Kristine Yuen and Ulrika Andersson demonstrate how to create an effective portfolio as a UX designer.

1. UX Design and
Prototyping
Agenda for the day
➔ 6:00pm - 6:30pm: Meet and greet + Networking + Snacks
➔ 6:30pm - 7:30pm: Presentation + Q&A
➔ 7:30pm - 9ish: More networking!

2. How to create a stellar UX Design
portfolio
Kristine Yuen
Design Manager
Ulrika Andersson
Senior UX Designer

3. 1
2
3
4
Agenda
Planning your
portfolio
Structuring your
story
Designing your
portfolio
Q&A

4. Planning your
portfolio

5. UX Design Portfolio
Contains case studies of past
projects that demonstrate your
process and show others who
you are

6. The elements of your portfolio
1. Case studies
● Target to have 4-6 projects
● Start with your strongest,
most comprehensive
project first
● Optimize for scanning and
skimming (most people
spend 2-3 min per portfolio)
2. About you
● Describe who you are as a
designer
● Tell a story about your
career journey that can’t
be told on LinkedIn or a
resume
● Share some personal
passions
3. Contact info
● Attach a resume (usually 1
page, nicely formatted)
● List social media links (i.e.
LinkedIn, Instagram,
Twitter)
● Have preferred contact
method available to find
(i.e. email or phone)

7. Create a portfolio matrix
Think about what you did in each project and stack rank them
Project
name
Platform
Business
format
Problem to
solve
User
research
Alignment
Design
approach
Outcome Learnings
App name IOS Consumer New product Foundational Research,
workshop,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
high fidelity
design
Product
shipped
Would
have done
differently
Website
name
Web Enterprise Usability
problem
Did my own
testing
Workshop, user
testing, user
flows,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
competing
high fidelity
designs
Product
shelved,
(too
expensive)
Users
prefer...
Web app
name
Web Consumer New product Did my own
foundational
and usability
testing
Workshop, user
testing, user
flows,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
modules,
prototype
Product
shipped
The team
benefitted
from...

8. Your About section is
just as important
It should show what defines
you as a designer.

9. Start with an
outline
● Start with high-level
categories about you
● Write out a narrative in
your outline first
● Don’t shy away from
previous careers or
experiences

10. Make your
story relatable
✔ Weave design industry
language in your
experience
✔ Pull relatable experiences
✔ Talk about transferable
skills

11. Pick a platform
There are many great hosting sites for your portfolio, stick to one that is easiest
for you to use
Blog VisualWebsite

12. Think about
your format
Plan out the structure
and decide what kind
of info you want to
display

13. Structuring your
story

14. A case study is a
story of your
leadership
It should show how you
helped your team come
together for a single solution.

15. Most teams
don’t know
what they
should build
They need a designer to
help them agree on a
user-centric approach.

16. How to showcase your leadership
A case study should show your contribution to these areas.
Leading the
product
Leading with
deliverables
Leading the
team

17. How to showcase your leadership
A case study should show your contribution to these areas.
Leading the
product
Leading with
deliverables
Leading the
team

18. Leading
the
Product
01 02 03
How did you get
involved?
How did I plan my
involvement?
How did I validate
the assumptions of
the project?
● It was assigned to
me at work or
school
● I noticed it myself or
heard about it from
users and pitched it
as a project
● I had a plan to use
my time effectively
● I set a plan for
deliverables with
milestones
● I kept a log or a wiki
of my progress
● I compared with
competitors
● I read written studies
● I asked for quant
data
● I tested with users

19. How to showcase your leadership
A case study should show your contribution to these areas.
Leading the
product
Leading with
deliverables
Leading the
team

20. Leading the team
Talk about what you did to get
the team onboard:
○ Show workshop and
research documentation
that helped your team
align
○ Show system maps that a
team can review
○ Show multiple iterations of
designs for the team to
select from

21. How to showcase your leadership
A case study should show your contribution to these areas.
Leading the
product
Leading with
deliverables
Leading the
team

22. Deliverables
for leadership

23. Iterations are
a team effort
Design iterations show that
your team designers can
collaborate with you to arrive
at the best solution

24. Career changer
portfolios
What is the right story to tell
about your career?
How do I use my past work
to showcase my fit for a UX
career?

25. A recruiter has 2-3
minutes with your
story
Don’t make them interpret your
work history, just show them
you’re a fit.

26. Split your
stories into
multiple sites
Make one site for
the career you had,
another for the one
you want.

27. A portfolio matrix is helpful for career changers
You are probably closer to than you think
Project
name
Platform
Business
format
Problem to
solve
User research Alignment
Design
approach
Outcome Learnings
App name IOS Consumer New
product
Foundational Research,
workshop,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
high fidelity
design
Product
shipped
Would
have done
differently
Website
name
Web Enterprise Usability
problem
Did my own
testing
Workshop,
user testing,
user flows,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
competing
high fidelity
designs
Product
shelved,
(too
expensive)
Users
prefer...
Web app
name
Web Consumer New
product
Did my own
foundational
and usability
testing
Workshop,
user testing,
user flows,
candidate
designs
flow diagrams,
wire frames,
modules,
prototype
Product
shipped
The team
benefitted
from...

28. Designing
your portfolio

29. General best practices
• Have strong visual elements
• A good balance of content and
images; not too much to read
• Should be scannable, use bolding
and headers to break up content
• Tell us why you did something, not
what you did
• Only pick the most important things
in your process
• If you’re under NDA, lock at the
project level

30. Context
setting
Describe the who,
what, when, why of
the situation

31. Research
Explain what kind of
research you did and
why you did that
research

32. Insights
Conclude research
with insights, design
principles, or goals for
the design

33. Example
Deliverables
● Persona
● Synthesis
● Journey Map
● HMW Statements

34. Information
Architecture
Explain what kind of
systems thinking you
did and how those
diagrams helped you

35. Example
Deliverables
● Information
Architecture maps
● Task flows
● Concept maps

36. Ideation
Show the iterations of
the designs that you
made and why you
did them

37. Example
Deliverables
● Hand sketches
● Lo-fi wireframes
● Iterations

38. Validation
Describe any
feedback you
received from users

39. Solution
Walkthrough the
end-to-end flows of
your final solution

40. Example
Deliverables
● High-fidelity
screens
● GIFs
● Prototype
● Videos

41. Learnings
Explain what you
learned, what you
would do differently,
and how successful
the solution was

42. Example portfolios
These portfolios have good
elements to get inspiration
from
• Case Study: Credit Sherpa
by Karin Devenish
• Home Page: Kritika
Kushwaha
• About Page: Kristine Yuen
• Overall: Peipei Wang
• Design-led project: Website
Tracking by Ulrika
Andersson

43. Questions?

44. UX Design and
Prototyping
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Enjoy the snacks and the networking!