A UX designer portfolio is designed to showcase a UX designer's work. On top of detailed descriptions, she included plenty of photos and artifacts, making it easier for her readers to process all this information. Keep the same tone as in the rest of your design portfolio's copy, in order to form a clear personal brand and consistent browsing experience. Leslie Griffiths portfolio breaks with the tradition of one-note UX portfolios. Remember, your UX portfolio is for busy clients and hiring managers (the users). Itll make the time and effort you put into it much more worthwhile. Include as many visuals in your case studies as possible: wireframes, personas, user flows, sketches, and even doodles if you please! Just because youve never completed UX design work for a paying client doesnt mean you have to apply for your first job with an empty portfolio. Linh used descriptive and straightforward case study titles that make you want to read more. Sometimes one sentence, an image, and a clear navigational menu is enough., Your About page is the place to go into a bit more detail about who you are and how you got started in UX, especially if youve switched from another career., Early on in your UX journey, you may not have a ton of design work to include in your portfolio. 11.1K Followers. Her thumbnails share the same mockup style, resulting in an overall consistency. What you need is a nice introduction, carefully selected fonts, and a nice, harmonizing color palette to create something beautiful. This is a fantastic approach if youre not sure how to structure a case study: start with an overview and follow the stages of the project in chronological order. Contact: This doesnt have to be its own page, but be sure to give recruiters a way to get in touch after youve wowed them with your work. The Beginner's Guide to Creating a UX Portfolio on Medium | by Mike Curtis | The You Design System | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. You need to share design stories. Pay special attention to details of each case study: general structure The rest of the content follows Rachels design process, including research, sketching, and prototyping. She also discusses how she would test and iterate with more resources, giving her interviewers a preview of the value shed bring to the company. By re-using this template, he creates a sense of familiarity and security as we click from one case study to the next. Sidney drops a relatable, personal paragraph about distraction then moves on to takeaways that shell be able to use in other projects too. Her case study titles and subtitles are effective too. But its also an opportunity to let your creativity shine., Portfolio example: Jeremy Stokes - Cultivate, Jeremy Stokes is a former Google UX intern and current product designer at Duolingo. The first thing we see when landing on the portfolio is a high-quality photo of Bjorn, with a friendly smile on his face, alongside a short design manifesto. This is exactly what a great portfolio home page should achieve: it should make your readers want to learn more. You should also highlight and tease any emerging technology that you used (such as AR, AI, or VR) to pique your readers attention. Looking for a way to volunteer your UX design skills? 2. Youve landed your first interview for a UX designer role. These types of projects often simulate real-world situations by giving you the constraints of a brief to work from, as well as teammates to collaborate with. Tammy presents her case study as a slidedeck that lays out the challenge and the four steps of her design process. Linhs Data Privacy Browser Extension case study is well-structured and engaging. Make clear that this was a design challenge so recruiters are aware of the limitations, such as time constraints. Its hard to choose a favorite from her 4 fantastic case studies. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTML, UI/UX design, React, JavaScript, Web Development Tools, User Interface, Front-End Web Development, HTML and CSS, Responsive Web Design, Test-Driven Development, Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), Linux, Web Development, Bash (Unix Shell), Github, Version Control, Debugging, React (Web Framework), Web Application, Application development, Unit Testing, Web Design, User Experience (UX), Accessibility, Pseudocode, Algorithms, Communication, Data Structure, Computer Science. Whats more, she tied all her elements together, achieving visual coherence by using yellow as the accent color. Get inspiration for your entry-level UX portfolio with real world examples. Free. Mina includes only three case studies in her UX design portfolio, which is within the ideal range. 2023 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved. 3. This can be a good tactic if you have NDA-protected work that you want to showcase without exposing it to the whole world. Carsons portfolio is simple yet appealing. Its also an option to present more information about the projects right on your own portfolio home page. I have completed 1 full case study for my portfolio so far and I'm beginning the next. User research and personas. She even validates her design decisions by testing her clickable prototype with users. You can also provide in-depth case studies that communicate how you facilitate a user experience. Nuwanthi prefers her case studies on the shorter side. Portio is built with Bootstrap 4. In her Love, Bonito project, Valerie summarizes the case study by indicating the steps she took in order to reach the final outcome. Featured Case Study: HydroWorx 131% increase in organic contact form submissions 236% increase in organic