Believe all UX portfolio case studies, should have pretty User Interfaces? You are wrong.
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I keep seeing a number of portfolios on a daily basis. One thing i keep noticing is the fact that all of the case studies will have a well designed user interface.
This clearly explains why no one bothers the importance of having variety in the UX projects done.
In the real world also, not all the projects you do will end up in an interface. This is because:
- Different experts are brought into build teams in UX mature organisations. And in one project you may be interaction designer and in another you might work on discovery phase or conduct UX workshop with stakeholders or you might be assigned with the task of grooming a group of new joinees (if you gain some experience)
- You will be involved in various stages of user Centered Design and your deliverable will be according to the UCD stage you are in. For example, in one project your deliverable can be only personas or UX Evaluations of an existing product.
- If you are in a product company, you might be working only to study the UX feasibility of a feature and prototyping it.
- Or you might be usability testing an existing product to understand usability, accessibility and desirability issues.
So here are few things you can do:
- Be open to different types of projects from UX evaluation, user research, usability testing, wireframing, visual design, workshops, trainings etc.
- Find your projects to showcase skills that are related to UX domain.
- List them as projects themselves to showcase your variety of UX skills you have.
- Also showcase the various techniques and methods you used (For example Persona) as part of User Centred Process applied on a project.
Bottom line is to communicate to the hiring team that you know all the relevant skills, techniques not only in silo but also as part of the UCD process. This will give strength to your candidature & portfolio. So not all UX work involves designing an interface or creating a prototype
How do you structure your UX portfolio? Do you only showcase projects that has pretty interfaces? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Have Questions on UX of your Product? Worried about your UX Career? Feel free to Follow, Connect & Ask me Sivaprasad Paliyath (CUA — HFI) & drop me a message & I would be very happy to help you.
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