As a UX designer, an online portfolio is the number one platform to showcase your very best work to prospective clients and employers. It’s an important part of the hiring puzzle that demonstrates your talents and achievements. If a potential client isn’t impressed by your work portfolio, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be getting hired or even called for an interview. Quite simply, your portfolio needs to show an employer why you should be hired.
In the creative world, online presence is a must.
Every designer should have an online portfolio space, whether you’re a UX/UI designer, graphic designer, web designer, animator, illustrator, etc. If you haven’t got your own dedicated website then look at other options such as dribbble, behance or create a website using create Squarespace as a platform to showcase your work.
So, now you have a website, but how do you go about displaying your work?
Here are my top 5 tips to create the best design portfolio:
1. Don’t just show final polished designs
Don’t just add screenshots of the final designs and expect your audience to understand your vision. A good designer should be showing their working method and thought process behind their ideas. Don’t be afraid to include your initial sketches, wireframes, journey mapping, low fidelity mockups or any other supporting material for each project such as research, prototypes and usability test results.
A good example of this can be found here: Mobile app design.
2. Explain your design process
Clients and employers will want to know how you arrived at the concept and final solution, you need to be able to talk about your work. Include details about the initial challenge and goals, your strategy, the approach you took, the outcome and any measurable results. Were there any setbacks during the working process? Explain how you overcame them and what you might have done differently, this will demonstrate your problem-solving ability and professional competence.
If the project was a success and you have the data to back it up then include this in your portfolio, it shows you have a clear vision when working towards goals and measurable KPIs.
3. Only include your best work
If there is a project you worked on that you are not proud of, remove it from your portfolio. There is no point including work that you are not happy to talk about. Make sure your work clearly demonstrates your skills, abilities and experience. Your portfolio should illustrate your comprehension of design, current trends and use of tools. Remember, this is the first thing the employer is seeing about you and your work, the idea is to make them want to meet you in person.
4. Quality over quantity
Don’t include too many samples of work. It is far better to include just a few examples of outstanding higher-quality work rather than to over-stuff your portfolio with two dozen half-hearted projects. An employer may have several portfolios to assess and will rarely have much time to look through a large amount of work. Focus on a few projects that are the most relevant to the role in question.
If you’re a new designer and don’t have many samples of work yet then create your own personal projects and present them as case studies.
5. Make it easy to navigate.
A potential employer or client could have dozens of applicant portfolios to go through, make sure yours is easy to navigate with your contact details clearly displayed. Ensure it is optimized across multiple devices, not just desktop. A badly constructed portfolio could be cast aside very quickly if the client can’t easily find their way around. You are after-all supposed to be showcasing your work as a designer, so make sure your own portfolio is well-designed!
Final word
Finally, once you’ve crafted the perfect portfolio, be sure you keep it up to date, and review it regularly. Remove outdated examples of work that no longer show off your abilities and aptitude. As our work develops over time so too can our styles and approach to working methods and the type of work we do. For example, there is no logical reason to show a corporate print brochure in your portfolio you designed 5 years ago if this is not the type of client you wish to target now. Only include recent and relevant projects that you are proud of.
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Davina lives on the Mediterranean island of Malta where she works as a UX designer. Originally from the UK she has also lived in Barcelona. See some of her work here: www.davinaspriggs.com
If you enjoyed this, take a look at her other posts:
5 ways to be a better designer
How to become a great UX designer
10 ways I travel on a tight budget
How to design awesome log-in forms on mobile
Discovering the surrealist world of Spanish artist Salvador Dali
Keep in touch
Connect with Davina on LinkedIn and Twitter, or see her work on Dribbble.