sessions Ongoing monthly SEO strategy Custom website redesign Comprehensive social media strategy Read Case Study +131% Lead Increase For example, sometimes a contextual inquiry is appropriate while other times it is not. 1. What is even better that he still shows some final UIs or design elements on the thumbnails so you can get a sense of his overall work even though you cant peek further. Most UX designers have worked on different projects that came with their own colors and styles. The case studies that call for it are more text-heavy, while the rest are more visual-leaning to showcase Maxs design skills and eye for subdued beauty. Writing a case study is the way a UX researcher demonstrates their value. Minimalist portfolios. Jared Bartman. This is a level that many designers aspire to achieve, and so use these case studies as a source of inspiration and as something you can look up to. About the Author oz Oz first started UX Beginner was a way to document his own journey to become a UX designer. Usability testing results chart for a Wish design challenge. She started her career as a tech recruiter, so she knows a thing or two about portfolios, which is obvious from the looks and copy of her own UX portfolio. The introduction contains all necessary elements: She provides an overview, introduces the team, the problem, and her role. What is the work of a UX designer? A good case study explains your design process from start to finish, providing reasoning behind each decision leading up to the final design. Squarespace . This is a more holistic approach instead of the usual process-explanation take. Alexanders portfolio has some password-protected projects which is a great way to protect sensitive data or case studies that are not strictly public. With a pretty impressive portfolio, Arshad Wala uses a case study on the UX of the Xbox to demonstrate his problem-solving and design skills. Short videos present user task flows in a way that doesnt rely on big blocks of text. Documentary is, after all, a quintessential form of user research. To give recruiters vital insights, designers tell compelling stories in text and images to show how they handled problems. If you have to sign an NDA, make your case study password protected or keep it general, focusing on the early ideation. Sign up and start building your portfolio for free! He grew up in Texas, matured in Colorado, and spent his late 20s living in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Just imagine: what if the design lead or recruiter opens the case study that youve included only for the sake of having more case studies? Writing case studies for your UX portfolio can feel opaque and overwhelming. We are looking for a dynamic UI/UX designer who will be responsible [] When recruiters and UX professionals look through dozens of applications they have only a few minutes. Luckily, its possible to craft a stellar portfolio that shows off your skills before youve ever had a paying client. UX portfolios are made of UX case studies. If you aim to be a generalist, choose projects where you worked on all elements of the design process. Follow this UX case study template and youll be well on your way to your dream job. Case study:Literally anything on her portfolio, but here's her latest Zillow project Why it's awesome: It's a case study that integrates images in a way that is incredibly readable. Consider including screenshots of your design with call-outs of key changes inspired by your usability testing like this: Now its time to show your final designs. Limiting your portfolio to three main sections will help keep it focused and showcase your UX design techniques in the most effective manner. No matter how short or long your case studies are, an overview at the beginning is a great way to aid comprehension. Jeremy also highlights his visual design strengths with a full brand guide that highlights the meaning behind his design choices. These are only really small details, but when we read these subtitles we cant help but smile. Setting the scene, as Gabriel does, is extremely important. Writing a well-structured UX case study is also one of the basic skills that a competent UX professional should have. Present your design process step-by-step, from the beginning to the end. Joshs portfolio is a great example of a project-focused portfolio. Include a positive testimonial from your manager, supervisor, or peers from your time at the company. Her case study thumbnails from cohesion and her choice of shades make the entire portfolio look very professional. Portio Hugo is well organized, well-formatted, and named accordingly so it's easy to change any and all of the design. Clearly indicate that this is an unsolicited redesign and that you have no affiliation with the company. Consider including hidden talents, interests, and anything else that is not design related that shows who you are as a person. Using an unconventional color and building your portfolio around it is a great way to stand out from the crowd. These portfolios have sleek, pared-down interfaces that link out to the designer's body of work. These aim to demonstrate how you approach the UX process, and who you are as a designer. Your homepage should include a compelling headline introducing who you are and what you do. They add a touch of personality to your case studies and also some credibility. And only a very few portfolios have that effect. Her project got her an internship, as well as a stellar portfolio piece. Pixpa is an all-in-one portfolio building tool, offering modern, pixel-perfect templates, an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, customisable gallery layouts to showcase your work, and affordable pricing plans. Quentin begins with a short overview of the project, then makes a fantastic transition onto the design process by stating the problem. Reading a clear introduction is just what recruiters need when they sift through dozens of portfolios. When we hover over Natalies project thumbnails, you can read project subtitles like. When it comes to storytelling and case studies, it is crucial to explicitly connect the research and the final outcome. 