Table of Contents
- Why most UX portfolios fail
- The 4 golden rules for picking projects that get you hired
- #1. Show different project types
- 🔸 Platform-based:
- 🔸 Industry-based:
- #2. Show your best work
- 🔸 Projects you’re most proud of:
- 🔸 Projects you most enjoyed:
- #3. Show you're the right fit
- 🔸 Consumer-facing companies:
- 🔸 B2B companies:
- #4. Start with three projects
- 🔸 Organise top to bottom:
- 🔸 Remove instead redesign:
- The portfolio audit: Questions that matter
- The portfolio evolution: Keeping it fresh
- The quarterly review
- The application audit
- The feedback loop
- Beyond the portfolio: The full package
- 1. Your resume
- 2. Your LinkedIn
- 3. Your interview skills
- Your UX portfolio is your professional story
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Why most UX portfolios fail
Most UX portfolios fail because they're built for the designer, not the hiring manager.
Designers treat portfolios like personal scrapbooks: documenting growth, showing evolution, displaying every project they've touched.
But hiring managers aren't here for your design journey. They're scanning for proof you can solve their problems. Specifically, they're asking three questions:
- Can you do the work?
- Do you understand our problems?
- Will you make my life easier?
If the answers aren't obvious in 2 minutes, next candidate.
Here’s what that disconnect looks like in practice:
- Too much backstory, not enough impact. Long case studies that read like memoirs, but barely touch on the business results.
- Projects that are “yours,” but not “theirs.” Including work that’s personally meaningful but irrelevant to the role you’re chasing.
- Overemphasis on process porn. Wireframes, sticky notes, and user flows… without showing what changed because of them.
- No clear positioning. The portfolio leaves the reviewer guessing what you want to be hired for.
👉 11 UX Portfolio Red Flags That Are Killing Your Career
The 4 golden rules for picking projects that get you hired
Hiring managers don’t want your whole design process; they want the “right” proof you can deliver results for them. Follow these four golden rules to curate projects that make saying “yes” effortless ↓
#1. Show different project types
🔸 Platform-based:
Remember when everyone thought mobile-first design was just a trend? Yeah, those designers are probably still looking for work.
The digital landscape changes faster than fashion trends, and your portfolio needs to demonstrate that you can keep pace.
The platform mix:
- Web applications (desktop isn't dead, despite what your Gen Z intern says)
- Mobile apps (iOS and Android, please, don't be that designer who only knows one)
- Responsive design (show you understand the space between mobile and desktop)
- Emerging platforms (VR, AR, voice interfaces, whatever's trendy when you read this)
🔸 Industry-based:
Here's where most UX designers get it wrong. They think staying in one industry makes them "specialized." But unless you're designing heart monitors or nuclear plant interfaces, industry diversity is your friend.
Why industry hopping matters:
- B2B SaaS requires complex workflow thinking
- E-commerce is all about conversion optimization
- Consumer apps focus on engagement and delight
- Fintech forces you to think about security and trust
- Healthcare teaches you about critical user flows and accessibility
Your full guide to creating an outstanding portfolio and getting noticed.
#2. Show your best work
🔸 Projects you’re most proud of:
There's a difference between work that was hard and work that was good. Sometimes they overlap. Sometimes they don't. The key is understanding which projects stretched you in ways that matter.
The "Hardest" criteria:
- Technical complexity (you learned new tools or methods)
- Stakeholder complexity (you navigated political landmines)
- Timeline complexity (you delivered excellence under pressure)
- User complexity (you solved for diverse or challenging user groups)
Complexity without impact is just showing off. Make sure your "hardest" projects also delivered real value.
The "Impact" checklist:
- Did users actually use what you designed?
- Can you point to specific metrics that improved?
- Would you recommend the same solution again?
- Did it solve the business problem it was meant to solve?
🔸 Projects you most enjoyed:
This might sound touchy-feely, but hear me out. The projects you enjoyed most often represent your natural design strengths. And strengths are what get you hired.
The "Flow State" indicators:
- Time disappeared while you worked on it
- You kept wanting to iterate and improve it
- You genuinely use the final product yourself
- You felt energized, not drained, after working sessions
- You found yourself thinking about it outside work hours
#3. Show you're the right fit
🔸 Consumer-facing companies:
If you're applying to consumer product companies, they want to see that you understand how to make things people actually want to use. Not just things that work, but things that feel good to use.
