What is UX Design Portfolio for Beginners? UX Design Portfolio Examples.
If you are new to the field of UX or planning to get into the field, then you would have heard of the term “UX design portfolio”. As a UX Designer, you are required to Solve Problems and work on Interesting Projects. You summarise your work in a presentable form — Case studies, which highlights how you approached the problem and solved it.
Be it in Personal or Professional life , the way you communicate to others to tell a story is a key skill. A Recruiter may spend a few minutes or may be seconds while evaluating your work and then they would move on to the next candidate.
Instead of those boring resumes which are all talk and no work; why not engage with the recruiters and communicate about your work in the form of a compelling story. Your UX Design portfolio allows you to do just the same.
In Simple terms, a UX Design Portfolio is a collection of these key Case studies as well as a brief summary about yourself.
While showcasing your work in Case studies and presenting them into your UX Design Portfolio there are few things that you must take care of. In this Article we shall discuss about the same, we shall discuss about some best practices and go through some awesome UX Design Portfolios as well
In this Article we shall discuss about
- What is a UX Design Portfolio? (And what it is not?)
- Who is the Audience?
- What makes a Good UX Design Portfolio?
- PDF/WEB
- UX Design Portfolio Examples
- Common Pitfalls
Lets Begin
What is a UX Design Portfolio?
So, the field of UX Design is growing exponentially and with each passing year no of vacancies as well as people getting into the field are increasing. Hence, if you want to get noticed into the Design industry and differentiate yourself from the rest then you can’t just rely on a CV.
UX Designer must be able to communicate their work, skills and problem solving capabilities in the form of a compelling story. And a UX Design Portfolio allows you to do just the same.
A UX Design Portfolio is an important Communication tool to help convey others
- UX Design Projects have you done in the Past.
- UX Design Projects that you are currently working on.
- Past Experiences and abilities in UX.
- Problem Solving Capabilities.
- Decision Making Process. For example- user research and findings, sketches, wireframes, prototypes, User personas, user journeys and so on.
In other words, UX Design portfolio is a reflection of your UX Design Process and UX Design Skills. It is your personal brand that you can use to speak to your audience.
To explain more, not just the UX Design process but it is a good practice to explain why and what led you to go ahead to the next step of the process. This will help the hiring manager get inside your mind and understand how you approach problems.
What it is not?
While we discussed what a UX Design Portfolio is , lets understand what it is not
- It is not just a collection of visuals and Texts. (Don’t fret too much on the looks)
- Don’t stuff your Portfolio with a lot of UX Design Tools that you may have used while working on the project. Your UX Design Portfolio is not about how many UX Design tools you used and how proficient you are in using them. Infact, it’s about how you these tools to create user solutions.
- It is not about the UX research methods you used. Instead, it is about how you used these methods to get user insights.
Who is the Audience ?
Now Let’s talk about who the audience of your UX Design Portfolio is. Well, your Portfolio is usually reviewed by 2 Key Groups.
1. Employers
Who are they ?
They can be Hiring Managers of a Company who wants to hire you for a UX Designer Role . Or Clients who want to recruit you to work as a Consultant UX Designer for a Project.
What do they look for?
While reviewing your Portfolio they would evaluate you as potential candidate for UX Designer role. They would like to check out
- UX Design SKills.
- Types of UX Projects you have worked on and the Problems solved.
- Proficiency in various UX Design tools (like User Flows, Sketching, Prototyping, User Personas) and UX Research.
- Understanding of UX Design Process and how you use it to solve problems.
- Ability to deliver results and solutions.
- Impact of your solution on the Users ( and on the world).
2. Colleagues and Peers
Who are they ?
They can be your colleagues and any other professional with whom you work. They can be the fellow UX Designers or Developers who would work with you in developing the Product.
Furthermore, they can also be the Product Managers and even founders of a startup or may be entrepreneurs (who might be looking for hiring a new UX Designer).
What do they look for?
They look for the Collaborators for new UX Projects who can come up with new ideas to solve challenging User Problems. Furthermore, they look for your understanding of UX Design Process and how you used it to solve Problems.
All of this helps them to understand if and how to work along with you.
What makes a Good UX Design Portfolio?
Now that we have discussed what is a UX Design Portfolio and who is the audience. Let’s discuss and understand what makes a Good UX Design Portfolio.
It is important to mention here that for one UX Designer the Portfolio can be different from another UX Designer. However, key components remain the same. Let’s talk about that.
A Good UX Design Portfolio has 4 key Elements
1. About me Section
2.Key UX Case Studies (only include relevant Projects)
3. Contact Information Page (Including Social Media links)
4. Blogs
Lets Discuss each in detail
1. About me Page
Talk about your educational background , talk about your passion and hobbies. You can also talk about any volunteering that you do.
