How To Use Design Portfolios For Career Advancement

93% of Junior UX portfolios I see don't do this. 😔 👇 ↳ Reflect Real-World Problem Solving: → Many portfolios show beautiful interfaces but fail to show the designer's process of solving problems that matter. 💡 Pro tip: If you're new to UX, don't use bootcamp or school projects only. Get freelance or hackathon work as case studies. ↳ Have Personal Branding: → Many UXers don't give enough background on themselves. Companies hire you, not your 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐨. ↳ Showcase Collaboration and Feedback: → It's rare to see a designer's ability to: ✅ Work on a team ✅ Articulate their working process ✅ Show their design changes based on feedback ↳ Show the Research Process: → The best case studies tend to: ✅ Showcase qualitative and quantitative data to back their designs ✅ Incorporate their insights into their solutions ↳ Show Empathy and Understanding: → I've noticed many junior designers have zero context to their users and the business in their case studies. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯: → Don't demonstrate their problem-solving process → Don't tell me why they did what they did and why it matters → Don't explain why their solutions help users and the business 🥇 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻: ☑ Craft a compelling story for your case studies that don't bore your reader to death ☠️. ☑ Show the results: what went wrong, what went right and what did you learn? ☑ Show how you've worked with others and leveraged feedback in your designs. ☑ Show your research process, how you gathered and interpreted data, and why it informed your design decisions. ☑ Articulate what problems you tackled and why. Show your thought process and how your design solves these issues effectively. ☑ Please for heaven's sake, get a real portfolio website. In this competitive market Dribbble sites, Behance sites, PDFs, and Figma files are not enough. ✨ Portfolios are hard to maintain and even harder to grow, but if you care about your UX career they are worth it. --- PS: What's stopping you from finishing your portfolio? Follow me, John Balboa. I swear I'm friendly and I won't detach your components.

Sometimes a little creativity is exactly what we need to jumpstart our remote job search. "Our portfolio matters more than our resume." This insight transformed everything for my client Mark, a designer who’d been applying to remote roles for 3 months with zero responses. The traditional approach wasn't working: ❌ Generic portfolio ❌ Spray and pray applications ❌ Standard resume submissions ❌ Waiting for responses ❌ Following up only about application status Here's the exact strategy Mark used to land his dream remote role: ✅ 1 // He studied 25 job descriptions from top companies like Shopify, Stripe, and Figma. ✅ 2 // Created targeted portfolio pieces solving real problems ✅ 3 // Built a mobile-first portfolio website optimized for busy hiring managers ✅ 4 // Connected with creative directors on LinkedIn who viewed his work ✅ 5 // Used his portfolio analytics to time his follow-up messages The results? 📈 5 new interview requests in 3 weeks and 3 offers (all full remote). But the biggest lesson? It wasn't about having the perfect portfolio. It was about having the right portfolio for the right audience. Question - What else would you have added to Mark’s job search strategy? Question 2 - On a scale of 1 to 5, how’s your current job search going? How can we help? — 📌 Want more help? Join the “Escape the Cubicle” Newsletter with weekly tips on how to… …level up your remote career, grow & monetize on LinkedIn, and work from anywhere. Scroll to the top of this post and click “Subscribe to Newsletter” to join 30,000+ subscribers. ☝🏻 I’m giving away my professional resume template to all new subscribers this week. 🙏 Here’s to us growing together, Wes #jobsearchtips #careercoach #businesscoach 🎥 @bouboudesign_

"I didn't need a portfolio when I landed my last two jobs."  "All my past projects are under NDA." "I can share my work during the call." “It's taking too long and isn't a priority." ---> I hear it almost every day, and I get it. It’s great you could get a great role without having a portfolio in the past. But the thing is - the market has changed. And someone needs to tell this: Yes, there are still ways to get an offer without a portfolio: 1. If you personally worked with someone from the hiring team, and can get a very strong referral. 2. If you are as good as almost overqualified for the role. Now, hiring managers expect to see your work before a conversation. Without a portfolio, or with an old one, you might get overlooked. In the last 6 months, I worked with 15+ clients in the US and Europe on design openings. And believe me - I truly want to see you succeed! (yes, you got me - I get paid for it) So, I need to be honest with you. Harsh truth: 80%+ of hiring managers are now 𝗻𝗼𝘁 ready to consider candidates who can’t share their work before the call. It's no longer about waiting until the interview - it's about showing your skills to start the conversation. So, if you're running into these roadblocks, here’s what to do: ❌ All my projects are under NDA. ✅ Password-protected website pages, blurred logos, anonymized projects, or a Loom recording explaining your work in 5-10 minutes. ❌ I keep putting it off because I want everything to be perfect. ✅ You don’t need to have it perfect. It just needs to be visually clean and user-friendly. Start with a simple minimalistic design, 1 page with contact info + links to 2 cases. Use Framer to move fast. ❌ I’m still working on it. ✅ Start with your best projects. Even 2 cases in the portfolio is usually enough for a conversation starter. ❌ I can share my work during the call. ✅ I know presenting work is ideal, but hiring managers might prefer candidates who can share it upfront. At least 1 case can get things moving. ❌ I didn't need one before ✅ I understand, but the market is different now. If you’ve been looking for a new role for 1-2 months with no success, it’s time to have one! It seems the portfolio is no longer optional. A good part is - it will open so many doors for you! What other concerns do you have about the portfolio? Anyone had luck landing a job without one in the last 12 months? #uxhiring #portfolio #tips #ux #design