Big companies like Spotify, Instagram, or Duolingo care about metrics like:
- Time in app
- User retention
- Feature adoption
- Daily active users
- User satisfaction scores
What to showcase:
- A/B testing results
- Evidence of user research and testing
- Projects with measurable engagement improvements
- Designs that prioritize user delight alongside functionality
🔸 B2B companies:
B2B is a different beast entirely. Users aren't choosing your product because it's fun, they're using it because they have to. Your job is to make that experience as painless as possible.
B2B companies care about:
- Error reduction
- Task completion rates
- Support ticket volume
- Training time reduction
- User productivity metrics
What to showcase:
- User onboarding optimization
- Complex workflow simplification
- Data-heavy interface organization
- Evidence of reduced cognitive load
#4. Start with three projects
🔸 Organise top to bottom:
Think of your portfolio like a Netflix homepage.
The top row gets the most attention, so it’s better to be your absolute best. The middle row catches the curious browsers. The bottom row is for the completionists who actually scroll.
Top project: "Please read this"
- Your strongest work
- Most relevant to the role you want
- Best combination of process, outcome, and impact
- The project you could talk about for an hour without notes
Middle project: "I like this too"
- Backup conversation starter
- Good work that supports your narrative
- Demonstrates a different skill or industry
- Shows range without diluting your core message
Bottom Project: "If you have time"
- Experimental or personal work
- Demonstrates growth or learning
- The "getting to know you" project
- Shows personality or passion projects
🔸 Remove instead redesign:
You don't need to fix mediocre projects. You need to remove them. It's easier to make a good project great than to make a bad project acceptable.
The curation test:
- Does this project serve my narrative?
- Would I be excited to discuss this in an interview?
- Does this show a skill that my other projects don't?
- Am I including this because it's good or because I worked hard on it?
If you can't answer yes to at least three of these questions, cut it.
The portfolio audit: Questions that matter
Before you publish, run your portfolio through this gauntlet:
The stranger test
"If someone who's never met me looked at this portfolio, would they understand what I'm good at and want to hire me?”
The relevance test
"Do these projects show skills or outcomes that match the jobs I'm applying for right now?"
The interview test
"Am I excited to talk about every project in here, or are there some I hope they don't ask about?"
The uniqueness test
"What makes this portfolio different from the 50 other UX portfolios they'll see this week?"
Your full guide to creating an outstanding portfolio and getting noticed.
The portfolio evolution: Keeping it fresh
Your portfolio isn't a tattoo; it's not permanent. Here's how to keep it relevant:
The quarterly review
Every three months, ask yourself:
- Is this still my best work?
- Do these projects still represent my career goals?
- What new skills have I developed that should be showcased?
The application audit
Before applying to each job, consider:
- Which projects best match this role?
- Should I adjust my project descriptions for this industry?
- Is my portfolio narrative aligned with this opportunity?
The feedback loop
Get regular feedback from:
- Other designers (for craft and presentation)
- Non-designers (for clarity and communication)
- Hiring managers (for relevance and impact)
Beyond the portfolio: The full package
Remember, your portfolio doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's part of a larger professional presence that includes:
1. Your resume
It should tell the same story as your portfolio, just in bullet points.
If your resume says you're a "user-centered design leader" but your portfolio shows no user research, you have a consistency problem.
👉 How to Write UX Resume:
2. Your LinkedIn
Your portfolio's wingman.
Use it to share insights, celebrate team wins, and show your personality. But please, for the love of all that is holy, don't start every post with "In today's digital landscape..."
👉 How To Brand Your LinkedIn Profile:
3. Your interview skills
You could have the best portfolio in the world, but if you can't talk about your work confidently and clearly, it won't matter.
Practice explaining your projects like you're talking to your non-designer friend, not like you're defending a thesis.
👉 How To Nail A UX Interview:
Your UX portfolio is your professional story
Great UX portfolios are not just collections of work. They're arguments.
Arguments for why you're the right person for the job. Arguments for what kind of designer you are. Arguments for the value you bring to a team.
So go audit your portfolio. Be ruthless. Cut the projects that don't serve you. Strengthen the ones that do.
Because in a world full of UX designers who can do everything, the ones who get hired are the ones who can do specific things exceptionally well.
Now stop reading and start curating. Your dream job is waiting for a portfolio that tells your story.
All the best to you all 🔥
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