See the purpose of this section is to create your personal story and connect with your audience. Keep in mind that you don’t need to make this page look professional. In Fact, this page is just a snapshot of your personality.
Furthermore, to make a connect talk about your story as a first person voice like ,
‘Hey, I am Reetika…’
‘I Have Volunteered for….’
‘I am Passionate about…’
2. UX Case Studies
This is the key Section where you include the relevant Projects you would have worked on. If you are a beginner UX Designer then try to include at least 3 UX Design Projects .
However, if you already have experience in the field and have worked on multiple projects before, then make sure not to include all the Projects. Include only relevant Case studies, preferably 4–6 Case studies.
These case studies ideally showcases the different projects you have worked on, and how you used different UX Design tools to solve User Problem.
3. Contact Information Page
Here you have to include your contact information. You may include your Cell phone number and Email ID so that the Prospective Employee can contact you.
Apart from that you can include your social media links like Twitter, LinkedIn Page, Youtube channel (if you have one ) etc.
4. Blogs
If you write blogs and articles, or if you have published papers on a subject then why not shout it out to the world. Include them too.
PDF or WEB? For UX Design Portfolio
While starting out, it can be pretty confusing to decide whether to use PDF or Web platform to host your Portfolio. However, it’s not that difficult to choose which one is good.
Let’s discuss when to use Web and PDF.
Website as a UX Design Portfolio
- If you have Experience in UX Design and have multiple UX design Projects to present.
- When time is not a constraint and you have time to spend on designing the layout of your website.
- If you have experience in developing websites or have money to spend on a freelancer who can develop.
I would always advise you to create your own personal website. It takes a teeny-weeny annual fee to have it hosted by a web platform.
To be completely honest, it’s a wise investment and will pay for itself. Furthermore, it is always advised to have a domain name such as yourname.com because it is easier to remember too.
Some of the Platforms where you can host your website are
PDF as a UX Design Portfolio
- If you are a beginner who has already worked on a couple of UX Design Projects and a potential Employer wants to review your work then go for PDF.
- Also, if you don’t have any experience in developing a website and needs to outsource the work then go for PDF.
- Creating PDF is simple. All you need is computer and PDF software.
Ultimately, it comes down to one main aspect. If you are just a beginner and have worked on 1–2 projects then PDF can be the best way to present a UX Design Portfolio.
However , if you have worked on multiple projects then presenting your work with multiple PDFs can be cumbersome. In such case, it’s better to spend some time and money on designing and developing website as a UX Design Portfolio.
UX Design Portfolio Examples
A UX Designer always seeks inspiration from another UX Designer. Let’s look into some of the UX Design Portfolio examples which will inspire you to when you create your own Portfolio.
- www.calrowston.com — Design Lead @ Fjord.
- www.anthonycurrenti.com — Senior Experience Designer @ AustralianSuper
- https://www.glorialo.design/- Product designer based in Sydney, Australia
- https://www.moritzoesterlau.de/– Mortiz , UX/UI Designer.
- http://karoliskosas.com/ — Product designer at Stripe
Common Pitfalls
There are some common mistakes that you must avoid while creating your portfolio. Let’s discuss about some of them.
- Avoid adding too much text as it would bore your audience. Also, don’t add too many visuals as it would confuse your audience. Infact, your portfolio must be a perfect combination of visuals and texts. (one complementing the other)
- While including the text make sure that fonts must not be illegible. Use fonts like Calibri, Georgia, Times Roman, Roboto etc.
- Double check your sentences to avoid grammatical errors.
- While including Images make sure that they are not blurry, dark and pixelated. Images should be clean and bright that soothes the eyes.
- Your Portfolio must be navigable and User Friendly. While designing your UX Design Portfolio think from the User Perspective and test it.
- Don’t use bright colors like Red,magenta etc. Use colors that soothes the eyes.
- Avoid including Poorly articulate Projects. Furthermore, solutions which have been created without conducting User Research and which does not solve user problems must be avoided.
To Conclude
For a UX Designer, UX Design Portfolio is most important than CV/Resume.It adds that personal touch that is missing in the otherwise bland CV, given that approximately 99% of CVs follow the same format.
To be honest, UX design portfolio is infact a bait (Keep that in mind). Its main purpose is to attract a recruiter to get interested in hiring you. Just like an attractive CV, a good UX Design Portfolio helps you get to the first stage in the hiring you.
Just like an attractive CV, a good UX Design Portfolio helps you get to the first stage in the hiring process. For Example Phone or Face -to-Face or Telephone Interview.
Through your Portfolio, you summarize your work, skills and problem solving capabilities. You must demonstrate your problem-solving Proficiency by presenting what methodology and steps you took to solve the Design Problem.
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