Portafolio - Product design

Portfolio
Product design
D. Castelo
2do Término 2022

Daniel Castelo Tay-Hing
Graphic designer / Master in branding / Professor
Contact me at: dcastelo@espol.edu.ec

1. Brand analysis
2. Brand promise
3. Brand personality
4. Brand story and presentation
5. Brand projects and associations.
UNIT 1.
Creation of an identity

1. Who are the Stakeholders
2. Research and development
3. Creative industries, design business and outsourcing
4. Marketing and promotion
5. Successful product design cases
UNIT 2.
Product design industry

1. Creative solutions for self promotion
2. Stationary and printed resources
3. Social network profile building
4. Social network strategies
UNIT 3.
Self Promotion

1. Selection criteria
2. Editing and presentation
3. Digital showcase
4. Reel
5. Distribution
UNIT 4.
Portfolio project

Class 01
Intro to portfolio course.

The visual part is usually the
f
irst thing that people notice about a brand.
When something looks good and grabs our attention, we stop and take a
closer look.
Creating an identity
UNIT 1.

What is a portfolio? The best way to show
your skills as a designer.

The identity and your portfolio go together.

What is a portfolio?
It is a
f
irst impression.
It is a showcase of only your
best work.
It is a product that someone can
interact.

What is a portfolio?
It has a speci
f
ic purpose.
It is developed for a speci
f
ic
audience.
It has work samples and
evidence of the process.

Brands are competing for attention in both the physical and the digital world, and the
visual identity of a brand plays an important role in both cases.
A well-designed visual identity should successfully get across to potential
consumers:
•Visually communicates the brand purpose and values
•Makes the brand stand out with a unique style
•Makes the brand easily recognizable
•It’s well set-up and pleasing to the eye
•It’s consistent across all products and channels
1.1 Brand analysis
https://digitalbrandblueprint.com/visual-brand-identity-guidelines/

Who are you?
Who inspires you?
What products do you love?
What is your background?
What is the most creative way to
introduce yourself to someone?

What are the Responsibilities of a product designer?
• Identify new product design and improvement opportunities.
• Analyze how a new product satis
f
ies market needs and consumer
preferences.
• Stay up to date on current industry trends and market conditions.
• Modify and revise existing designs to meet changing customer
preferences.
• Work closely with product engineers to suggest improvements for
products and processes.
• Present product design ideas to cross-functional teams and senior
leadership

What are the Requirements of a product designer?
• Proven experience in all phases of the design process including user
research, copywriting, wireframing, prototyping, visual design, interaction
design, and usability testing
• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional team members
• Ability to collect and interpret both qualitative and quantitative feedback
• Recommend new tools and technologies by staying abreast of the latest
trends and techniques
• A well-rounded portfolio of client work, demonstrating a strong
understanding of client objectives
https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/job-description

Exercise
Let’s create a product for your new brand.

Let’s create a product you can
put your brand on.

Class 02
Creating a personal brand.

https://www.tegicdesign.com/
Brand: TEGIC.
Product name: Maze Runner Power Bank
Model: BLOCK 30
https://youtu.be/KAy-LJ_cJXw

Let’s create
Your Brand
• Brand analysis
• Brand promise
• Brand personality
• Brand story

What type of content will
you create and post?
What values do you
want communicate?
What type of audience
you want to attract?
What do you want to
achieve with your brand?
What is your
f
ield of
expertise?
What are you passionate
about?
What tone and style do
you want to use?
Where do you want to
be in the industry?
How to
create
your
Brand?

What values do you
want communicate?
What do you want to
achieve with your brand?
What is your
f
ield of
expertise?
What are you passionate
about?
How to
create
your
Brand?
Discovery. Customization.
Excellence. Variety.
The WOW e
ff
ect.
Enjoy technology.
Technology. Digital
products and devices.
Art and design. Product
performance. Modern art.

How to
create
your
Brand?
Modern. Contemporary.
Simple. Artistic.
Pioneers, at the top of our
market.
Young users.
Technology lovers.
Blogs, reviews, share stylized
pictures of our products.
What type of content will
you create and post?
What type of audience
you want to attract?
What tone and style do
you want to use?
Where do you want to
be in the industry?