14 UX designer portfolio examples Let's check out these 14 UX portfolios to help you create your own design in a way that captures the spirit of your work, as well as a sense of who you are. Audreys bio and introduction are extremely straightforward. Sagars Strategic Design for Misas Spectracase study walks us through his process from the challenge to research, ending with reflections. How to design your UI/UX case study | Portfolio tips + detailed walkthrough Rachel How 150K subscribers Subscribe 6K 123K views 1 year ago Tips on how to prepare your UX/UI Design case. Sketches, wireframes, and prototypes. Thats why you should check out these stunning UX portfolio examples: The home page and case studies are the essential building blocks of a great UX portfolio. Check out these sites for opportunities: -Get matched with a nonprofit project on Catchafire. A typical mistake I see in UX portfolios is lack of content explaining their contribution to the effort, the images are only the final product and not the process to get there. For UX designers, a portfolio is a chance to present your best work, creative process and personality. High-Quality Case Studies. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals. I'm a former teacher transitioning into a career in UX. By Lexie Kane on March 10, 2019 Topics: UX Teams The look is on point, and so is the content. Salesforce Product Designer, Rachel used UXfolios thumbnail generator to create stunning thumbnails that match the style of the case studies theyre linking to. They make up UX portfolios, alongside optional pages such as 'About Me' or 'Contact'. These primary users are not interested in your blog or social media. But many designers abuse the format. They may also need help with development and implementation (and the resources that go with it). Roy has also created some additional visuals for his case study, to tie each of his sections together. Acknowledge any unrealistic elements in your case study., Upon completion of the Google UX Design Professional Certificate from Coursera, youll have three end-to-end projects for your portfolio: a mobile app, a responsive website, and a cross-platform experience. User flows and customer journey maps. When reviewing candidates, design leads always check their portfolios first. These research-based design decisions are at the heart of user-centered design. Her portfolio contains both case studies and lots of samples of her work. Attending a hackathon gives you the opportunity to design a real app while collaborating with a real team of other designers, developers, and engineers. Marthe knows that a great case study goes beyond showing beautiful screens and other deliverables. Depending on your amount of experience and personal preferences, you may also choose to include the following pages: Resume: Give it its own page on the site or link to it. Youve actually thought about what youve learned that you can utilize in future projects as well. Here are the most common user research methods: As you explain the process for your methodology, answer these key questions: A comparative and competitive analysis is a good way to describe the results and what you learned, as shown below: Or, you can include your key takeaways in bullet points, as shown in this example: Next, walk the reader through your design phase. UX Portfolio Case Study template sections Project Title & Subtitle (A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project) Client/Company/Project type Project date (When did you work on the project) His solution? These seven types of UX case studies make excellent portfolio material for UX designers looking to get their start in the industry. A UX design portfolio is a collection of design case studies that showcases your skillset and your approach to the design process as a whole. This case study does an excellent job of laying out user research findings. The Prescription tracker case study uses UXfolios sticky navigation section to help the readers comprehension of the projects stages: interviews, user journey, sketch, iterate, prototype, release. Showcasing your process is the most important part of a UX design case study. Its better to have 3-4 great case studies than 5-6 mediocre. Be clear about the scope and limitations of your project. If youre ready to take the next step toward a career in user experience design, consider enrolling in the Google UX Design Professional Certificate on Coursera. The case study ends with the learnings. UX Challenge In this article, well dive into this further and highlight some UX case study examples, templates, and more. User flows are another great way to show the design you are working on: If user testing was part of your process, make sure to include what you learned from your iterative usability testing sessions here as well. But Denis shows us how its done: find one common thread a color, shape, etc. luisv0301/ux-portfolio. When opening the portfolio, the lightweight case study thumbnails immediately draw attention. Trailer 2:32 2. This way you can ensure that there is enough material to create an amazing case study. Looking for any feedback on