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Examples of UX Designer Portfolios
Examples of UX Designer Portfolios
As you start to think about creating your own professional UX portfolio, it's helpful to check out
examples of UX designers' portfolios. These portfolios can serve as inspiration and highlight best
practices to consider as you begin to develop a portfolio. Here are five portfolios from entry- and
mid-level UX designers at Google for you to explore:
Lisa's portfolio is a great example of visually-pleasing design that lets her personal brand
shine. Lisa has her own personal logo that can always be found at the top left corner of her
website. Notice the consistency in color, design, and fonts across her site, too, which builds
her personal brand and showcases her unique personality and work style.
Dane's portfolio is another example to take notes on. His case studies are sectioned into
small chunks with headers that are easy to skim. You won't add case studies to your
portfolio until Courses 5, 6, and 7 of this certificate program, but it's helpful to envision the
information you'll include from throughout the design process.
Shabi's portfolio is clean and straightforward. Her site features a minimal white background
that allows the visual elements of her case studies to grab your attention. This is a common
trend among modern UX design portfolios, since recruiters and hiring managers are mainly
interested in quickly glancing at your work. Shabi uses her brand color, a seafoam green,
strategically in her logo and design elements like buttons. She also uses one typeface
throughout the site to keep the design clean and consistent.
Nicolas' portfolio shows how you can use motion and animations to bring your portfolio to
life. When you open Nicolas’ portfolio, you’re immediately greeted by text reading “Nice to
see you.” As you scroll to the bottom of the homepage, each case study reveals itself. Using
clean, non-distracting motion design elements in your portfolio is a great way to grab the
visitor’s attention and make them eager to learn more about your projects.
Josh’s portfolio demonstrates how small details can make a huge impact. When you hover
the cursor over each one of the projects on his homepage, a short overview describing the
project appears. This is helpful for visitors who want to quickly find a particular type of
project without having to click through each project individually. Recruiters frequently visit
portfolio sites to learn about specific types of work and will give up if it takes too long to
identify the right one, so categorizing your projects is key!
Juan’s portfolio is effective because of the minimal white design of the website. When you
navigate to Juan’s projects, there’s the sentence “Simple is better,” which sums up Juan’s
design approach for the various visual and product design projects that make up the
portfolio. This kind of website layout helps stakeholders or potential employers quickly
understand the scope of Juan’s projects and the focus of the designs.
If you want even more inspiration, check out this article from CareerFoundry about 9 Of The Best
UX Design Portfolio Examples From Around The Web.
So you’re looking for
some UX design
portfolio inspiration?
Maybe you’re a fresh-faced UX designer looking to land your
first gig. Perhaps you’ve been in the industry for a while and
it’s time to rethink your personal brand. Either way, you
want to make your mark in the world of UX—and that means
making sure you’ve got an impressive portfolio to your name.
Key takeaway
The viewer should know exactly who you are and what you
do within seconds of landing on your UX design portfolio.
Craft a compelling headline that provides all the most
important information at a glance.
Key takeaway
Showcase your process, not just the finished product. Write
about the methods you used, what you learned along the
way, the challenges you came up against, and how you
solved certain problems. Each case study should tell a
complete, logical story.
4. Olivia Truong
showcases her
approach to problem-
solving
Who is Olivia Truong?
Olivia Truong is a product designer based in Boston,
Massachusetts. In her own words, Olivia likes to go out into
the world and capture its beauty and weirdness.
Key takeaway
Your UX design portfolio should demonstrate your approach
to problem-solving. Kick off each case study by framing the
problem in detail, using emotive language to convey
empathy. Refer back to the problem throughout.
When Priyanka runs into bad UX, she can’t help but do
something about it. Where most of us might just abandon
ship and find an alternative product, Priyanka goes above
and beyond: she redesigns the entire experience! So, in
addition to real client projects, Priyanka’s UX portfolio also
showcases some rather impressive unsolicited redesigns.
Key takeaway
Unsolicited redesigns are an excellent way to build up your
UX portfolio and demonstrate your initiative as a designer.
As always, frame the problem, document your process, and
tell a good story—and don’t forget to include a disclaimer.
Take her Citi Bike Onboarding case study, for example. Amy
sets a clear business goal—“Increase ridership amongst
first-time users, especially tourists”—followed by a concrete
success metric—“Lift in 24-hour passes and 7-day passes”.
Amy also states a timeline for the project, demonstrating
the scale and scope of her work: “Within 6 months, Citi Bike
relaunched the new onboarding flow across 330+ kiosk
stations in August 2014.”
Amy rounds off her case study with a post-relaunch analysis,
using concrete data to show how the Citi Bike redesign
affected usage: “We found that, a month after launch,
ridership amongst one-time users increased by 14%.”
What can we learn from
Amy Wu?
Amy does a great job of showing how she works in a
business setting. This is crucial if you want to practice UX
for a living, but it’s a trick that many designers tend to miss.
While it’s true that you’re there to advocate for the user, it’s
also important to recognize that companies have their own
goals to meet—and you need to show how UX contributes to
that.
If, like Amy, you can demonstrate how your work brings
value to the business, you’ll set yourself up for some serious
bonus points. If you have data related to the project, this
will be easy—but what if there aren’t any concrete metrics
to showcase? Even without data, you can frame your work in
a business context. Follow Amy’s lead and set a business or
product goal at the start of the case study. What do you
hope your work will achieve? This is separate from the user
goal, but the two should go hand in hand. For example,
creating a more pleasant app experience for the user should
help to boost customer retention.
Key takeaway
Use your portfolio to demonstrate how you add value to the
business. Set business goals and success metrics for each
case study, and, where possible, include data and tangible
outcomes.
Key takeaway
There is no hard-and-fast rule when it comes to how many
projects you should feature in your portfolio. Choose a good
enough variety to showcase your skillset, while keeping it
minimal enough so as not to overwhelm the user. If you’ve
got lots more work you want to showcase, add a separate
section.
Key takeaway
For each case study in your UX portfolio, provide as much
context as you can. Set the scene with a brief backstory
before launching into your problem statement. This includes
stating your role on the project and, if necessary, who you
worked with.
Spend some time figuring out your personal brand. Are you
fun and quirky? Artsy and edgy? Corporate and serious?
Perhaps you’re all about eco-friendly design. Once you’ve got
a theme in mind, you can start to think about the kinds of
colors and imagery that will help to convey this. Just
because you’re a UX designer doesn’t mean you can neglect
the visual design of your portfolio. Your portfolio should
embody your personal brand, so treat it like any other UX
project and give it the high-shine finish it deserves!
Key takeaway
Your portfolio website should reflect your personal brand,
and visual design plays a crucial role. The best portfolios
offer the full package—detailed case studies wrapped in
stunning UI design and flawless UX—so aim to tick all the
boxes!