Branding
• You have to be recognizable
in one
f
ield of expertise.
• You need to make an indelible
impression on your audience.
• You need to create a verbal
and visual identity.
• You have to create a quick bio
di
ff
erent from everyone else.
How to build a personal visual identity?

Class 03
Brand analysis, personality, promise and story

Branding
• Make your portfolio visible
• Increase awareness
• Show as a leader
• Grow your network
• Collaborate
• Monetize your digital presence
• Speaker deals
• Publishing deals
Personal brand #goals

Brand • The sum total of all
characteristics and assets
that di
ff
erentiates it from the
competition.
Brand name • The main verbal di
ff
erentiator
for a product, service or
group.
Brand strategy • The core tactical
underpinning of branding,
uniting all planning for every
visual and verbal application.

Brand • The sum total of all
characteristics and assets
that di
ff
erentiates it from the
competition
Brand name • The main verbal di
ff
erentiator
for a product, service or
group.
Brand slogan • The claim or promise of the
brand in verbal application.
Apple
Think different

Website store
Specialists
and
assistance

Website store
Software
and savings

Exercise
Let’s create your own brand prism.

• Create your brand prism and upload it in the following folder before the next class.
Delivery details.
• https://espolec.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/Section_18580/EoOF85wr-
TBJje23S317uREBRPZH9v1SunDbT9BuYal0GA?e=NfDNiX

Class 04
Brand story and presentation

Audience
• Learning what your audience
wants from a business in your
industry is vital to creating a
brand people will love.
Value Proposition &
Competition
• What makes your business unique in your
industry? What can you o
ff
er your
consumers that others can't?
Mission • You can't very well create a personality for
a business unless you know what that
business is about.

Brand Identity Prism by Jean-Noel Kapferer (1986)
https://youtu.be/MDwyuftCSbc
Watch this video:

If you were…
A font
A song
A movie
A product
An experience
A shape
A color

Class 05
Branding + Participation in design projects

If you were…
Futura
Circle + triangle
Steel blue
A font
A shape
A color

Bio
• Curriculum vitae
• Presentation
• Social media
Audience
• Buyer persona
• Users
• Clients
Portfolio
• Exhibit your best product design
• Show authority
• Show expertise

Class 06
Design projects: Case studies and stakeholders.

Stakeholder
a person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business.

Who are the Stakeholders?
anyone who has an interest in the product, can in
f
luence product
decisions, or is a
ff
ected by the outcome and deliverables of your work.
Stakeholders are not limited to your team. Customers, board
members, and investors can also be part of your stakeholder analysis.

Portfolio examples
Identify: who are the stakeholders in the design projects?
Research and development

Class 07
Creative industries, design business and outsourcing

Creative industries, design
business and outsourcing
Where to land your ideas?

For students and professionals in Product Design, it is
important to show experience and expertise in:
Sketches, prototypes, 3D modeling and rendering,
industrial design, object design, furniture design, toy
design, packaging design, etc.
Usually this is evidenced through an online portfolio, a blog
or a website.
What to show in your portfolio?

Marketing and promotion
How do you promote yourself?

Class 08
Marketing and promotion of your portfolio.

Find a stakeholder…
Show your best business ideas and projects.
Create the personal project you want. Find the market to promote your dream projects.
Find the investor.
Find the manufacturer.
Find the buyer.
Find the distribution.
Find the channels and media.
You will be in charge of design, creative vision and innovation.
You promote your ideas to real clients. Make the connections.
Find a way to your dream job, through your portfolio.

If you want to work in furniture design…
Create the furniture design you like, but you haven’t seen yet.

If you want to work in toy design…
Create the toy design you like, but you haven’t seen yet.

Find the stakeholder. Design the products, design the experience.

Class 09
Promotion of your portfolio through design projects.

Enhancing your portfolio
A graphic design student’s guide to freelance : Practice makes perfect / Ben Hannam. 2013
• When you graduate and begin searching for your
f
irst job, you will be competing
for a job against one of your classmates or even an alumnus from your school.
• One of your goals will be to make yourself and your work stand out in order to
leave a positive impression with the employer.
• The work you do while in you are a student, and later as a freelancer has the
potential to become work in your portfolio that is unique, and will help your
portfolio stand out from your classmates and the competition.

