Today: Joanna Ni

Joanna Ni’s portfolio is one of those where you open it and there’s a slight disconnect. Not in a bad way. More like… this shouldn’t feel this put together yet.

She’s still studying at Carnegie Mellon University, but the work doesn’t behave like student work. It’s not trying to impress. It just… holds.

What stood out immediately is that she’s not trying to fit into one lane. Motion, product, brand, web. All there. And usually that’s exactly where things start to break. You see someone being good at one thing and then stretching into others a bit too early.

That’s not what’s happening here.

The Good

Keeping it simple, and actually trusting the work

The portfolio is stripped back. Not in a trendy minimal way. More like she made a decision and stuck with it.

Her case studies don’t try to walk you through everything. She sets up the problem, reframes it, and then you’re already looking at the solution.

That’s risky. A lot of people try that and you end up confused or underwhelmed because the work isn’t carrying enough weight on its own.

Here, it does.

She clearly put her effort into:

• how things look

• how things move

• how things are presented

And not into writing paragraphs no one’s going to read anyway.

Even outside the case studies, same pattern. The portfolio doesn’t try to entertain you. It doesn’t try to be clever. It just puts the work in front of you and lets it do its job.

The tinkering section is probably the best example of that. No explanation, no framing. Just work. And it works because the quality is there.

This is what multidisciplinary actually looks like when it works

You’ll hear this advice all the time: pick a lane.

And most of the time, that’s the right advice. Because most people aren’t actually good across multiple areas yet, they just want to be.

Joanna is one of the few cases where stepping outside a single lane makes sense.

Not because she’s showing a lot. But because the level stays consistent.

When she moves between product, motion, brand, it doesn’t feel like:
“this is my main thing, and this is me trying something else.”

It feels like:
“same brain, different tools.”

Her social media diet project is probably the clearest example. Posters, motion, web, identity. It all sits together naturally. Nothing feels like an add-on.

That’s the difference.

A lot of portfolios fall apart exactly here. You see the seams. You see where someone is stretching. And most importantly: you see a vast difference in skill and quality across the disciplines.

Here you don’t and this is why it works.

The Potential

A little more behind the scenes wouldn’t hurt

The simplicity works. I wouldn’t mess with that too much.

But there are moments where you’re like… alright, how did this actually come together?

Especially on the product side:

• what was her role in the team

• how did she work with engineering

• did she push anything beyond design

Not asking for a full process breakdown. Just a glimpse. Something that shows how she operates, not just what she produces.

Same thing with the real-world context.

She says the “consumer social app” (no name given!) hit around #140 on the Apple App Store. That’s a solid signal. But there’s no way to actually see it. No link, no reference, nothing.

Even just anchoring that a bit more would make the work feel more grounded.

Right now, some of it feels slightly detached from reality when it doesn’t have to because a lot of this is real world work.

It’s strong work, but there’s too much of it

This is where it gets a bit messy.

She has a lot of projects. Somewhere around 15. And even if you can handle more because you’re multidisciplinary, this is still pushing it.

It starts to dilute things.

Some projects are split when they shouldn’t be. Product in one case study, design system in another, even though they clearly belong together. Same with brand and web work in some places.

Those would be stronger if they were just told as one story.

Then there are a few pieces that just sit a bit outside of everything else. Like the book design project. It’s good, but it breaks the flow. That could easily live somewhere else without hurting the overall portfolio.

And then there are a couple of case studies that feel thin on their own. Not because the work is weak, but because they were forced to stand alone.

This is all fixable without removing much. It’s more about grouping and deciding what belongs together.

Right now, it’s less about “showing range” and more about “there’s a lot to look at.”

The Verdict

Joanna is in a position where most people are still figuring out basics, and she’s already making decisions about how she wants to show her work.

That’s why this works.

She keeps things simple but doesn’t lose quality. She shows range but doesn’t lose consistency. That balance is usually where things break.

There’s still some tightening to do. A bit more context here and there. Less fragmentation in the projects.

But none of this is foundational.

It’s just editing.

If you’d like to craft a similarly impressive portfolio Framer is likely your best choice.

Still struggling to get your portfolio off the ground?

Don’t want to spend weeks learning yet another tool? Framer is my top recommendation for building your portfolio — fast, clean, and without the usual headaches.

If you’re just starting out (or even if you’re not), I think Framer is a perfect fit. Here’s why:

• Flat learning curve: The interface feels familiar if you’ve used Figma — plus, there’s a plugin to bring your designs straight in.

• Plenty of learning support: Framer Academy is packed with free tutorials, videos, and guides to help you go from zero to published.

• A huge template library: Tons of high-quality (often free) templates in the marketplace to help you launch quickly without starting from scratch.

• Free if you are a student: Although Framer already offers a generous free plan for everyone, if you are an enrolled student you can get Framer Pro completely for free!

And that’s just scratching the surface. I wrote more about why I recommend Framer here—but honestly, the best way is to try it for yourself.

Affiliate disclaimer: I only recommend tools I personally believe in. Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase — at no extra cost to you.

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