Matt D. SmithDesigner, educator, and founder of Shift Nudge.

20 Years of Portfolio Expertise

Name: 20 Years of Portfolio Expertise
Uploaded: 2026-01-29T00:10:51+00:00
Duration: 1 min
Channel: Matt D. Smith
Description: In this promotional talk, the speaker explains a unique portfolio-building workflow distilled from two decades of experience into a single, interrogative…

29 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this promotional talk, the speaker explains a unique portfolio-building workflow distilled from two decades of experience into a single, interrogative file that can be run in tools like Cursor or Claude Code. The file asks the user a series of targeted questions—such as desired role, company type, supporting projects, and needed images—to create a clear, actionable plan before any design work begins in tools like Figma or Framer. The speaker argues that starting with design leads to scattered, inefficient processes, whereas this clarity‑first approach streamlines portfolio creation. He also announces an upcoming portfolio workshop that includes access to an AI portfolio coach, four live coaching sessions, a hiring‑manager panel, and live critiques, directing viewers to shiftnudge.com for more information.

Chapters

I compress 20 years of portfolio knowledge into a single file. You can run it in cursor or claude code or even on the web and it's not going to generate your portfolio for you. That would be a really bad idea. It's going to interrogate you. What role are you targeting? What type of company? Which of your projects support that? What images of those projects do you actually need? You just keep answering the questions and it tracks everything. You end up with a clear plan before you ever even touch Figma or Framer or whatever tool that you're trying to use. Most people jump straight into design and tinker and fiddle with case studies and question everything and it just takes forever and then end up wondering why the process feels scattered and why things aren't working out that well. This process forces clarity first, and if you've never used cursor or claude code, I will teach you how. It's all inside of my upcoming portfolio workshop. You get the AI portfolio coach access to the four live sessions hiring manager panel live critiques visit shiftnudge.com portfolio.