Project 1
Create a personal brand or a company brand.

• Create your own brand for your
portfolio.
• The sound part of the brand can use,
in a personal way, your name or
surname, or a mixture creating a new
nomenclature.
• The brand must be applied on two
products designed by the student, in
di
ff
erent materials (advanced sketch,
3D render or prototype).
• The objects on which the brand will be
applied belong to the categories:
technology and audio.
• The students will submit a mockup of
the
f
inal design.
This will be done through a poster
design, horizontal o vertical using A4
format (21 x 29.7 cm).
• It should present the
f
inal model of the
product with the brand, the slogan and
a website. You can add whatever you
think necessary to make it more
attractive to an audience or client.
• One poster for the technology
product.
One poster for the audio product.
Project 1

Class 10
Promotion of your portfolio through design projects.

Project 2
Create a design project based on the stakeholders.

• Project 2: Design project for your product
portfolio focused on stakeholders or
persons of interest.
• Find the investor. Find the manufacturer.
• Find the buyer. Find the distribution.
• Find the channels and media.
• Understand who is the most important or
relevant stakeholder and create the product
based on what is most convenient for that
stakeholder.
• Each student will be responsible for design,
creative vision and innovation.
• Objective: Promote your ideas to real
customers, de
f
ining connections with
potential stakeholders.
• To do this they will have to present a
business model based on all stakeholders
and create an experience based on the
product system concept. (Product. Service.
Communication).
• Minimum 2, maximum 4 horizontal slides in
A4 format, explaining the project as a pitch
to an investor.
• The slides should explain who the
stakeholder is and how the product design
bene
f
its the end user. This project is part of
what will be integrated in the
f
inal portfolio.
Project 2

Class 12
Case studies - Research and development

Class 13
Case studies - Product design
marketing and promotion

Design, thinking of the user as the center of the process.
How can we design better products, with better interfaces and better experiences?

Ways to craft a self-promotional portfolio
https://www.creativebloq.com/news/seven-ways-to-craft-a-killer-self-promo-campaign
• 01. Think about your branding
f
irst. (is it adaptable to all materials and mediums?)
• 02. Work out your call to action (what do you want them to do?)
• 03. Target the right people (who is the right stakeholder?)
• 04. Find a hook (how can you get a real connection?)
• 05. Execute properly (did you think of cost vs. opportunity?)
• 06. Pay attention to detail (did you create a custom portfolio?)
• 07. Be patient and wait for the contact. (don’t stalk your employer or client!)

S.W.O.T. / Personal and business
• Strengths: These are attributes that you’re good at now. Maintain these qualities, build upon
them, and leverage them in the marketplace.
• Weaknesses: These are attributes that are bad or counterproductive and need to be
stopped, avoided, or remedied. Look for ways to
f
ix or neutralize these problems, so they
don’t impact your future business negatively.
• Opportunities: These attributes are good to follow up on for future successes. You’ll need
to prioritize your goals, optimize your time, and try to incorporate these opportunities into
your future business plan.
• Threats: These are attributes that are bad for business and should be avoided when
possible. If these attributes are unavoidable, then you need to develop a strategy to
counteract any negative impact on your business.

External factors to consider.
• SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TRENDS
• TECHNICAL TENDENCIES
• ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS
• POLITICAL AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
• COMPETITION

Think again about your brand and name.
• If you haven’t already decided on a name for your business, it’s time to do so. It’s
important that you don’t duplicate the name of a company that already exists in
your state.You’ll have to check with your local or state agencies to make sure that
your idea for a business name is still available.
• Think about how you want clients to feel when they
f
irst hear about your business.
• Keep in mind that your company name may be the only thing that a prospective
client sees.
• It’s hard to see your business through your client’s eyes, but you’ll want a name
that gives a client an idea of what type of work your business does.

