After interviewing many designers on ADPList, I consistently offer the same advice: Simplify and reduce the amount of text and process sketches. Focus your case studies more on the finalized designs rather than the journey to get there. This might seem counterintuitive, but your portfolio serves as a validation of your high-quality visual and interaction design skills, as well as your product thinking. Showcase these qualities by emphasizing the designs themselves rather than the process behind them. Once you reach the 1:1 interview stage, you’ll have the opportunity to dive deeper into your process and explain how you achieved these designs. For now, let the designs speak for themselves. #designportfolio #designadvice #portfolioreviewtips
Ali Ali
9mo
“I’m glad to see so many alternative points of view being shared here. I respect your perspective and appreciate you taking the time to contribute. Ultimately, my advice is just one perspective, and you should do what you believe best fits your personal situation.
Jiri Jerabek
9mo
A) Sketches (or other artefacts from the 0 to 1 journey) show the substance behind the problem-solving in end-to-end product design process. B) Showing mostly polished visuals is suitable only for last-mile UI specialists. Choose to follow this advice based on whether you're A or B.
Sergei Golubev
9mo
I have to disagree. Dribbble, Behance, and most portfolios are full of pretty "finalized" designs without any explanation of the business problem, design process, insights from user research and usability testing, and how much value they added to the business — without any of these it's difficult to judge the skills of that designer, and authenticity of their work too (they could just have used some UI generator, or template, or stolen the work from someone else).
Doug Seidman
9mo
I’d agree with this. But I do think many designers are given and companies/other designers are giving the opposite advise (tho maybe it just depends on the audience, company, hiring manager, etc). Seems like many want to see process, frameworks, sketches, etc. 🤷🏻♂️
Jack Barber
9mo
I wouldn't advise omitting this all together as each company / hiring manager will have a differing opinion and may want to see detail, especially at the junior level. My advice is to have a separate section to showcase the nitty gritty process, so it doesn't convolute and distract from the case study but is there if needed.
Jennifer Bush
9mo
So many porfolios show the same exact process. It doesn’t set you apart. At the same time, final designs don’t tell me what you, specifically, contributed. Tell me what was hard about this problem? Tell me what went wrong. Tell me about how you pushed for simplicity or functionality or solved a specific problem.
Gregory Dworak
9mo
A portfolio that "sellls" is not necessarily a good "UX portfolio". 99% are pulchritude designs, puddle-shallow made-up solutions. What if the designs are not pretty but awsome functional? And what about all those NDA's?
John Jusung Kim
9mo
1000%
Staff Product Designer at Dropbox
9moI suggest emphasizing the narrative and visual storytelling aspects of your portfolio, rather than just showing mundane text and sketches. Design managers need to be impressed by your craft and your ability to communicate a story quickly. Extensive text and deep process details often go unread. From my personal experience and what I hear from peers in the industry, your portfolio is not the key to getting hired, however, it is the key to secure you a 1:1 interview.