UXing My Portfolio
The story of how I overcame the portfolio struggle with some serious UXing.
I’m in a love/hate relationship with my portfolio. I’ve spent countless hours (even some sleepless nights) building it from a blank canvas. It is my pride and joy — created from nothing to showcase my work and style as a UX Designer. Yet those countless hours and sleepless nights were full of stress, dried-out contacts and endless pixel pushing. The idea of writing my first case study nearly gave me a nervous break down, but that is a story for another time.
Let’s rewind a couple of weeks. I’m fresh off a freelance gig and I’m pumped to get the new case study on this beloved portfolio of mine. I open the editor and immediately something feels off… Is there enough information on the home page? Should I get rid of this carousel? Are my case studies consistent? Should I change the header? Is that button in the right place? I should definitely move these hover boxes, right? DO I EVEN LIKE PINK?!
Fast forward too many hours. I’ve had way too much coffee and yet another pair of contacts have succumbed to my portfolio. As it turns out, that button was just fine where it was, I didn’t need to move those hover boxes and I still like the color pink — but something was off and it was driving me crazy. It was time to take the advice that a very wise instructor gave me:
“UX your portfolio!” — Shalyn
I was right — there was something off, but I was trying to fix it in the wrong way. With direction, excitement and a fresh pair of contacts, it was time to UX my portfolio. Here’s what I’m working with:
So, what are we looking at here?
- A simple statement that rotates adjectives to describe me as a designer.
- Hover boxes that link to my case studies. The image to the left shows what appears on hover.
- My electronic signature & social media icons to make it a bit more personal.
To identify areas of improvement, I ran a heuristics report on the home page. Here are the results:
Clearly, improvements need to be made! In short, I am not communicating who I am as a designer, or making it clear to recruiters what position I’d be a good fit for. I’m making it difficult to find my case studies by just depending on the user to hover over those boxes, and all of that combined make up for a lack in credibility. As for delight — I believe there can never be too much of it.
To improve all of the above, I did some more research and created a completely new home page. Here are the 4 features I’d like to highlight:
(1) PERSONA
I made myself into a persona to help with those communication and credibility issues. Complete with Goals, Needs, Behaviors, and Values — anyone visiting my portfolio immediately gets a sense of who I am as a person and designer.
(2) UX WORK SECTION
In an effort to make my work more findable and improve both clarity and communication, I updated the format of each case study CTA to now include:
- Type of job (Highlighted by the blue boxes below)
- Company name & description
- Organization & role (Highlighted by the green boxes below)
- Electronic signature
(3) MY PROCESS
I spent my time at General Assembly learning the UX process and with each case study, refined my process. I thought communicating my process would add some much needed credibility and clarity to who I am as a UX Designer.
(4) ABOUT ME
I am a UX Designer, but first and foremost I am person. I wanted my portfolio to communicate that. To give it a real, personable and approachable vibe, I added a photo carousel of some of my fondest memories and a casual bio next to my professional brand statement. The goal here is to make people comfortable enough to reach out.
No contacts were harmed in the making of this portfolio. UPDATE: Since this article was published, I’ve been making updates and changes to my portfolio. To see it in action head to: https://www.nmguxd.com/
Just for Fun
In my research for this article, I spoke to a few UX Designers about their portfolios. I asked a few questions — but this one was by far my favorite:
If your portfolio was an animal, what would it be?
A black panther, my favorite animal in high school. To represent intelligence and subtle fierceness. — UX Designer
An ostrich. Because I’m trying to hide some parts of my case studies I don’t feel comfortable talking about. — UX Designer
If my portfolio was an animal it would be a cute bunny. — UX Designer
If my portfolio was an animal it would be a butterfly 🦋. Why? To represent the powerful transition I made in my life to become a UX Designer.
What animal would your portfolio be?
