#174 What Actually Gets Designers Hired in 2026 (and How I Build My Case Studies with Claude)

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Hiring managers decide in about five seconds what you do, how senior you are and whether you're relevant. In this episode I go through the real 2026 design job market data from Figma, NN/g and Academy, the eight portfolio red flags one recruiter uses to close your portfolio, how to show AI in a case study as judgment instead of a tool list, and why AI broke trust in portfolios and moved hiring into live sessions. I also share the Case Study Engine I built with Claude after a client asked for case studies I hadn't written up yet. You drop your project material into a folder, and it builds a tailored, honest case study for each application.

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