Personal project or fictional redesign: how to present it honestly to a recruiter
A fictional redesign can help you learn and build a portfolio. Make its status clear: readers need to know it is self-initiated, what information was available and what you actually checked.
1. Label it at the beginning
“Uncommissioned personal exercise. This proposal is not affiliated with the named company. It uses public-page observations and assumptions; I do not have access to internal data.”
Do not list a brand as a client when it never commissioned you. You can also create an entirely fictional service to avoid confusion.
2. Separate observation, assumption and outcome
| Type | Fictional example |
|---|---|
| Public observation | The form has six visible steps. |
| Assumption | A summary might help people check their information. |
| Outcome to investigate | Whether participants understand the summary in a test. |
Do not claim abandonment or lost revenue without evidence. Personal judgement is not user research.
3. Explain unknown constraints
You may not know business rules, technical architecture or compliance requirements. List questions and possible trade-offs. An attractive solution might conflict with a constraint you could not investigate.
4. Credit resources and assistance
Identify templates, icons, photos, tutorials and contributions. If AI helped, explain its role and your checks. Never invent user interviews, quotes or outcomes to complete the story.
5. Use honest application wording
“Personal project: explored a booking journey, documented assumptions and built a prototype. Not deployed; no business-impact measurement.”
Show one justified decision and what you would test next. Transparency helps recruiters assess your method and ability to learn.
Illustrative stock photos; the people shown are not presented as Kamerjob employers. Cover and illustration: Pexels / Pexels.
Find opportunities on Kamerjob and tailor your portfolio to the actual duties in each vacancy.
The Kamerjob team
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