Building a user-centred UX portfolio

Things to know, consider and cry about…

Shameless plug on my own portfolio for reference: https://jackstrachan.co/

Portfolios are outdated. They have become a symbol of how to judge a student or a beginners ability based on a cold hard PDF that has been emailed as fast as it could be deleted (PDF’s are the norm but more on that later). Unfortunately for students, there are no visible ways around this, without a depth of experience or a long list of decent contacts a portfolio of work is one of the most common ways to land an internship or first job.

This isn’t a post to go through how to build the best portfolio though, it’s a post of important things I have learnt to consider before and during building my own portfolio. Before deciding to make my first UX portfolio I dived into researching how I could make it as effective as possible and why. Portfolios are a big commitment, every little detail is considered but not every little detail is ever noticed. Not only do you need to communicate your execution but communicate how you think as a designer and as a person, what your approach is and who you are.

That’s why I believe online portfolios are perhaps the best opportunity for designers to separate themselves. Especially beginners. Not to mention that digital design is what most companies are looking for but you are giving yourself a chance to present your best work with the best user experience of your website possible. The portfolio will no longer contain all of the limitations of a static pdf but be a live site in which people can freely visit and you can freely improve.