DISTINGUISH YOURSELF FROM THE COMPETITION !
• It is a good idea to familiarize yourself with your competition in order to
help distinguish your business name from theirs. If there are any names on
your list that sound similar to your competitor’s names, cross them o
ff
your
list.
• At this point you should have generated a long list of possible names and
then begun to thin your list.
• You should check with I.P. agencies, to make sure that the names that are
on your list are available, and check that an Internet domain name is
available.

Final exercise
• Let’s think AGAIN what you did right, and what you can design better.
• Can your brand compete for the attention of others side to side?
• Can anyone remember your brand and replicate it?
• Can you draw it from memory?
• Does your identity has all the elements to communicate your contact?
• Can you create the identity for a business and it’s stationary?

Marketing and promotion
How can you promote yourself creatively?

Marketing yourself and your portfolio
Second part of the course
Unit 3 and Unit 4

Creative solutions for self
promotion.
How can you promote yourself creatively?

Resume
Document that contains a summary of
your relevant job experience and
education. It can include:
• Contact information
• Objectives
• Education
• Relevant work experience
• Achievements / Awards
• Volunteer work / Internships
• Personal Skills / Interests
• References

Creative solutions
for self promotion.
Stationary and printed resources.

The power of storytelling
How can you tell your story through social media?

Why strategic content creation matters
Creating content that inspires, educate and entertain
your audience is a great way to let yourself known.
If you can create content of value, you will engage with
the audience and they will come back for more. This can
help you establish yourself as a leader.
Check this video from Simon Sinek and the golden circle.
Learn how to lead by telling your audience WHY, instead
of WHAT, or HOW.
https://youtu.be/6e9fMej5w3A

What is social media content creation?
• Is the process of creating written content, photography, graphics, and
videos for di
ff
erent social media platforms.
• The content has to
f
it within prescribed limits for character counts, image
sizes, and video lengths.
• You have to create powerful and meaningful value into a very small portion
of time and space.
• It should always be interactive, giving the audience a call to action. With a
little bit of luck and strategy, your content can become viral and reach
thousands of possible clients.

Workshop in class.
Let’s use your brand prism as a base
and create a creative script, that you
can later convert into a 20 second
video you can post on your social
media on your instagram account.
You can choose either your personal
brand or your company brand.
You can inspire, educate or entertain
your audience. Think of the golden
circle idea from Simon Sinek.
Choose wisely.
What content can you create that
could go viral? (In a good way)

Why strategic content creation matters in telling your story
• The content we generate on social networks is highly relevant today.
• Helps you
f
ind an audience or get more followers.
• Provide your target audience with value.
• You can become an authority in your
f
ield as a designer.
• Content creation can generate your main income or a side income.
• Content is an essential marketing technique that can create loyalty.

Social network pro
f
ile building
and
Communication strategies

1. Thinking.
2. Planning.
3. Posting.
4. Monitoring.

1. Research what kind of content
2. Set your goals accordingly
3. Brainstorm new ideas
4. Assign roles (write, design, post)
5. Build a content calendar
6. Schedule your content posting
7. Build a relevant content library
8. Analyze your results
Thinking
Planning
and posting
Monitoring

Your social media pro
f
ile is the
f
irst contact.
1. Your brand in circular version for the pro
f
ile
photo.
2. Headshot of yourself adapted for circular view.
3. Account or Handle name using @.
4. Your real name of your company’s name.
5. Short biography or short mission.
6. World location of your business.
7. Basic contact information.
8. URL of your portfolio or website.
Pro
f
ile building as a designer requires at least:

Your pro
f
ile building for different social media

Social media portfolio
1. Your brand in circular version for the pro
f
ile
photo.
2. Headshot of yourself adapted for circular view.
3. Account or Handle name using @.
4. Your real name of your company’s name.
5. Short biography or short mission.
6. World location of your business.
7. Basic contact information.
8. URL of your behance portfolio or website.
Build your designer pro
f
ile for instagram.
Project 3

Social media project
Using your brand prism, create relevant TEXT based content.

Social media project
Using your brand prism, create relevant PHOTO and VIDEO based content.

Social media communication strategies

Two main strategies nowadays:
Brand marketing
&
Content marketing.

