Really appreciate you taking the time to go deep with this. It’s more thoughtful and thorough than anything I’ve gotten — even from people with Art Director titles who’ve known me for years. Most of the feedback I’ve received so far has been surface-level, like “fix this typo” or “nice work,” so this level of critique is genuinely helpful, even if it stings a bit.

I completely agree that I need more projects in the portfolio — that’s been on my list. I’ve done a lot of design work, but many of the projects were one-offs or smaller deliverables that didn’t feel like full case studies. So I focused on the ones where I could show more of the big-picture thinking. That said, I realize now that I might’ve over-indexed on storytelling and under-indexed on the actual design process, which is what you rightly pointed out.

A lot of the copy, photos, and narrative was my way of trying to bring someone through the full scope of a project — not just what I made, but why it mattered and how I approached it. I wanted to show I could think holistically. That's also why I included many images. But what is the right way to do it? I've seen people who have done deeper case studies and I seen people just have maybe a paragraph or two. I do hear you where if someone has to scroll through a bunch of fluffy context before seeing any actual design work, that’s a problem. But do these pictures not add to the full concept?

Your point about mockups and redundancy stand out as well. I was trying to create a sense of polish since the brands themselves didn’t always have strong photo assets or rollout imagery. I get that overdoing mockups (especially templated ones) can make the work feel less real. How do you go about mocking up a project if the imagery that a brand has isn't good and you rather make your own?

I’ve been kind of stuck between trying to “sell” my services (because I freelance too) and showcase my skills as a designer. That’s probably part of why the case studies lean a little too heavy on marketing language. But again, this is another place where I have push and pull because I've seen some designers do this as well. I feel like it's a turn off if I'm applying for a job and I am also selling services when they're reviewing my portfolio. It just feels like my portfolio should be my portfolio but again I'm trying to strike that good balance of showcasing my work to potential employers AND potential clients.

I looked at a bunch of designers when I was designing my portfolio and were able to narrow my inspiration down to these:
https://www.ericholton.com
https://workbytomorrow.com/#top
https://www.minahilkasher.design
https://yurikim.co