Design Portfolio tips you should take
Learnings from experience and backed with research. For beginners and seniors alike.
Why you should take my advice
The continuous research, expertise, and experience put my team and me in a unique position to share knowledge on the topic of portfolios. We have experience in portfolio workshopping with hundreds of designers and collaborate closely with design recruiters. We enjoy facilitating events and writing articles and newsletters on this topic. Hopefully, you will find this collection of resources helpful while building (or updating) your own portfolio.
“Behance is simply not enough, no matter how awesome.”
Best practices
1. A portfolio website is a must.
Have a neat responsive website portfolio with your custom domain. This is an investment to get you a job (or clients). Choose an easy click-to-publish platform or one that you are familiar with. Don’t invest time into learning a demanding tool — you need to be able to progress quickly.
Figma portfolios are cute but can be weird to a non-designer and are not responsive. Behance is simply not enough, no matter how awesome.
2. You can use ready-made templates.
By all means — use the templates! This will speed up your work. But change the template at least a bit, tweak the colors and the fonts. Most website builders have nice template examples, which might even be a decisive factor in the choice of builder. Are you worried you will not stand out with a template? You will stand out if you follow these best practices; most of your competition doesn’t know this stuff. And the visual design is not gonna get you the job — a smart case study will.
3. Three is the perfect number of case studies.
Create 1–3 solid case studies of your recent work. Recruiters report that just one can be enough if it’s well-made. Don’t worry. Most designers struggle to have even one good one after many years of working because the nature of our work often doesn’t yield cool or visually nice projects. Don’t put more than four because, literally, no one is going to make the time to browse more than one or two, and you probably don’t have that many worthy projects to show. Remember: show only the best stuff!
4. You can show your Graphic Design work, but…
You are pursuing a UX/UI career, but you have a lot of graphic design work to show. Show it, but be very picky and put only the best of the best. Graphic design past is relevant but not crucial. So make sure to separate those projects from the UX projects and display only one or two. Remember, you are a UX/UI (or Product) designer now, so this should be the focus.
“Be mindful of storytelling. A story needs a logical sequence, beginning and end, challenges, learnings, and something personal to engage the reader.”
5. Case study content and length.
Think of your portfolio as a digital product with two types of users: recruiters (gatekeepers) and technical persons (designers who review it after recruiters let you through the gate). Recruiters are gonna scan it to make sure it looks legit, while the technical people might want to look under the hood. Our research shows that many portfolio reviewers spend only one minute on average per portfolio. Therefore, make your case studies short (2–4 min. read) on your website. At the end of each project, offer a link to a full case study on a blog platform such as Medium. This is where you can spread your wings, go into the detail (but keep it under 8 mins), and impress the design team with all the great work you’ve done.
In either use case, you need to indicate: your role, the length of the project, your design process, and the final design. Don’t write too much, and don’t put any irrelevant images just because they look cool.
Include a Figma prototype link to show your skills to the designers.
Be mindful of storytelling. A story needs a logical sequence, beginning and end, challenges, learnings, and something personal to engage the reader.
6. The About Me page should reflect you as a person.
Have a portrait of you (if it’s not already on the home page). The pic humanizes your portfolio, and it becomes more than a number. This is also the page where you can write something personal, like interests, skills, and dreams. You never know how it will resonate with the reviewer. You might share an interest, and that’s why they will remember you, which may lead to a job offer. Here you can be funny and casual.
7. DO NOT seek inspiration.
Many of us are used to seeking inspo on Behance, Dribbble, Awwwards, and other websites. This can only get you depressed. You will see flashy, visually striking work and feel unworthy. But this is not reality since most good design work is not visually impressive. What will make your work impressive to someone considering you for a role are your process, challenges, and a tidy Figma file.
8. Make a Minimum Viable Portfolio first.
Remember — you need an MVP! You can always improve it! Your portfolio is a live website, so you can easily improve it anytime! What matters is to get one published asap. Once you have it done, improvements will be a breeze. A Minimum Viable Portfolio should contain one case study about you and contact information.
“…don’t use isometric mockups! They are a crutch that makes it hard to view your designs and reveal you are not confident about it visually.”
9. Use device mockups sparingly
When you want to show it’s a mobile breakpoint design, use a mobile device mockup but only the frontal view. This way you are enhancing the design because it’s relevant. Same goes for all devices. But don’t overuse them and put all the screens into mockups. And by all means — don’t use isometric mockups! They are a crutch that makes it hard to view your designs and reveal you are not confident about it visually.
Advanced tips
Design leaders should use storytelling and show metrics.
A typical case: you are not hands-on designing but leading, so there are no projects to show. This is where storytelling comes into play. This website will be more about you as a professional, leader, problem-solver, and a human. Make sure it reflects all of that so that it really speaks “you.” Regarding work, you show metrics, accomplishments, and your approach — explain your value in as many numbers as possible. Have a strong focus and be open about your professional and personal goals.
Furthermore, make an effort and prepare a customizable, up to 10-page long PDF deck. You can use it to create a custom presentation that highlights your career accomplishments and you as a person.
Human vs. Soft skills
When/if you are communicating the non-technical skills you are proud of, don’t refer to this skill group as Soft-skills. Soft implies it’s less important than “Hard skills.” And the “hard” ones, you should refer to as technical.
Have an additional PDF deck
Create an additional, customizable, up to 10-page long PDF deck. You will show the best of your work, 1–2 pages per project. You can use it to customize the application. When you notice the work done by the potential employer is focusing on a specific industry, you can put the projects that are more suitable for that.
Many design agencies don’t work with recruiters, and they review the applications themselves. Naturally, they have little time for this, so they will be delighted when they see a nice, customized, and short PDF deck.
And remember to mention your Human Skills!
