UX Design Portfolio Advice, Do and Don’t
We’ve been having a lot of conversations with our members getting ready to enter into the job market and there are certain questions that come up again and again, so we decided to create a bit of guidance in the world of DO and DON’T when it comes to crafting your portfolio.
DO, make it personal. Consider your portfolio to be the first digital handshake you have with a prospective employer, so let them get to know you!
DO, showcase your strongest pieces that demonstrate your best skills. Maybe you’re talented in a few areas? UX design, front-end development, data science, UX writing, photography? No problem, you can include different examples, just make sure to label them for clarity.
DO, be honest and clarify the context of the project and who worked with you (along with their role) for cross-collaborative examples.
DO, showcase a balance of visuals and written content as you tell your story. This not only helps to break up long paragraphs of text, but also allows you to show off those skills when it comes to various design methodologies and deliverables.
DO, pull inspiration from other portfolios in terms of layout, experience design, and navigation — there’s a ton of great stuff out there, so no need to reinvent the wheel if you find a layout that works well for you!
DO, get feedback on your portfolio — leverage friends, family, designers in your network, teachers, etc. for preliminary thoughts.
DO, update your portfolio from time to time — as you grow over the years, the quality of your work grows, too! Be sure to showcase your latest work since you never know when that next opportunity may come.
DON’T, take credit for other people’s work. Whether this involves cross-collaborative projects or plain stealing from the internet, this never ends well.
DON’T, showcase final visual designs (or prototypes) and not explain how you got to the output — screens can’t tell a story about your design process.
DON’T, tell me about your process — instead show me your process, complete with ‘what’ you did, ‘why’ you did it, and how that helped inform the next step in your process (so what?). Remember, a good story has a beginning, middle, and an end.
DON’T, be afraid to show critical learnings in your process — pivots are ok, and in fact, show a level of diligence in your process that isn’t always showcased in a typical design portfolio.