Make something people actually use. Useful beats impressive every single time.

Impressive is aimed at an audience. Useful is aimed at a problem. The first gets a reaction and then gets forgotten, because nothing depends on it. The second gets used on an ordinary day by someone who was not thinking about you at all, which is a harder and more durable thing to have made.

Look at what you are working on and find one person who would genuinely miss it if it disappeared. If you cannot name one, make it smaller and more specific until you can. One real user beats a hundred compliments.