my portfolio as a whole, specifically the full case study for the Customer Loyalty app. These can pull together even your weirdest projects into a coherent whole. My Role In her UX/UI case studies, Jaclyn gives honest and straightforward accounts mixed with well-crafted visuals to tell her design stories. All Rights Reserved. These features include text ideas and guiding questions for copywriting, prototype embedding, scrollable mockups, galleries, statistics section and many, many more. The 6 must-have components of a good UX researcher portfolio, according to a user experience career coach. Whenever you are showcasing design changes or insights from users, think about how would you present the same things for your clients or boss. New Best Practices for Leading Hybrid Creative Teams, The Time Is Now to Empower Emerging Designers with a New Approach to Design Education, Translating User Research into User Experience Design, How Julia Feld Uses UX to Help Immigrants & Refugees, Do not sell or share my personal information. Offer helpful resources ~~~~~ Ready to pivot into UI/UX design? For one, your story should be at the heart of your case study. It creates a sense of cohesion even when some of your visuals include colorful pictures. One important feature is the "Back to Top" button on the right-hand side of the case study pages. UX Portfolio Case Study template (plus examples from successful hires) | by Calvin | UX Planet Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. What are some key companies or brands you have worked with? Sidneys My Fave Places case study contains a fantastic Lessons Learned that wraps up everything in the best possible way. Portfolio example: Clayton Hopkins - #DullesJustice, Clayton Hopkins includes a few pro bono case studies in his portfolio in the form of Medium articles. To achieve a polished vibe, Roy kept all his personal and professional information to his About Me page. Below are some examples of case study deliverables during the design phase. Another option for a case study you can complete without any formal UX design experience is to build a concept app or website from scratch. Both analytical data and learnings would be impactful closures for a case study, but combining the two is even better! The result? Felipe, whos a senior product designer, created a simple yet engaging UX designer portfolio. A hackathon project in your portfolio can demonstrate that you can: Think critically and solve problems under pressure, Yang Qian, a product designer at Palantir Technologies, presents a case study from a three-day LinkedIn hackathon for design and engineering students. Realistically, a product will continue to grow in an iterative process; explaining the direction the product is heading or talking about features that are coming up in future iterations is a great way to showcase this. She makes her front page even more interesting by presenting work on her thumbnails differently on each project. When choosing projects for your portfolio go for impactful ones that. A UX designer is an advocate for the end-users of a website or product. His passion project, Cultivate, lays out a clear problem to solve: theres a stigma around talking about mental health, particularly within the Black community. User Experience Strategist @userfocus. Remember: Outcomes are evident for you, but not for others, since they didnt work on the project with you. Instead of an image, he uses a bright gif of his name that immediately catches visitors attention. Recruiters and UX professionals have to look through dozens of case studies each day. 7. Make sure your portfolio provides a good UX. UX heavyweight, 3.5yrs+ experience, with light UI. Felipe has three case studies in his portfolio. Ux Portfolio. Now that weve gone through the must-have sections of a UX portfolio and some examples of effective case studies, lets take a look at some additional tips and best practices to refer to when building your portfolio. If youve never written a UX case study, dont worry. Check out our portfolio to learn how our digital marketing solutions drive results for clients! This isnt exactly the case. While case study best practices are great pointers, ultimately it is the project at hand thatll determine your case studys structure and content. How do you build a UX design portfolio with no experience? Many designers believe that the more youve worked in the industry the more case studies you need in your portfolio. So, UX case studies play a significant role in UX designer's life. The UX portfolio includes some big names and extended case studies of the work he has done for them. When in doubt, you can always rely on semi-realistic mockups, that have similar borders and shadows. However all UX design portfolios need to balance an engaging visual experience with one that enhances usability. For each methodology, briefly introduce the technique and include why you used it, what you hoped to learn, the result, and how it influenced your design. To get started, let's take a look at some general guidelines and best practices for your UX design portfolio. Copyright 2019-2023 Adobe. Hyk shows that there are more options to presenting UIs than device mockups: you can also experiment with placements and shadows. On top of reading well, it includes beautiful, well-placed images with plenty of explanation. We recommend checking out Melysias B&D case study. In particular, their traffic and clicks skyrocketed they experienced an 885% increase in search traffic and a 473% increase in clicks. David Travis. You may also want to include a short bio and links to your social media accounts here. Sagars home page features large thumbnails with illustrations of similar style. When presenting the outcome of your project, make sure to reflect back on the research findings you mentioned earlier. It could be attributed to the combination of the amazing illustration on his homepage and his bold choice of colors. I'm feeling discouraged and like my work doesn't measure up. Throughout his case studies, he used many of UXfolios built-in device mockups, so theres a feeling of coherence even between different case studies. How does the Pixpa portfolio builder work? Focus on solving a real problem. 