Frank Gaine

Frank Gaine has been in Design since 2001 and is the guy behind UXswitch.com, career advice an
Feb 6 6 min read

UXswitch.com, by UXers, for UXers.

How to Become the King of UX Portfolios

Speaking to designers, I see a great deal of inertia when it comes to
starting or updating their UX portfolio. Reasons abound such as being
too busy, diculty in getting material together or not knowing where to
begin in the first place. Im here to tell you that creating a good portfo-
lio need not be a complicated, intimidating or drawn out process. This
is an accumulation of what weve learnt over at UXswitch in the last
two years.

Where do I start?
It might seem an obvious statement, but your UX portfolio needs to be
online as opposed to printed, for all the reasons I dont have to enumer-
ate. The easy option would be to lump your work in with thousands of
other designers on sites such as Behance, Coroflot or Dribbble. Howev-
er, with a little more eort you can create your own bespoke site and
create more of an identity for yourself.

Firstly, buy a domain with your name baked into it e.g. endakennyux.-
com. Then, go to a site like Weebly, Wix or Squarespaceand pick a web-
site template. These sites allow you to easily create a sleek mobile-
friendly website in no time at all, and theyre usually free of charge.
Simply drag-n-drop images and text on to the template, no need for
coding. Point your newly purchased domain at the URL that these free
sites give you. You now have a framework to add project work and wow
the UX world.

Top tip here, dont create a website with iframes. You need to be able to
show the URL of a specific page on your site. This allows hiring man-
agers to copy and paste a relevant page into an email to their boss, for
example.

Whatll I put in my UX portfolio?

Many people reading this article will be new to UX or thinking of tran-
sitioning to it from another discipline. Therefore, they might not have a
lot of design work to show. Indeed, more established UXers might not
want to show past work for confidentiality reasons or might also want
to break away from the kind of work theyve been doing up to that
point. So what do you do in this situation?

Its time to be creative and show a little spunk. Why not go out and re-
design an everyday user experience and put this is your portfolio. Doc-
ument your research, show how it could be redesigned and why you
made those decisions. For example, reimagine the homepage of your
favourite newspaper or even the controls of the unfathomable mi-
crowave oven in your home. I always cite Peter Smarts redesign of the
airline boarding card as a great example in this respect, borne out of
frustration, initiative and curiosity.

Once you have some work to share, remember that a UX portfolio is all
about telling a story and showing your design rationale. Write a short
paragraph about your activity on each project and the problem you
solved. Before and after screenshots work really well. Remember, em-
ployers love seeing your thought process rather than just the finished
designs. So include images of your sketches, wireframes, a wall of post-
it notes, you in action in front of a whiteboard and so forth. Again, the
aim is to whet the appetite of would-be employers, you can always go
through more detail on the project in the interview.

If you want to go the extra mile to impress the visitor to your portfolio,
outline your design philosophy. This can be a simple mantra such as
Creating delightful products that make business sense. Better still, in-
clude a diagram of your design process. Essentially something that
shows you believe in proper user insight combined with iterative
design.
UX portfolios are all about quality as opposed quantity so dont burden
yourself by putting too many stories together. Be strategic also, if you
want to do more work in mobile design, make sure you maximize the
presence of any mobile work in your portfolio. Needless to say, add
links to your twitter account, UXswitch and LinkedIn profiles or other
relevant online presences that paint you in a good light.

How do I stand out?

Most portfolios consist of text and flat graphics and dont get me
wrong, thats great. However, if you want to move up a gear and really
stand out from the crowd, it might be time to embrace video. There are
many ways in which you can do this, from the simple to the sophisticat-
ed. You could simply place your photos or screenshots in a PowerPoint
presentation and record yourself talking over those slides. On the flip-
side, if you have the time and skills, think about taking it a little fur-
ther. How about a video that incorporates you talking to the camera,
zooming in on screenshots and live footage of using the interface? Mak-
ing a video shows ingenuity and demonstrates your communication
and presentation skills, which is such a big part of UX Design.

How about confidentiality?

Understandably, if you are showing work completed under the guise of
a given organization, confidentiality issues abound. There is a general
understanding in the industry that in order to be able to hire designers,
there needs to be some give and take in terms of designers being able
to talk about their previous work. However, here are some things you
can do to mitigate the situation.

Ask for permission to show particular assets

Blur logos and anonymize the work if possible

Show your own projects (above)

Show smaller sections rather than the whole thing

Use crafty photography where the detail is not identifiable but the
meaning is still clear.

If you cant show the original artefact, recreate it.

Next steps
Once your portfolio is well underway, make sure people can access it.
Place the link it in the Contact Info section of your LinkedIn profile and
also on your UXswitch profile. Critically, make sure it is visible on your
cv or resume. Jay Kaufmann of Zalando in Berlin writes for UXswitch
and is at pains to tell us that the link to portfolio can be easily over-
looked in the brief time a cv gets to be reviewed.

Repeat the portfolio link in both header and body text. Include both a hy-
perlink and the full text of the URL. Even think about placing your portfo-
lio link in a separate document attached to your application.

The usefulness of a UX portfolio does not stop once you are called for
interview. During the interview itself, bring up your UX portfolio on a
tablet or computer as a great way to dispel the invisible us and them
barrier of such situations. Looking at something together, brings people
together. It can also distract interviewers from any nervousness you
might be suering from.

Once installed in that new job, dont let your UX portfolio get too stale.
A good way to prevent this is to keep a diary of your achievements.
This means taking photos and jotting down the main activity you were
involved in on a periodic basis. For example, July 15ran a workshop
with ten senior stakeholders in London. Therefore, when it comes to
updating your resume or portfolio, you will have plenty of relevant
material.

Ultimately, a UX portfolio is the essential factor in positioning yourself

and getting an interview for that dream job. If youre starting out in
UX, your portfolio is key to your success. In fact, even an established
UXer needs a good portfolio if they want to ensure their continued ca-
reer progression. So there should be no more excuses in getting a top
UX portfolio together. Go for it.

For more advice, visit UXswitch.com, number one on Google for UX ca-
reer advice.

This article originally appeared in Silicon Republic.