How to Optimize a UX Portfolio for Job Applications

In the past week, I've reviewed almost 400 applications for our Product Designer position at Heyo. Here's what stood out and helped candidates move to the interview phase: 1. Impressive Work: We’re looking for portfolio pieces that make us pause and think, "We want this in our portfolio." Your work should excite us and match the quality our clients expect. 2. Match Your Work to Our Quality: A tip I share with mentees is to screenshot a company’s portfolio and replace a few of their graphics with your work. Does it match their quality? If your work is within a 25% range of our current projects, I’m interested and see growth potential. If it’s better, heck yes, now I’m excited to see if you can raise our bar. 3. Show End Results First: Start with the final product. I appreciate detailed case studies, but show the goods up front. Make me want to scroll through the rest of your work, not feel obligated. 4. Prune Your Portfolio: Remove weaker projects to raise the "average score" we may rate your portfolio. Ask friends for honest feedback. A streamlined portfolio of strong work can transform your presentation. 5. Show the Work Clearly: Ensure your portfolio has relevant preview images. If I don't see exciting work immediately (or the image doesn't pertain to your project), I might not click through to the case study. 6. Optimize Your Site: Slow sites with heavy animations are frustrating. Make sure your portfolio loads quickly and is easy to navigate. 7. Understand the Role: Tailor your application to the type of business and role. For agencies like ours, a balanced UI/UX skillset is crucial due to quick project turnarounds. In full transparency, I've reviewed a lot of UX heavy applicants that are missing the UI skillset as well. Additional Advice: Follow Application Instructions: Apply through the job posting. Direct messages with your portfolio and CV can get lost in the shuffle. Don’t Request Calls Without Context: I’m balancing my regular workload and reviewing applications. If you want to chat, send your work first. This isn't going to skip you to an interview. Timing for Networking: I’m open to talking shop and discussing design, but during hiring seasons, it’s best to connect after things calm down. If you're interested in the Product Designer, Motion Designer, or upcoming Developer roles we'll be posting this week, you can apply at https://heyo.is/growing and subscribe to be alerted for future opportunities with us. #Design #JobSearch #Hiring #CareerAdvice #ProductDesign #PortfolioTips #ProductDesigner

Confession: While I've reviewed thousands of portfolios, I've never read a case study all the way through. I ALWAYS scan them. I just don't have the time to look through every detail. And I know that most other folks who are reviewing portfolios are doing the exact same thing for the same reasons. This means that your portfolio should: 1. Make it easy to scan 2. Use big, high quality visuals 3. Tell quick, concise stories 4. Most importantly, make that story easy to consume in two minutes or less If I were to build my portfolio today, here's how I would do it using these principles: 1️⃣ I'd have a top overview section that has a short blurb of what to expect/what I accomplished AND the final mockups/prototype of what I created. 2️⃣ I'd write out each case study using a word document first to make sure that my headlines told the entire story quickly and concisely. I'd use a classic story arc 1. Context/background 2. Conflict 3. Rising action 4. Climax 5. Falling action 6. Resolution The simpler version of this is the 3 Cs of storytelling: 1. Context 2. Conflict 3. Change (AKA what improved as a result of your work) 3️⃣ I'd optimize my headlines below the overview to tell the story of what I learned. Once everything was written out in a Google doc, I'd edit everything down to the essentials. I'd make sure to pull out the important learnings/quotes and make them big so reviewers could easily scan them. 4️⃣ I'd break up sections with large images to make it feel more interesting and less fatiguing. 5️⃣ I'd ask friends and family to read it and provide feedback about clarity and how much time it took them. If they can easily understand it, see my impact, and quickly go through it, then I'm on the right track. 6️⃣ I'd use LinkedIn and adplist.org to find more folks to provide feedback. Again, I'd focus their feedback on clarity and the amount of time it took for them to go through it.

New Year, New Portfolio Tips This week, I spent a significant amount of time reviewing portfolios with talent—one of my favorite activities. Having examined hundreds over the past three years, I've gained a good understanding of what clients seek, irrespective of job title or industry. First and foremost, a hiring manager is unlikely to spend more than a minute or two reviewing your portfolio. If your work isn't easy to navigate and your top projects aren't immediately visible, you're doing yourself a disservice. The best portfolios feature key projects on the first page, allowing viewers to quickly grasp the person's contributions by reading a brief snippet at the top and viewing images, wireframes, or other relevant content below. In the UX/UI world, showcasing your entire process from end to end is crucial. Most importantly, remember that less is more. It's better to have 4-6 standout projects than 12 lacking detail. Hiring managers typically focus on the first few projects to understand your experience and design thinking, making decisions on the next steps from there. If you're seeking a new role in 2024, invest time in refining your portfolio with this thought in mind: If someone has one minute to review my portfolio, will they understand my work experience and design thinking process, enabling them to decide if I align with the job they are hiring for?

