This can be a good tactic if you have NDA-protected work that you want to showcase without exposing it to the whole world. Build a concise, clean, portfolio. Those numbers leave no room for doubt about the quality of WebFX's services. Its also an option to present more information about the projects right on your own portfolio home page. You should also highlight and tease any emerging technology that you used (such as AR, AI, or VR) to pique your readers attention. Remember, they were working with a brief and real-world constraints.. After working with many designers throughout my own career and helping many more build their job-ready portfolios, there are a few designers that I keep coming back to for inspiration and some that are inspiring a new generation of UI/UX and Product Designers to enter the field.. I've chosen 10 of our favorite UI/UX and Product Designersa colorful tapestry of digital product architects that . Felipe, whos a senior product designer, created a simple yet engaging UX designer portfolio. Follow his example! Thats because Nicola experimented with the device mockups arrangement on each thumbnail. Case studies aren't just for UX portfolios or for consulting proposals: they provide a narrative to describe your work to friends and colleagues. Showing parts of the final UI on your thumbnails, like Danielle does, is a good way to arouse your visitors curiosity: theyll want to learn more about how youve arrived there. UX Case Study template A UX case study is a detailed but summarized presentation of a design project, its goals and objectives, the research methods used, the process to find a solution and the results achieved. Focus on solving a real problem. Whichever methodologies you used to guide your design, these are the ones to highlight in your case study. We all know that UX goes beyond pretty screens. Yang presents the challenge, team, project duration, her role, and the skills she used to get it done in a clear and easy-to-read format. So next time you are out and about testing with users, document as much as you can. A service that uses plant care as a method to empower users to cultivate (and talk about) their own mental health., User journey map from the Cultivate case study. This can be more challenging than an unsolicited redesign, as it lacks the inherent structure and constraints of an existing product. The best way to get your visitors to read your case studies, where they can see your skills in actions, is to grab their attention. You'll also have the opportunity to participate in a Capstone project to build the front end of a web application. Include a positive testimonial from your manager, supervisor, or peers from your time at the company. We are looking for a dynamic UI/UX designer who will be responsible [] Looking for a way to volunteer your UX design skills? What is a UX case study? Next, call attention to the research you and your team completed. Her thumbnails share the same mockup style, resulting in an overall consistency. But if youd like to get started building a portfolio for free, these platforms can help you showcase your work: 1. Many designers believe that the more youve worked in the industry the more case studies you need in your portfolio. In summary, your UX design portfolio should contain 3-4 UX case studies and some information about yourself. Document your process and include visuals in your case studies. Jeremy also highlights his visual design strengths with a full brand guide that highlights the meaning behind his design choices. Make sure your portfolio provides a good UX. This structure is basically the case study equivalent of presenting user research findings to a client. Refresh the page, check. She achieved this by using large, colorful case study thumbnails that capture your attention immediately. Emi Lantz Emi Lantz's portfolio website opens with a simple statement, "Hi! Her teams challenge was to design an app to help college students better connect with their classmates. He understands that its not the number of projects in a portfolio that makes an experienced designer, but their quality and scope. Instead of an image, he uses a bright gif of his name that immediately catches visitors attention. Think of the introduction as your time to capture your readers attention in a concise, articulate manner. They may also need help with development and implementation (and the resources that go with it). Side projects or other work: If you have case studies or graphic design work beyond your few highlighted projects, give them a separate section where those who would like to see more can find them. Most of Rachels case studies are password-protected. Short videos present user task flows in a way that doesnt rely on big blocks of text. On a mission to create more UX professionals. Hi there! Remember: Outcomes are evident for you, but not for others, since they didnt work on the project with you. This case study does an excellent job of laying out user research findings. Portfolio example: Tammy Taabassum - Wish Design Challenge. Join Khrys to learn more! This is a common theme in the best UX portfolio examples. How do you build a UX design portfolio with no experience? UX/UI case studies can include the following: 1. New Best Practices for Leading Hybrid Creative Teams, The Time Is Now to Empower Emerging Designers with a New Approach to Design Education, Translating User Research into User Experience Design, How Julia Feld Uses UX to Help Immigrants & Refugees, Do not sell or share my personal information. Unfortunately, it's too easy for UX portfolios to be overloaded with device renderings, prototypes and huge blocks of research text. Both analytical data and learnings would be impactful closures for a case study, but combining the two is even better! Our job at UXfolio includes talking to world-renowned design leaders to find out what theyre looking for in portfolios. Setting the thumbnail titles to appear on hover only adds to the weightless feel of the home page. To begin, break your case study into these main sections: The bulk of your material will be in section two, when you talk about your process. 