Communicate rationale~20 min

Communicate Rationale: Walk Through a Project Out Loud

Early preview draft — not yet practitioner or accessibility reviewed.
Goal
Practice explaining a real project's reasoning clearly and concisely under time pressure — the single most common design-interview format ("walk me through a project you're proud of").
Scenario
You have 5 minutes to walk an interviewer through one project from your own portfolio: the problem, your process, the decisions you made and why, and the outcome.
Audience
A hiring manager who has not seen your portfolio before and will ask at least one follow-up question about a decision you made.
Constraints
Time yourself — actually 5 minutes, not "about 5 minutes." Record yourself (audio is enough) rather than just rehearsing silently; hearing it back is where most people notice where they ramble.
Deliverable
A short written outline of your 5-minute walkthrough (problem/process/decisions/outcome), plus a one-paragraph note on what you'd change after hearing your own recording back.
Counts on your evidence profile as
A completed Skill Lab with its rubric and your deliverable
Accessibility requirement
If you have an access need for a live interview (e.g. needing questions in advance, or a non-verbal alternative), practicing how you'd ask for that accommodation is a legitimate part of this exercise too.
AI policy
AI use is allowed in a limited way for this lab — see details below. AI is fine for organizing your outline's structure, but the actual project story and reflection should be in your own words — an interviewer is listening for how *you* think, not a generated script.
Rubric
  • Fits the time: The outline is paced to genuinely fit 5 minutes spoken aloud, not a 15-minute story compressed into bullet points.
  • Decisions, not just steps: Names at least one specific decision and the reasoning behind it, not just a chronological list of what happened.
  • Real self-review: The reflection paragraph names something concrete you'd change, not a generic "it went well."
Resources

Skills: Presentation, Stakeholder Communication

Relevant to: Product Designer, UX Designer

Your work

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