it decorative noise?
- • Spacing and alignment. Consistent margins, padding, and grid alignment. This is the #1 tell between amateur and professional work — the grid.
- • Image quality. Screenshots should be crisp and readable. Mockups should be presented consistently. No blurry images, no placeholder content.
- • Overall cohesion. Does the portfolio feel like one intentional system, or a collection of pages that were designed at different times?
Why it matters: Your portfolio is a design artifact. If you're applying for design roles, the portfolio itself is work sample #1. A hiring manager looking at a messy portfolio thinks: “If this is how they present their best work...”
UX & Navigation Patterns
Ironic as it sounds, many UX designer portfolios have terrible UX. We check whether your portfolio is actually easy to use.
What we evaluate:
- • Navigation clarity. Can a visitor find your projects, about page, and contact info within seconds? Is navigation visible without hunting?
- • Information architecture. Is the content organized logically? Can someone understand the site structure from the homepage?
- • Load time. Pages that take more than 3 seconds to load get flagged. Uncompressed images are the usual culprit.
- • Mobile responsiveness. We check whether the layout works on smaller screens. More than half of initial portfolio reviews happen on phones.
- • Call to action. Is there a clear next step on every page? Can someone easily reach out or download your resume?
Why it matters: If a hiring manager can't find your case studies in 5 seconds, they move on to the next candidate. For a deeper dive, our navigation best practices guide covers the patterns that work.
Accessibility & Inclusivity
Accessibility isn't a nice-to-have — it's a professional expectation. Companies increasingly ask about accessibility in interviews. Your portfolio should demonstrate that you think about it.
What we evaluate:
- • Color contrast. Text should meet WCAG AA standards (4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text). Light gray text on white backgrounds is the most common failure.
- • Alt text on images. Screen readers need to know what's in your images. Missing alt text is a missed signal of attention to detail.
- • Keyboard navigation. Can someone tab through your site without a mouse? Are interactive elements focusable?
- • Text sizing. Body text under 16px on mobile is a readability issue. We flag small text that requires zooming.
- • Semantic structure. Proper heading hierarchy (H1→H2→H3), landmark elements, and meaningful link text.
Why it matters: Beyond being the right thing to do, accessibility awareness signals design maturity. A portfolio that fails basic contrast checks suggests the designer doesn't think about the full range of users. Our accessibility guide covers the essentials.
Content & Copy Quality
Words matter. A portfolio with great visuals but vague, generic copy feels hollow. We evaluate whether the writing supports or undermines the design.
What we evaluate:
- • Clarity of positioning. Can someone understand who you are and what you do within 6 seconds of landing on your site? Your tagline or intro should answer this instantly. See our tagline examples for inspiration.
- • Conciseness. Portfolios are scanned, not read. Every paragraph should earn its place. We flag walls of text that could be tightened.
- • Specificity. “Passionate designer creating beautiful experiences” tells nobody anything. We look for specific claims, concrete examples, and named skills.
- • Professional tone. Not formal — just clear. No typos, no broken sentences, no placeholder text (you'd be surprised).
- • About page depth. Is there a real human behind this portfolio? A good about page shows personality without being unprofessional.
Case Study Depth
This is where portfolios are won or lost. Case studies are the reason a hiring manager keeps reading — or closes the tab.
What we evaluate:
- • Problem framing. Does each case study start with a clear problem? “Cart abandonment was 73%” is a hook. “I redesigned the checkout page” is a yawn.
- • Role clarity. Is your specific contribution clear? On team projects, what did you do?
- • Process evidence. Research, wireframes, iterations, testing — the thinking behind the final design. Not every sketch, but enough to show design thinking.
- • Outcomes. This is the #1 gap we see. What happened? Metrics, qualitative feedback, team adoption — some form of evidence that the work mattered. Even without hard data, there are ways to show impact without metrics.
- • Storytelling. Does the case study flow logically? Can someone follow the narrative from problem to solution to outcome without getting lost?
Why it matters: Case studies are where hiring managers decide if you can actually do the job. Process shows thinking. Outcomes show impact. Both together are what gets you to the interview. Our case study structure guide has the full framework, or use the Case Study Builder to write one step-by-step.
How Scoring Works
Every critique generates a score from 0-100. Here's what the ranges mean and how the score is calculated:
Broken layout, missing critical sections, significant usability or accessibility problems. Usually means the portfolio needs a structural rethink, not just polish.
The foundation exists but has notable gaps — weak case studies, poor typography, missing about page, or inconsistent design. Common for first portfolios and career changers.
This is where most portfolios land. Solid enough to get some interviews, but specific improvements could significantly increase your callback rate. The action items section is most valuable here.
A polished, professional portfolio. Clear hierarchy, strong case studies, good accessibility. The feedback at this level is about refinement — the kind of improvements that separate “got an interview” from “got an offer.”
Top-tier portfolio. Strong visual identity, compelling case studies with clear outcomes, excellent accessibility, and a memorable personal brand. These are rare — most portfolios from experienced designers land in the 75-85 range.
The score is a weighted composite across all five dimensions. It's calibrated so that most portfolios fall in the 45-70 range — if yours is there, you're in the same zone as most working designers. The action items tell you how to move up.
Single Page vs. Full Site Critique
We offer two types of critique. Here's what each includes:
Free: Single Page
- • One page analyzed in depth
- • Full scoring across all 5 dimensions
- • Specific action items ranked by impact
- • Results in under a minute
- • Unlimited uses, no signup
Best for: quick checks, testing a specific page, getting a feel for the feedback quality
$5: Full Site Critique
- • Up to 8 pages auto-crawled and analyzed
- • Individual score per page
- • Holistic portfolio analysis (flow, consistency, storytelling)
- • Cross-page patterns and gaps identified
- • Top 5 highest-impact changes ranked
- • Results emailed + permanent link
Best for: pre-application audits, understanding how your whole portfolio works together
The full site critique also evaluates dimensions that only exist across pages: Does the navigation flow make sense? Is the visual design consistent from page to page? Does the portfolio tell a coherent story about you as a designer? These are things a single-page review can't catch.
What We Don't Check
Being transparent also means being honest about our limitations:
Quality of the design work itself
We evaluate how the portfolio presents your work, not the work itself. We can tell you if your case study is well-structured, but we can't judge whether your wireframes solved the right problem.
Role-specific fit
We don't know if you're applying for a senior product design role at Stripe or a junior visual design role at a startup. The feedback is based on general portfolio best practices, not specific job requirements.
Password-protected or Figma-only portfolios
We need a publicly accessible URL. If your portfolio is behind a password, in Figma, or in a PDF, we can't analyze it. (Our resume review tool handles PDFs though.)
Subjective taste
We won't tell you your color palette is ugly or your font choice is boring. We evaluate whether your choices are consistent, accessible, and professionally executed — not whether we personally like them.
How to Get the Most From Your Critique
A few tips to maximize the value of your feedback:
- 1Start with a free single-page critique. Get a feel for the feedback. If it's useful, the full site critique goes deeper.
- 2Focus on action items, not the score. The score tells you where you are. The action items tell you how to move up. Start with the highest-impact item and work down.
- 3Re-critique after making changes. Made some fixes? Run it again and see if your score improved. The free critique is unlimited — use it as a feedback loop.
- 4Combine with human feedback. Use the critique to fix the obvious stuff, then get a human (friend, mentor, colleague) to evaluate the things we can't — like whether your case studies tell a compelling story about your career trajectory.
Ready? Get your free critique now — it takes less than a minute.
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