Your social media strategy
• Brand marketing: De
f
ines the brand identity and should leave a
positive impression of your brand, resulting in choosing your brand
over other brands.
• As a designer, you usually start working for a company until you
eventually create your own brand and business. Either way you should
learn how to use these di
ff
erent strategies to promote your work, your
design portfolio and yourself as a leader in your area of knowledge.
• The brand marketing strategy is better to companies that have been in
the market a long time and are now stablished and have a position in
the top of mind of the audience. Smaller companies or freelance
designers can go
f
irst for awareness and later, loyalty.

• Content marketing: It is all about creating valuable content so you get
noticed
f
irst and then retain the attention of a speci
f
ic audience. The
main goal of this content is that costumers engage with you and leave a
call to action.
• As a designer, you need to understand what your target want or needs,
then you can create content that will make them come back for more
every time you post new content.
• Once you have the trust of your audience as an authority on your
f
ield
of expertise, they will always come back for your content that inspires,
educates or gives them entertainment. Your brand is like a reliable
friend that does not force a hard sell of your services or products.

Brand marketing
Sends constant messages pushing
information to the target audience
about the brand.
Content marketing
Sends a speci
f
ic message according
to the interests of the audience
pulling them to you.

• If you are a freelance designer and don’t have a full-time team of social media
experts at your disposal, to create a plan for social media is really di
ff
icult.
• Your success depends on having a clear and consistent plan that
f
its your
resources and goals.
• A social media strategy is an outline of the content that your business will
post, the responsibilities of your social media team, and the social media
channels you will use to promote your business.
• Good strategies di
ff
er depending on the brand’s voice and positioning,
target audience demographics, and social media platform limitations.
• Let’s see a few examples:

Work in
progress
post
CARTER MCGUYER
Design group

Work with /
Collaboration
post

Design
Process post.
Short video.

Final product
post.
Short video.

Holidays post
Christmas creative

Holidays post
End of the year.
TOP 9 - Grid post

Is it enough to build a design portfolio?
Can we take our product design portfolio even FURTHER?
Can we create DEEP emotional bonds with our followers?
Can we make people LOVE our WORK?
Can we make a group of people LOVE our BRAND?

Is it enough to build a design portfolio?
If you as a designer can create beautiful products they LOVE,
you can also make your customers, love YOUR BRAND.
A company can choose three ways to make you loyal to them:
By reason, by stimulate your senses, or to get inside your heart.

- Kevin Roberts
“For great brands to survive, they need to create
loyalty beyond reason.
That's the only way they can differentiate themselves
from the millions of bland, dead-end brands.
The secret lies in the use of Mystery, Sensuality and
Intimacy.
From a commitment to these three powerful concepts
come Lovemarks, which are the future beyond brands”.

Other social media strategies:
• Experiential marketing
• The best way to build a deep emotional bond between brands and consumers
is to start as early as possible. This means you need to
f
ind a market niche of
the future. Focus on the consumers that they still don’t know they will use your
products.
• Cultivating clients for the future is a common practice. Some brands like Coca
Cola, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Kidzania, Lego have used tactics to expose
their products as early as possible, so when they can buy those products they
are already in their top of mind.
• Another strategy es to become an ICONIC brand, which means there is a lot of
symbolism from this brand, associated to a lifestyle. Examples of this are: Nike,
Harley Davidson and Apple.

• Brand communities
• This is an strategy that consists in creating a space where consumers
can interact, discuss and have new experiences in a determined and
limited time of the year with the products or services of a brand.
• Some examples of this are conventions like the NEW YORK COMIC CON
or the SAN DIEGO COMIC CON.
• Mattel has the HOT WHEELS COLLECTORS CONVENTION where new
models of cars are introduced every year and you can sell, buy and
trade your toy cars.

• Brand interaction for new products
• Monopoly: Launch a voting web page for the best places that would
appear in the version of Colombian monopoly
• Adidas: The 2014 soccer world cup that took place in Brasil, made a
naming contest for the name of the soccer ball to be used in all the games.
The name BRAZUCA came from more than one million voters online.
• Sprite: in 2011 the Coca Cola company open to all the consumers to create
a new label for a limited version of Sprite and Sprite Zero.
• Lays: created a contest where you can suggest and vote for the new
f
lavors. BBQ Ribs and Carbonara sauce were new
f
lavors that the brand
would never thought of adding to their current
f
lavors.