I cracked 4 UX portfolio rounds using this advice from my peers. One of the most crucial steps to landing a UX internship is the portfolio deck round. This round, typically led by a designer, might or might not be preceded by a phone screening. You'll usually have 15-20 minutes per case study, allowing you to present 1 or 2 depending on the time limit. I recommend showcasing 2 projects to demonstrate a wider range of skills. Tailor your presentation to the job description, highlighting relevant areas like visual design, user research, design systems, etc. Here are 3 key things to consider beyond your core UX skills: 1. Business Goals First: Companies hire UX designers for a reason – return on investment (ROI). Emphasize how you prioritized business objectives and how your design decisions resulted in financial gains for your previous employer. 2. Embrace the T-Shaped Designer: We all want to appear exceptional, but honesty goes a long way. Focus on being a "T-Shaped" designer – having a deep expertise in one area (visual design, user research, etc.) with a broad understanding of others. Recruiters can see through inflated claims, so be genuine about your skillset. 3. Inject Personality! You're more than just a portfolio! Infuse some humor, mention your hobbies outside of UX. Show them you're a well-rounded individual and a potential team player. Pro Tip: Personalized Decks Trump Websites While many designers rely solely on their websites, I strongly recommend creating personalized decks for each company. Integrate their brand identity throughout your presentation. This small touch demonstrates your genuine interest in working with them! Following these tips helped me advance beyond the portfolio round at companies like Asana, NBCUniversal, and Sleeper, reaching the design challenge and whiteboarding stages. If you'd want to discuss more about your upcoming portfolio deck do let me know in the comments or reach out to me personally ⬇️ #UXDesign #PortfolioTips #UXInternship #DesignJobs

Product designers, let’s talk job application strategy. I’ve evaluated thousands of UX portfolios in the past decade, and let me tell you, the majority… Well, they didn’t make the cut. The sad thing is that I’m sure many of these candidates had the right skills and talents. They just didn’t showcase it well enough to earn an interview. And that’s mostly because they think job search is more about quantity than quality. I’m here to tell you to do better: Instead of creating a generic portfolio and sending it out to a hundred companies, focus on those one or two positions that really move you and create your portfolio accordingly. Do your research about that company, find out what skills are indispensable for the role, and highlight these at the top. Read up about their previous projects and clients, and present those case studies that fit their portfolio. You don’t have to spend a lot of time, but it can make a huge difference. There’s no better feeling for the recruiter when a candidate is the right fit for the job. So if you are, make sure you get the message across!

After many, I mean many, iterations of my portfolio I started to notice the importance of making them flow like a narrative, rather than a checklist. Even more so, I realized that my case studies should not just be the play by play of the all the steps I took to complete the project. Instead, that there were two stories at play. One was that of the play by play. Think me retelling everything I did and what went on to complete the project. The other, is that of the case study. The difference? The case study one should only share out the vital pieces that will help your reader to understand your process and how you think. So you are probably asking, how do I figure that one out? Well, I can help you with that! That is why I created my UX Portfolio Sandwich Model. It’s a list of steps with questions that help you figure out this difference. It’s important for 3 reasons 1️⃣ It helps you find the important deliverables to add 2️⃣ Creates a case study that is shorter in length so helps your Hiring Managers who have no time see more 3️⃣ Allows for more transitions between steps to create a more engaging narrative

I found a trick to make portfolio creation 10x easier. Before you *design* your portfolio, *write* your portfolio. I know it’s tempting to jump straight into the design tool. But hang on for a moment…and consider these 3 steps: 1/ Create your outline - Open a text document - Type a list of each page you will include - Under each page, type each section - On your “projects” page, list each project Bam, at this point you have the full outline. It’s better to be here right now with text. If you arrive here first in the design tool you’ll stress too much over pixels. Now it’s easy to decide if this is the right direction before committing. 2/ Get inspired by other designers - Find 3 portfolios you admire - Scroll through their site - Write a list of the pages/sections they include - See if they do anything you love that inspires yours Congrats, now you enhanced your structure without moving a single design pixel. 3/ Add the meat - Type out the content you wish to include under each page/section - This may include your positioning statement, bio, project overviews, visuals to include, etc. Super, now you’ve just given yourself a blueprint for your entire portfolio. — The key is to write with words what you hope to see with your eyes. If you jump into the tool first, you’ll get overwhelmed with decisions. By writing your portfolio first you made 100+ decisions while the structure was more malleable. It’s easier to edit words than it is to edit polished pixels. Way to go, you are amazing.

