How do you document a design project under NDA?
Tips on building an effective IxD design portfolio
A lot of times it happens that the design work that you do at companies or on contracts is protected by NDA. What is NDA you ask? An NDA or non-disclosure agreement is a binding contract between two or more parties that prevents sensitive information from being shared with others.
As a designer, you need a design portfolio for everything from admissions to landing a job, and if the only work you have, or your most influential work is under NDA, then things can be tricky. This is when you have to get creative and figure out ways to abstract at least part of your work and showcase it in your portfolio.
Here are a few ways to go about it:
1. While you are working at the company, try to work on at least one product feature that is commercially available and released. If a feature is commercially released, then it is already out in the market, and the feature itself is not confidential. Released features also hold more value from a design perspective compared to only speculative projects.
2. Keep documenting as you go, be mindful about not including any sensitive info along the way. Read company policy on confidential and sensitive information.
3. When you add projects to your public portfolio, make sure you password-protect your work such that it is only accessible to a selected audience and recruiters.
4. Redact any sensitive information, and if need be redact any information that links your work to the specific company, and rather highlight your process and design rationale.
5. Include more details in presentations that you give synchronously and during live interviews, this way any sensitive content doesn’t need to be shared beforehand or permanently.
6. Check out how your colleagues have documented since they are in the same environment. Talking to the company's current employees and alumni can be super helpful in avoiding mistakes and getting unbiased opinions.
Hope you found it helpful! ✨
Check out another blog on Landing a product design internship in the US!