How to design UX portfolio

In UX industry it's your portfolio that'll do the talking for you rather than CV and certificates. Here are a few tips on how to design one that's informative and relevant – all to boost your career prospects. 

An intro page of a UX designer's portfolio


Target your portfolio for each role

There's nothing worse than a UX designer's portfolio that's got a ton of UI mockups and no user research or usability testing reports. Try to make it relevant to the role you're applying for:

Targeting design portfolio for different roles

If it's for a UI designer's role, you ideally want to include a design system (including a style guide and a pattern library) additionally to a usual set of user interface wireframes.


Showcase each step of the design process

You could use a design process as a foundation for your storytelling. This way you will be able to showcase your skills in different areas of your role as a user experience designer. 

Design process cycle

Try to write a few paragraphs about your contribution for each of these steps of the project: business research → design review → user research → user journey → information architecture → accessibility & inclusive design → usability & A/B testing → business sign-off → design handover & QA → analytics 


Explain why

It's quite typical to present a set of design deliverables in a portfolio, but very few designers actually explain why they've created these and what's the value behind each output for your team and for your company's business.

A page of a UX designer's portfolio showcasing user journey mapping

Try not only listing what you've done but why you've done it, e.g. I've mapped a user journey in order to understand how many steps does it take for users of our company's website to complete a booking, analyse where the most drop-offs happen, and how the journey could be optimised to improve conversion rates. 


Support your design decisions with facts

Make sure you include user feedback from usability tests with proofs of your assumptions, supporting various design decisions you've made throughout the project.

A page of a UX designer's portfolio with Usability Testing report

Facts-based design approach goes a long way, compared to creating something based on just having a gut feeling.

 

We've got a template for you

You can download our UX portfolio template to get started.

UX Portfolio template