1. Selection criteria
2. Editing and presentation
3. Digital showcase
4. Reel and Distribution
UNIT 4.
Portfolio project

Why create a Portfolio as a Product Designer?
The term “product designer” can be a bit misleading, because it is
widely used for industrial designers as well.
You as Product designers operate mostly on three levels: Visual
design, Usability and Usefulness.
That means not just sketching pretty objects, but having the tools
and methods to ensure easy use and the ability to think in terms of
business goals.
Companies hire product designers who can do more than draw cool
buttons and create attractive renders. Employers are interested in
designers who can help them
f
igure out the pain points of the
target market and solve these problems with a great product.

How to create a Portfolio as a Freelance Industrial Designer?
Selection criteria.
A common mistake when creating an industrial or product design portfolio is showing only
the
f
inished product. This might tell your future employer a little bit about your technical
skills level, but not everything about your creative process.
When creating your portfolio, start from the beginning of a project and show how you
arrived at the completed product. This gives your potential client the chance to see your
creative process for the design of a product.
If your design was a team e
ff
ort, please be speci
f
ic about which parts of the process were
your own work can also be helpful. It can be frustrating for recruiters to look at a massive
project, and not know how much of the work was actually yours.

When creating your
portfolio, start from the
beginning of a project,
select the best images to
showhowyouarrived at
the completed product.
Selection criteria.

Editing
It's much better to show work you're proud of, but even your best designs can be edited and
re
f
ined to show your full potential. It's perfectly
f
ine to be very selective about what is and
isn't included in the
f
inal version of your portfolio.
Sometimes you can't control the result of working with restrictive client requirements.
Explaining these limitations can help a new client or a recruiter see how you follow
instructions and work within a company's needs.
Never express limitations by blaming anyone, be polite. You will make a better impression and
make it clear that you are aware of design
f
laws.

Sometimes you can't
control the result of
working with restrictive
client requirements. It’s
ok to edit the images and
createthebestresultfor
your
f
inal portfolio.
Editing

Presentation
Even if you have successfully design and created a lot beautiful products, you don’t need to
include all of them in your portfolio.
Student portfolios are often a hodgepodge of everything they’ve ever done, even if those
products weren’t the best examples of their work.
Even the full portfolio you bring to a future interview should be a collection of your best
work. This is especially the case if you’re adding products you aren’t proud of just to lengthen
your portfolio.
A short, succinct portfolio with powerful products is better than a long and boring one. Cut
out bad projects entirely and highlight the ones that are similar to what the company is
hoping to have designed.

Digital Showcase
A quality online portfolio can help you attract new clients and make it easier for current ones
to keep up with your latest work. You can incorporate your printed version of your personal
or company brand as a reliable display of your skills as a creator and manager of branded
content in both the digital and physical world.
While a hard copy of your portfolio is just as important, especially for face-to-face interviews,
the power of an online portfolio can help you land the
f
irst few jobs and reach people around
the world. There is a wide range of free applications that can help you quickly create an
online portfolio and have it available for potential clients to view at any time and spark more
interest. AR (Augmented reality is one of the best options) check this video:
https://youtu.be/YUdYYlgmFtQ

Distribution
Creating a great portfolio takes a lot of work and it is absolutely necessary to know the best
methods of distribution to reach a wider audience. Think globally but act locally. When you
upload your work to the internet, your audience becomes global and you must take into
consideration how your work will be received.
Your portfolio may only be looked at for a few minutes, but those minutes can mean the
beginning of a great relationship with a new client or a dismissal. Creating the best possible
work can give you the best chance of success and help you stand out from other industrial
designers.
Remember, when you are creating your portfolio, put the same level of care and attention
that you put into the designs that make up your portfolio. Your recruiter will be able to tell the
di
ff
erence in a well-polished portfolio and that will lead to you getting more of the jobs you
want.

End of the class!
Good luck at the
f
inals.

Portafolio - Product design

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