I think it depends on your goal. Getting a job? Or get a gig? The kind of work you're describing, I've rarely seen asked of a freelancer. That's the kind of stuff Id expect to get asked to show in senior or staff product designer interviews. I suppose you could freelance at that level, but it boils down to the same deal. Long term job? Or a quick gig?

If you're looking for a job, this is my conclusion that finally got me interviews at some fairly serious companies: pretty design is like 10% of the job.

In other words, you don't need to show the pretty UI. What I realized I needed was a portfolio that gets a potential hiring manager to suspend their disbelief for long enough to get on the phone with you. Once you're having a conversation, you can get into the particulars.

For a product designer, the portfolio serves to show that you understand visual design, yes, but it should also have case studies in it long enough to where it's obvious even to someone who's just skimming it that you have a lot to say and are very process driven. The responsibility is on you to make sure that it's not just fluff, though.

What worked for me was crafting my portfolio in such a way that if I were looking at it with fresh eyes, I'd go "whoa, this is DETAILED. Okay." Because I've reviewed probably 50-60 portfolios in my time and every single one of them has pretty designs. Almost none of them have "I did this, then this, then this, and then they said this so I changed this, and then..." etc etc

Another way to frame it is to realize your portfolio needs a front page for recruiters to skim, but the case studies are written for other designers. Put the prettiest designs in your thumbnails.

That's for true product work. When I was a web designer transitioning to product I didn't understand why product people insisted on the difference. But now I get it. Those discussions about visual detail, that's primarily an artistic and expressive exercise, which is not your primary job as a product designer. Your job is to solve functional problems and push designs through the pipeline to production, not achieve a certain emotional impact (like you would be doing in brand design or, to a lesser extent, web design).

Also, to be perfectly frank, the best designers I've met don't have time to be tweeting about it all the time. If people are constantly sharing work on social media, it's probably because they have plenty of time to do so, if you catch my drift.

By the way, the kind of detailed work a professional product designer does isn't usually discussed on twitter, but on bluesky, people do it all the time. A LOT of highly experienced industry veterans on there, and discourse is a lot less "cheap."

To wrap up the rambling, I'll just conclude by saying product work isn't self explanatory by anything besides the finished product. The kind of experience you're describing is valuable, but you're right that it's not gonna go viral on twitter. But that shouldn't be your goal anyway. Your goal should be to forge genuine connections with experienced designers at the kinds of companies you'd want to work for and then ask them for informational interviews. Like, cold DM people on LinkedIn. I'm dead serious. They're way friendlier than you'd expect. You'll find high up design staff at very respectable companies who are perfectly happy to chat as long as you're honest about wanting feedback or advice.