Paul Mederos Follow

Fueling the upward spiral with great food @TerritoryFoods. Talks with users, sketches interfaces,
Dec 22, 2015 5 min read

Introduction
This post is part of a larger series of posts aimed at helping designers
present themselves online. Learn more about Crafting Your UX Portfolio
here.

. . .

Who this guide is for

Youre interested in making websites and/or apps that help people get
something done, and youre just getting started or youre interested in
digging deeper. Youve heard these terms user experience, human-
computer interaction, usability, or user-centered design, and you iden-
tify (or want to identify) yourself with them.

Youre working on a portfolio because everyone is asking for one. A

portfolio might be the first interaction a potential employer has with
you, so it better present yourself well. You may be starting from scratch,
or you have one in place but youre not exactly sure what you should
be putting into your portfolio.

You might be having trouble getting started, because it feels like theres
an insane amount of stu you have to go through. Do you build one, or
use a template? Do you show more screenshots, or focus more on writ-
ing about the process? How do you share it and talk about it?

You may have a company in mind that youre looking to work at, or
youre having a tough time deciding what you want to do next. Big
team or small team. Agency, big tech, or freelance youre not sure
yet. Maybe you want to focus more on making prototypes, or doing re-
search to validate what you should be building, or perhaps you want to
focus on interface patterns.

If all this describes you, then youre in good company.

We know what it feels like because weve been in this position ourselves
and weve talked and helped so many designers just like you.

We run a design meetup called Designers Hearth. We focus on smaller

groups (610 people) in more intimate settings, where we get to know
each other. We share stories about work, about process, about personal
struggles.

A lot of designers ask about portfolios and getting work: Do I need

portfolio? Whats a good portfolio? Should I build it myself? Do I
change it company-to-company when applying? How do I land
interviews?

Weve answered these questions many times, and we realized that if

these are just the people we meet in-person, then surely there are oth-
ers who have the same question. Thats why we wrote this guide, for
our meetup members, and were sharing it with you.

. . .

Why this guide exists

Design is now important for business. Its no longer seen as polish at
the end; it helps shape a companys direction from the very start, from
product to organization design. Companies that value design have
raised the bar: Airbnb, Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Hotel
Tonight, Uber, Warby Parker, etc. Companies are integrating design
deeper and deeper into their core. Everyone wants designers.
But finding one is notoriously dicultlots of sub-disciplines, huge
range in experiences, and old preconceptions (e.g. design as pretty pic-
tures) get in the way. So designers who can present themselves more
clearly are the ones with a much stronger change to get the work. In
our travels, weve met lots of great designers but the way they pre-
sented themselves did a great injustice to the work they were capable
of.

We want to change that. We want to help you, the designer, present

yourself more clearly. Were hoping we can get more of you working at
more companies to spread more good design.

. . .

How to use this guide

It was written as a collection of individual essays, chunked into sections
that correspond with the process of putting together your portfolio.

We encourage you to jump around. We know (from testing + sharing

frequently as we wrote this) that the most popular sections are the Case
study checklist (starts here), Getting over writers block (find out how
here), and the interview process (inc. salary negotiation here). We en-
courage you to skim through the table of contents here to see if any-
thing catches your fancy.

That said, we do our best to build the portfolio step-by-step, so we

think youd enjoy starting from the beginning. Its a quick read, that
should take you no longer than an hour. We hope as you build your
portfolio, you come back often to reference the dierent pieces.
. . .
The 30-second whirlwind tour
We want to prep you for whats ahead by giving you a whirlwind tour.
Funny enough, the 5 parts below measure up with the 5 sections in this
guide. This is what we help you get through in this book:

1. Before The Portfolio: Youll ask yourself about your goals: why do
you want a design job? What skills are you hoping to use? Define
strengths, then define what you want to learn and how you want
to grow. Youll think about the companies you want to work for, or
the problem (or even industry) you want to work in. Youll ask
yourself what sort of commitment you want: full-time or freelance
or in-between. Youll be honest about your experience level, and
youll question compensation you need.

2. Preparing Your Work: Youll outline and collect the pieces for
your portfolio. Youll need your goal clearly stated; ways to contact
you; a bit about your background and personality; and most im-
portantly youll need a few case studies.

3. Case Study Checklist: Youll start writing your case studies. The
best case studies are structured, but should flow like youre telling
a story to a friend. Each case study should have (at minimum)
these parts: an overview, the problem, the audience, your team,
constraints, the design process, and lessons learned. Writing these
are tough, but speaking out loud (and recording it) will give you a
solid base to start.

4. Building Your Portfolio: Once youve written + thought about

photos/screenshots/videos you might add-in, well get it all online.
Start low-tech (e.g. using Medium.com) and work your way up if
you have (or borrow) the technical chops. Get feedback through-
out the process. Get it from other designers, people who are hiring
designers, and from your friends. Dont be scared of having it in
the public: itll only get better the more people that see it.

5. Sharing Your Work: Now that your work is online, youll prep
your social presence. Youll connect with people at the teams you
want to work with, or people (designers) who might introduce
you. Youll want to prep a resume if requested, tailored to the role.
Youll speak with recruiters and get through the screening, and
 eventually make it through the interview process to nail your
negotiation.

. . .

Lets continue to the first chapter where we talk about the first step to-
wards crafting a great portfolio: understanding your skills and your
goals.