2. Remember, they were working with a brief and real-world constraints.. Let's go into more detail. She took a minimalist portfolio template and made it her own through careful font selection, dynamic project thumbnails, and harmonizing colors. Competitive UX analysis. Roys is a playful and stunning UX portfolio with popping colors. High-fidelity prototypes from an unsolicited redesign of Houzz. In the Mimic case study Josh decided to showcase the final designs by focusing on challenges and user needs. And through case studies you can show it to them. The UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for. Here is where you can show how you are able to take your research and apply it to your design. They also ensure that the end-to-end journey with their products or services meets desired outcomes. The only text on his home page is his mission statement, which is to invent and design user-friendly & accessible products and services with added value.. Resist the urge to simply redesign the interface. This can be more challenging than an unsolicited redesign, as it lacks the inherent structure and constraints of an existing product. Experts discuss new best practices for leading creative teams where collaboration happens remotely & in-office. How to write a UX writing case study A step-by-step guide to breaking down the UX writing approach of a user experience and improving upon it. It begins with a nice overview, detailing her responsibilities and the project goals. For her thumbnails, Marthe opted for the same mockups to create visual consistency. Therefore, it has to look good & serve its purpose, which is to make your visitors want to learn about your work, aka read your case studies. So many portfolios are grid images on a white page, and while there's nothing wrong with that approach, Jared's portfolio stands out for its light grey background and use of color in general. After walking us through his process, we get to see a beautiful gallery of final UIs and a statistics section. A UX case study tells the story of how you create a great website or app and, in particular, what you do to improve the UX of the site. If youre more interested in user research or user interface (UI) design, prioritize these elements in your case studies. After working with many designers throughout my own career and helping many more build their job-ready portfolios, there are a few designers that I keep coming back to for inspiration and some that are inspiring a new generation of UI/UX and Product Designers to enter the field.. I've chosen 10 of our favorite UI/UX and Product Designersa colorful tapestry of digital product architects that . a short but revealing sentence for subtitle. Sometimes, the first project to go into your portfolio will be a UX project you worked on as part of a design course, UX bootcamp, or degree program. Present the right work, summarize your findings, and communicate clearly to showcase your skills. She keeps it sleek with the white background of her portfolio front page, using one of UXfolios streamlined templates. Figma Experience; Demonstrate a UX-focused Product Design portfolio with multiple case studies of products you worked on. It comes with templates and a repeatable structure that you can use to knock out UX case studies and portfolios. Throughout the previous years, long case studies have been the standard among UXers. His favorite medium is photography and he is a lover of UX because it means constantly helping people. Dribbble, another popular UX portfolio platform, lets you share screenshots of your sketches, prototypes, and design concepts. Note : I skimmed through Shawn's Grubhub UX project case study. Her project choices share this quality as they showcase nothing but digital products. Whats more, Jaclyn wrote an engaging and memorable About page, which is a hard thing to do. UX case studies are examples of design work which designers include in their portfolio. Nicolas UX design portfolio is a love letter to minimalism. Mood boards and style guides. Its not rocket science, but there are certain guidelines to follow to make your portfolio a success. In her Bubs case study, we get a walkthrough of all the projects stages. Hyks is a very simple yet impressive portfolio home page, mostly because of his eye-catching thumbnails. Also, try to make it easy for the reader to establish a connection between those two parts. You can do that by creating enticing case study thumbnails and featuring them on your home page. She includes affinity maps, a user persona, task flow chart, and low-fidelity, high-fidelity, animated, and clickable prototypes. Hi there! She doesnt overexplain her process, assuming that the reader has a general knowledge of UX principles and methods. And that reason is their audience. This is where youll select and showcase projects youre proud of and explain your design process from start to finish. 3. Play an active role in our thriving, inspiring, and fun UX Design practice and culture. Then, he conveys everything he and his team did in detail and with relevant visuals.