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Landing the first design job is no small feat. Hidayah Goh, an aspiring art director and graphic designer from Singapore, has taken the bold step of putting her portfolio up for critique. Her work spans branding, posters, UI/UX, and more. The goal? To make her portfolio as strong as possible and stand out to recruiters.

With creativity in abundance and a dose of curiosity driving her, Hidayah’s portfolio already shows great potential. But we’re here to break it all down, highlight the strengths, and suggest practical ways to improve.

Let’s go through her portfolio section by section, and see what makes it shine and where it can be fine-tuned to better match the competitive world of creative hiring.

First Impressions Matter

A recruiter spends no more than five minutes reviewing a portfolio. That’s an incredibly short window to grab their attention and leave a lasting impression.

Clarity and simplicity are two of the most important factors here. Hidayah’s portfolio gets off to a great start. It’s clean, easy to navigate, and divided into major project sections. The structure allows anyone viewing it to quickly jump into the work, avoiding unnecessary distractions.

Let’s take a closer look at how each project builds on this foundation.

King Seltzer Branding: A Strong Start

The first project, King Seltzer, is a branding exercise that immediately grabs attention. The logo design is the standout feature here. It combines a royal chalice as a symbol of luxury with an approachable hand gesture, creating a balanced visual identity. The monochromatic version of the logo, particularly in orange, feels purposeful and polished.

Another highlight is the depth shown in the brand guidelines. From sizing to colour choices and marketing materials, it’s clear Hidayah has put significant thought into this section. There’s a professional finish that’s hard to miss.

Where It Could Be Improved

However, there are a few areas where this project could be tightened up.

Firstly, the project description is overly long. A recruiter isn’t going to spend extra time reading lengthy explanations. Condensing this into concise, impactful points would allow the visuals to take centre stage.

Secondly, there’s an inconsistency between the monochromatic logo and its two-colour version. In the coloured version, gaps and outlines around the chalice handle detract from its simplicity. The monochrome version feels cleaner and more purposeful. Hidayah could consider sticking to a single style for more visual consistency.

Making the Campaign More Ownable

The billboard ad for King Seltzer lacks that unique, ownable twist that could tie it directly to the brand. Right now, it could be promoting any alcohol product.

There’s room to push the creative boundaries here. Imagine a beach chair transformed into a royal throne, or a can of King Seltzer sitting like a crown jewel atop a sandcastle. Even high-end branded beach towels with tasselled edges could emphasise the “royal” element of relaxing with King Seltzer. Finding those moments that scream “this is our brand” would elevate this campaign significantly.

Merchandise Changes

The branded merchandise is a nice touch, but there’s a missed opportunity to integrate the logo’s chalice more seamlessly into the designs. A consistent use of the logo on merchandise would add to the branding’s impact.

Final Thoughts

Overall, King Seltzer is a strong and thought-out branding project. With a few tweaks to the messaging, consistency, and campaign execution, it could go from a great project to an outstanding one. Score: 8.5/10.

Posters: Let the Best Work Shine

The floral poster designs are a clear standout. They’re visually stunning, polished, and show excellent use of colour theory and typography. The balance between experimentation and refinement is what makes these pieces special.

The Challenge of Consistency

While the floral posters are exceptional, the other posters in this section don’t quite hold the same level of refinement. This creates a problem: the weaker pieces drag down the impact of the stronger ones.

The solution? Focus solely on the floral posters. Remove the less impactful work and let these designs take centre stage. Expanding them to larger images or even reworking the layout into two posters per row would allow viewers to appreciate the details.

Quality Over Quantity

The golden rule in portfolios is to only show your absolute best work. It’s better to have fewer, high-quality pieces than a mix of strong and weaker projects. By narrowing the focus, this section could soar even higher.

Final Thoughts

If edited to highlight the floral posters exclusively, this section could easily earn a perfect score. As it stands, 8/10.

Set Active Crossfit Campaign: Adding Depth

This campaign, centred on a teaser video for Set Active’s Crossfit collection, has a lot of strengths. The 30-second video is visually engaging, with crisp action shots and smooth editing. It captures energy and momentum well.

What’s Missing

Despite its aesthetic strengths, the video lacks a core message. What does the viewer take away beyond the workout visuals? It’s unclear why they should care about the brand or product.

Injecting some storytelling would go a long way. Adding motivational text overlays or an impactful voice-over could connect with viewers emotionally. Highlighting the values of innovation, connection, and communication—mentioned in the project description—would tie the video closer to Set Active’s identity.

Expanding the Campaign

The teaser video is a good start, but a full campaign would show more comprehensive thinking. Ideas could include:

• Posters in gyms promoting the new line.
• Instagram Stories giving behind-the-scenes looks.
• Influencer kits with branded gym gear to stir interest.

These additions would show how the concept unfolds across platforms, demonstrating a stronger grasp of holistic brand activation.

Final Thoughts

The campaign shows potential but needs more storytelling and depth to truly connect with an audience. Score: 6/10.

Personal Branding: Unique and Memorable

Personal branding is supposed to reflect the designer behind the work. Hidayah nails this with a minimal yet distinctive visual identity.

The decision to brand socks over an ordinary mug or tote bag is a creative win. It’s unexpected, fun, and sets her apart. The overall design is simple but leaves a lasting impression, which is exactly what this section should do.

Room to Build

To make this section even stronger, Hidayah could lean further into her individuality. What truly makes her tick as a creative? The more personal this branding feels, the more it’ll resonate with future recruiters.

Final Thoughts

Personal branding is one of the standout sections in Hidayah’s portfolio, balancing uniqueness and professionalism beautifully. Score: 9.5/10.

Money Manager UI/UX: Comprehensive but Overwhelming

This app design project showcases Hidayah’s digital skills. It’s clean, polished, and incredibly thorough. We see everything: user personas, navigation flow, branding, and fully designed screens. Her attention to detail is clear in the dark and light mode variations, as well as the variety of screens presented.

Too Much of a Good Thing

The issue here is the sheer volume of content. A recruiter reviewing this section would struggle to get through it all within the typical five-minute viewing window.

Condensing the presentation would resolve this. Options include:

• Creating a 30-second video walkthrough.
• Cutting repetitive screens (do we really need to see every version of the sign-up process?).

By trimming it down, the project would remain polished but become much easier to digest.

Final Thoughts

This is a strong demonstration of Hidayah’s UI/UX skills, but simplifying the presentation would improve its impact. Score: 8.5/10.

About Me: Injecting More Personality

The About Me section gives potential employers a glimpse into the person behind the work. Hidayah’s bio outlines her multidisciplinary background, her curiosity, and her drive to explore creativity.

While it’s a solid starting point, the content feels a bit too generic. Statements like “constantly learning new skills” are admirable but don’t offer insight into what makes her unique.

Adding a Personal Touch

More personal details could make this section memorable. Simple things like her favourite creative tools, hobbies, or inspirations could help recruiters connect with her as an individual. Showing personality in this section would help her stand out in a competitive market.

Hidayah’s portfolio is professional and polished, with creativity shining throughout. Her graphic design skills are strong, and her ability to explore different disciplines is clear.

With some tweaks—strengthening her conceptual work, condensing projects, and building campaigns—her portfolio would not just impress, but truly captivate potential employers.

She’s already job-ready, and it’s exciting to imagine where her career will take her. If she continues pushing herself creatively, there’s no doubt Hidayah will soon find her place as an art director in the industry.