***UX / UXR Job Seekers*** Having trouble with case studies and portfolios? I know it can be tough to create an artifact that respects confidentiality. I dug out an extended case study I did for a conference that I later wrote up as an article. You can see that client confidentiality is protected (even though for the conference itself I had permission to share it) and there are no user names or photos. And yet, I get into quite a bit of detail. More then you'll need for a portfolio. The basic format I used (then tweaked for presentation purposes) is as follows: 1. The Problem. What the client was asking for and what they believed was wrong with the product. 2. The Work. The methods used and how we structured the project. I interwove the findings into this section as well. 3. Recommendations and Implications. What this meant to the team and what it led to. Notice that, as a consultant, I was unable to see any tangible results but I was able to follow up and get an idea of how the work was moving forward and how their viewpoint had changed. A link to the full article is in the comments.

If I were to do the whole portfolio creation (straight out of bootcamp) again this is how I would go about it: 1️⃣ Apply the 80/20 rule - Perfection is the enemy of progress. I can't tell you how much time I spent on perfecting little details just to redo the entire thing over. The 80/20 rule really helped me a lot towards the end to figure out what to focus on and what to let go (for now). Finding what 20% of your effort will bring in 80% of the result is suuupppeeerrr helpful. Made me realize that I was wasting my time on the 80% of little details that will give me little results while the things that will give me a lot of results suffered. 2️⃣ Create a schedule for your self. It's super overwhelming to juggle portfolio, job search, applying to jobs, resume & networking. I listened to my mentor and split my work between days of the week. This way when it's portfolio day, I don't feel guilty about not working on my resume/job search/ networking. Example: Monday: Portfolio Tuesday: Portfolio Wednesday: Resume Thursday: Job search & apply Friday: Portfolio & network Saturday: Portfolio Sunday: Day off Someone suggested to even devote the (and only) first hour or two of everyday towards job search - which I think is a good idea. 3️⃣ Don't iterate after EVERY feedback. I learned real quick that everyone has different opinion of what a good portfolio is. I found my self in a endless loop. So 1 person says ABC is important, then another say no C is bad but D is critical, then another person says D is stupid but C and F is a must. This led me to add/delete sections repeatedly wasting so much time. Instead I started treating it as a user testing. Just like how in user testing you don't iterate based on one user's input, don't iterate your portfolio based on one feedback. Seek for 3-5 feedback then gather the common feedback and prioritize that. 4️⃣ Yes beautiful portfolios are great, but beauty isn't all that's important. In a perfect world would I have had the time to learn web flow and make the site interactive and beautiful then hate it, beat my self up for being a horrible designer, spend 756789 hours taking a look at other's portfolio in aw and spend another 8645132 hours recreating mine? Yes. But we don't live in that world. I was unemployed and QUICKLY running out of funds. (I literally got a job right when I was no longer able to pay my bills). If I were to do it all over again, I would focus on a good clean design system that I can apply to any case study and just stick to it. Figure out my fonts, font size, colors and other details and just fall back to those systems when making my case study. If my case studies were where I want them to be, then I can go back and spend time on "pretty". Hope some of these helps! cheers #uxdesign #juniordesigner #casestudies #portfolio

As a mentor on ADPList_dot_org, in the last 6 months, I have reviewed about 40 portfolios (both UX Designers and UX Researchers). Yes that’s a lot of 1:1 sessions each week 🙂 Reviewed several portfolios that were well formatted, easy to scan and the right amount of details. Really good work. ✅ On the other hand, some portfolios needed a lot of improvement. Common struggle: “what amount of details is right?”. My general solution is to use an analogy: “Think of your online portfolio as a movie trailer” 🎥 A movie director spends 5 or more years working on a movie script, selecting actors, financing, shooting the movie, editing and much more. Yet at the end, they have to put that entire years worth of effort in a “15 second” or “30 second” movie trailer. I have never directed a movie, but I assume it’s hard to decide what goes in that trailer. The purpose of the trailer is to get people excited to watch the entire movie. Similarly, I think, the purpose of an online portfolio is to get HR / Hiring Managers excited to talk to you. 📲 The portfolio needs to be conceptually similar to a 30 second sleek trailer version of you & your work. I am not suggesting a video, but something that can be scanned in a few seconds to know if its a likely match for the job requirement. Of course for the detailed interview you will need the full movie version of your case studies. Most days, I make a high level judgement of the “quality” of the portfolio in the first 5-10-15 seconds. I might not be an outlier since many hiring managers I know have reported scanning resumes and portfolios for a few seconds before deciding if they should spend time looking through the details. I would love to 🙉 *hear your thoughts* 💭 on the analogy above (Trailer). Would be great if you can share your recommendations, comments with the community to help them improve their portfolios. ⏺ #ux #portfolio #design #research