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Top 5 Dos and Don’ts for your UX Portfolio
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November 2014 - Frank Gaine
The bottom line is that you need an awesome UX portfolio if you are going to stand out from the crowd and get that dream UX job. Whether you are an interaction designer, visual designer, research or other UX designer, here are some major dos and don’ts for preparing yours. It’ll help you get that dream role.
First and foremost, your portfolio must reflect the very essence of User Experience. It should be:
- Useful – the portfolio must hold sufficient info about your skills and past work to whet the employer’s appetite
- Usable – ’nuff said right?!
- Engaging – make it visually appealing. Always a subjective thing but we love responsive, flat design with sumptuously large images. Make it personal. Add an image of you at work, for example.
Major Do’s
- Buy a domain e.g. jeffcoultard.org
- Build a website. While PDF portfolios are ok, there’s nothing like a website. If you can’t code just pick a fully responsive template from one of those FREE, unbelievably easy ‘drag-n-drop’ sites like Virb, Weebly, Wix or Squarespace. Point your domain at the URL that these guys give you. In your resume, ensure the link to your portfolio stands out.
- Put some design work on there. For interaction designers especially, employers love seeing your thought process rather than just finished designs. Include images of sketches, wireframes, you in action in front of a whiteboard etc Blur logos and anonomize if the work is confidential. Write a short paragraph about your activity on each project (use ‘I’ not ‘we’) and the problem you solved.
- Include a pic of yourself, it humanizes things (none of you in a stoopid Halloween outfit, sorry).
- Go the extra mile by getting your (active) twitter feed on the site. Better still, write a blog about UX related stuff … this is cocaine for prospective employers who know their stuff. Why not make a video?
Some Don’ts
- Don’t create one-pagers that say nothing about you, you know those about.me pages
- Don’t include only images of the FINAL output (less so for visual designers)
- Don’t password protect it, it’s an anti climax for the viewer
- Don’t create a website with frames that doesn’t show the URL of a specific page on your site. This prevents hiring managers from copying and pasting the most relevant page into an email to their boss, for example.
- Don’t get lumped in with other designers on sites like Behance, About.me, Coroflot, Cargocollective or Dribble. Controversial, I know. Make more of an effort and create your own site.
So, once you’ve created your new portfolio, don’t forget to update your profile on UXswitch with the new link. You’ll be seen by only the very best UX recruiters and employers around. Need more inspiration, take a look at the Best Portfolios on UXswitch.