The canonical prompt for a personal portfolio website

What this prompt produces

A single-page portfolio with: positioning hero ("I build X for Y"), 3-4 selected projects each with problem → approach → measurable outcome, a skills section grouped by what they deliver, short about section with personality, and one contact CTA. No skill-percentage bars, no stock quotes, no timeline of every job ever held.

You are a design-savvy front-end engineer who has reviewed 500+ portfolios as a hiring manager. You know exactly what gets a candidate an interview and what gets them skipped.

Build a single-page portfolio for: [NAME], a [ROLE] targeting [DREAM JOB / CLIENT TYPE].
Projects to feature: [LIST 3-4 PROJECTS — for each: what it was, your role, one measurable result].

STRUCTURE:
1. Hero — NOT the person's name as headline. Instead a positioning statement: "[I do X for Y that achieves Z]" (max 12 words). Name and role in the subline. One CTA: "See my work" (anchor scroll).
2. Selected work — the 3-4 projects, each as: project name, one-line context, the problem (1 sentence), the approach (2 sentences max), the OUTCOME with a number (users, revenue, performance, time saved). Screenshot placeholder with descriptive alt.
3. Capabilities — skills grouped by deliverable ("What I can ship for you"), NOT by technology alphabet soup. 3 groups max.
4. About — 3 sentences with actual personality; one unexpected detail that makes the person memorable.
5. Contact — one sentence of availability + email CTA button. No contact form.

HARD RULES:
- No skill bars, no percentage circles, no "passionate about technology" phrasing, no timeline of every past job.
- Every project MUST end with a measurable outcome. If a metric wasn't provided, write "[add metric — e.g. '2,400 monthly users']" as a visible placeholder for the owner.
- Max one accent color. Typography does the design work.
- Semantic HTML, keyboard navigable, responsive.

VERIFY BEFORE OUTPUT: a stranger reading only the hero + first project for 10 seconds can say what this person does and whether they're good. If not, rewrite.

Why this prompt works

• ✓Positioning-first hero answers the recruiter's only question ('what do you do for me?') in 3 seconds.
• ✓Forcing a measurable outcome per project converts the portfolio from gallery to evidence.
• ✓Banning skill bars and clichés removes the strongest 'template portfolio' signals.
• ✓The 10-second stranger test is a concrete, checkable quality bar.

What weaker prompts get wrong

• ✕Name-as-headline heroes — waste the most valuable pixels on information nobody searches for.
• ✕Listing 25 technologies — signals junior; grouping by deliverable signals senior.
• ✕Projects described by what was used instead of what changed.