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What format should your UX portfolio be in?
Have you been applying for jobs to keep getting ghosted? Sucks, eh?
The key to pivoting your career into the design world includes having a unique and relevant UX portfolio — you'd want to stand out from any possible competition from entry-level designers to industry 'hot shots'.
And frankly, the 'right' format sometimes depends on the preference of the interviewing company. So it is up to you to present your portfolio and wow the company you're applying for.
Your portfolio essentially is a compilation of work samples that demonstrates your skills, ability, and worth as a designer. And in addition to the final product, you should include examples that span the whole design process from research insights, sketches, wireframes, etc. The work that you present will ultimately determine how employers and clients view you, and whether they’ll consider you for the job or not.
Remember: You want to showcase both your design thinking process and results.
Two most common portfolio types
There are infinite options available to build your online portfolio. Picking the right platform to create and host your portfolio depends on the cost, effort to publish, design flexibility, industry standard, and tech savviness. Now, here are the two primary portfolio formats that might work for you:
Portfolio Websites
Some of the online portfolio tools that I recommend:
- Notion: Simple & minimalist, writing focus interface, easy to use & launch.
- Typedream: Simple, writing focus interface, connects with Notion, drag & drop website builder, easy to use & launch.
- Webflow: Drag & drop website builder with great flexibility on the look & feel, good options of animations & themes, requires some effort to learn the platform.
- Squarespace: Easy to use, drag & drop website builder, decent theme library, requires limited tech knowledge.
Must-haves:
Homepage / About — a concise introduction
UX case studies x 3
Contact information — email address, phone number, etc.
Links to Resume, LinkedIn, and other sources (Medium, Dribbble, etc.)
A portfolio must be:
Personal — Who you are, your education & experience, what makes you different
Accessible — Link to download or access online, good color contrast
Aesthetic — Visually pleasing and consistent
Usable — Easy-to-navigate, easy-to-understand writing
Highlights — Your 3-5 best case studies, side projects
Your full guide to creating an outstanding portfolio and getting noticed.
Portfolio PDFs
Fool-proof tools for your offline portfolios:
- Pitch: Design-focused presentation builder, visually appealing templates, easy to share and download as PDF with logo.
- Google Slides: Easy to use and quick presentation builder, needs more design effort & customizations, easiest to share & download.
- Keynote: Easy to use and quick presentation builder, needs more design effort, easy to download. Accessible only for iOS.
- Canva: Design-focused builder with a great selection of assets & templates.
Must-haves:
Cover page — first impression
About section — a concise introduction
UX case studies x 3 — several pages per project
Final page — Thank you, contact information
A portfolio must be:
Personal — Who you are, what makes you different
Accessible — Small file size, upload to cloud storage and send a link to download
Aesthetic — Visually pleasing and consistent
Usable — Easy to read and understand
Highlights — Your 3-5 best case studies, side projects
Great UX portfolio examples
Here are some great portfolio examples to inspire you this year:
Here’s another 14 mind-blowing portfolio examples ⤵️
Here’s my portfolio https://cjh.design/, however my audience might be slightly different from yours. I am aiming for CEOs, Founders, and VPs of UX.
Key takeaways
Great portfolios show recruiters and hiring managers/teams how a skilled, proactive, collaborative designer, like yourself, can add value to the organization.
Instead of treating it like a one-time project, embrace the spirit of iteration, and create an MVP (minimally viable product or portfolio). Make it good enough now and always improve it later.
Read more about UX Frameworks.
Whenever you're ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:
1. Junior Designer Bundle: Transition into UX with my playbooks: breaking down portfolios, applications, and UX frameworks, to build a solid career foundation. Craft an unforgettable portfolio & get hired.
2. Senior Designer Bundle: Become a design leader with systems to build healthier, happier teams and grow you and others meaningfully. Join 500+ aspiring leaders.
3. UX Portfolio Critique: Get a 20-minute video of brutally honest feedback, a checklist of things to fix, in less than 48 hours. Get a personalised portfolio critique here.
4. Job Sprint Course: Stand out in an unpredictable job market by building a memorable personal brand and a killer job search strategy. Get hired in UX with Job Sprint.
