Decks are important. You will be asked to present your work at most companies and generally the best way to go through your process is using slides.

I always send along my portfolio website with my resume. The website contains longer form case studies in the style of blog posts, but also some projects that are lighter on content.

When I am asked to come in for a presentation, I present my portfolio as a deck where the stories may be tweaked a bit to suit the format.

I always thought though that this was the proper way to present work because case studies on websites are often just too wordy for a good presentation. My assumption was that this is how most designers did it, but I could be wrong.

I don't use them, mostly because interactivity is so core to my work. I'm generally distrustful of vendors and people who let you "look but don't touch" at their work - I get suspicious that it would break if they let me really use it. I'd prefer to put up a real working model of a learning interaction so people can see how it works from the inside. From that point, you can always take a bunch of screenshots and animated gifs of the experience to put in a slide deck or video for someone so busy that they will only spend two minutes on it.

i only did it once, when i was asked to. I wouldn't do it otherwise - a portfolio is a good way to show your skills and get that interview. some employers want to see your presentation skills, and in this case you might want to edit your portfolio in a form of a presentation

As a design team leader who hires designers (3 companies over the last 6 years), I wouldn't welcome the presentation of a Portfolio Deck in an interview setting. It's too prepared and inverts the controlling of the interview process to the designer, i.e., "I will show you what I want to show you."

By this time, I've already checked out a lot of their background and portfolio–otherwise, they wouldn't be invited in for an interview—and I'd want to do a deep dive and ask some tough questions. 1) I want to see how they handle uncomfortable questions 2) I want to see how they back up their design decisions.

This would involve randomly picking designs from their portfolio and ask questions like:

"Why did you choose that color for the table background or that button?" "Did you test this design on users and what was the response?" "Could you show me an earlier iteration of this design?" etc etc

Yes. I did an email deck and an in-person deck. I don't have time to code up a new portfolio site (though I've had one in-progress for like 6 months). Downside is less visibility. You are depending on active recruiting to get your deck in front of the right people. A deck is also slightly higher friction for the hiring manager to go through. (Protip: short link or domain that redirects to your deck link)

You will likely still need to do a design challenge.

what's the difference with a PDF portfolio and a portfolio deck? It's always nice to have a PDF version but sales pitch? As a designer your works should sell itself. If you're trying to sell something doesn't desirable, then there's a problem with it.

If you’re hiring an art or creative director at an agency I could see this format working. As a product designer at a startup a longer form case study is going to be better.

I think it depends on your audience during the interview. When applying to jobs, I'll send my site with long form, written case studies for the Hiring Manager to read through. If I'm presenting to 1 or 2 people, I'll use these same case studies to guide the conversation. That way, it's easy to do a deep dive.

When asked to present my work to a larger group – especially when it consists of cross-functional team members – I'll use a deck. In those presentations, I believe the emphasis is on your ability to tell a story about your work. Having a deck is easier to anchor the story.

I turned the biggest case we've ever done (which consisted of building multiple sites for a single client over the course of 3-4 years and managing everything in between) into a portfolio deck. The communication or marketing person who might enlist your services is unlikely to make the final call on hiring you.

The contact that you meet might be excited but then the higher ups might ask questions: "Can we trust these folks? What have they done? Do they have experience with international clients, because they only have 12 people?" . The deck adresses exactly the type of questions a stakeholder might have.

I used to focus on showing as much as I could. Writing 30 page in-depth proposals and trying to refer to as many relevant cases as possible. I learned along the way that it is more important to focus on specific challenges and to radiate confidence. If you are confident you have this single 3 - 5 page document that basically shows everything that you do or have accomplished for your single best/most high profile client. I also send this deck along with the quote. Knowing that all the work I show in between to the person I'm dealing with directly might not end up at the stakeholders(boss) but the final quote and every document attached to it will.

So even if my contact does not necessarily understand how this particular case might be relevant to his request, it will have a 99% chance to end up at the higher ups.

I agree with most here but I think your experience level and the role also matter. At 6 years in, I have enough experience and active products ive worked on that I honestly only use a dribbble and a few more images in person for my portfolio.

I've still had to run through my work but usually from a high level as it seems to become a more relaxed process. The interviews (for me) usually consist more of, design challenges and both abstract/detail oriented tasks.

Starting out, I definitely did put more work into my portfolio work and for someone without much experience that really does make a big difference. When reviewing design candidates I look at the strength in the designers work, not necessarily the amount or the presentation. Those are nice to haves but not that important to me. I may be in the minority on that.

Thinking of switching to a Portfolio deck as well for the main reason of being easier to maintain, update and add content. So my thinking is a short scan-able piece on the web about the project but a deeper sales pitchy portfolio deck for a hiring manager who might not have the time to read through a case-study.