3. A project from his experience as a documentary filmmaker bolsters his UX portfolio and speaks to his capability to perform as a professional. Show your design process in action through photos, sketches, and screenshots. Now that weve gone through the must-have sections of a UX portfolio and some examples of effective case studies, lets take a look at some additional tips and best practices to refer to when building your portfolio. What do you love most about design? It showcases the entire process in a step-by-step fashion. High-fidelity prototypes from an unsolicited redesign of Houzz. Our ambitions were to create a strong foundation that embraced a rapidly evolving business and more diverse user base. (including typography, color palettes, logos, and visuals).. Of course, the number of iterations you present is not set in stone. Four UI/UX case studies for your portfolio Up to 7 design screens. When it comes to storytelling and case studies, it is crucial to explicitly connect the research and the final outcome. About the Author oz Oz first started UX Beginner was a way to document his own journey to become a UX designer. -Lend your graphic design skills to a worthy cause with donate:code. This way you can be sure that you won't be judged based on mediocre work. If youre wondering what a senior UX designer portfolio should look like, check out Nuwanthis! This technique gives a sense of closeness and raises the credibility factor of a case study. Sidney drops a relatable, personal paragraph about distraction then moves on to takeaways that shell be able to use in other projects too. For her thumbnails, Marthe opted for the same mockups to create visual consistency. Include any positive feedback from the judges, even if your project didnt ultimately win. Mention what tasks you worked on. If you've never written a UX case study, don't worry. But its also an opportunity to let your creativity shine., Portfolio example: Jeremy Stokes - Cultivate, Jeremy Stokes is a former Google UX intern and current product designer at Duolingo. Contact: This doesnt have to be its own page, but be sure to give recruiters a way to get in touch after youve wowed them with your work. In the Mimic case study Josh decided to showcase the final designs by focusing on challenges and user needs. The UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for. UX portfolio and case study templates in a click In UXfolio everything's just a click away: UX portfolio templates, UX case study generator, stunning galleries for your UIs, auto-generated device mockups, copywriting help, community and expert feedback and much-much more! She is brave in her choice of color and it results in a stunning portfolio. The case studies that call for it are more text-heavy, while the rest are more visual-leaning to showcase Maxs design skills and eye for subdued beauty. Outline your role in the project and who else contributed. UX Challenge Linh used descriptive and straightforward case study titles that make you want to read more. When in doubt, you can always rely on semi-realistic mockups, that have similar borders and shadows. Matchy.. They also care about how you think. UX portfolios are made of UX case studies. First consider the overall structure of your UX portfolio, which should demonstrate your skills and value as a designer. Is a Master's in Computer Science Worth it. Check out his UX writing case studies, especially the one for the digital technology addiction app Reboot & Recover. Most of her info is reserved for the About page, allowing her work to take center stage. This is reflected in his stunning UX design portfolio. However, we can get a glimpse of her storytelling skills in the BizTrip case study. A UX design portfolio is a collection of design case studies that showcases your skillset and your approach to the design process as a whole. Dribbble, another popular UX portfolio platform, lets you share screenshots of your sketches, prototypes, and design concepts. Working methods, best practices, tips and tricks, Unique insights, design stories, the impact of design, How to Write a UX Case Study: Template and Examples. Max pushes visual consistency even further by introducing all his case studies on a background that echoes the color of the projects thumbnail. Check out these sites for opportunities: -Get matched with a nonprofit project on Catchafire. Luckily, its possible to craft a stellar portfolio that shows off your skills before youve ever had a paying client. Hyks is a very simple yet impressive portfolio home page, mostly because of his eye-catching thumbnails. Designing a few UX case studies for your portfolio is a powerful way to help you stand out among the crowd. During an interview with the e-commerce platform Wish, Tammy Taabassum completed a four-day design challenge where she was asked to improve the app in some way. Just because youve never completed UX design work for a paying client doesnt mean you have to apply for your first job with an empty portfolio. Valerie features only the must-haves on her portfolio front page: A friendly photo, a short bio, contact info, and social media links. An unsolicited redesign gives you the structure of an existing product to start withincluding an established target user basewhile allowing you to put your user experience skills to work. Dont be afraid to use the same for your case studies. This is your opportunity to articulate which user research methodologies fit into your design process. Combined with descriptive titles he arouses our curiosity about the projects. These seven types of UX case studies make excellent portfolio material for UX designers looking to get their start in the industry. Using UXfolios thumbnail styles, Quentin made sure that the case study titles appear on hover only. An exceptional case study keeps the audience in mind I'm going to repeat what others have said many times before: your portfolio is just another design project. Let's break down how you might do that. Work through the entire process, including user research (your friends and family can be your first test subjects). But, since they are under his own domain name on a dedicated website made with UXfolio, they have a more portfolio-ish aura to them. Ready to land your dream job? 2023 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved. Using an unconventional color and building your portfolio around it is a great way to stand out from the crowd. Her project got her an internship, as well as a stellar portfolio piece. UX Design . Portfolio example: Clayton Hopkins - #DullesJustice, Clayton Hopkins includes a few pro bono case studies in his portfolio in the form of Medium articles. To achieve a polished vibe, Roy kept all his personal and professional information to his About Me page. Copyright 2019-2023 Adobe. If youre more interested in user research or user interface (UI) design, prioritize these elements in your case studies. It is a much better option than forcing clashing colors and elements next to each other. You can follow this structure, while still expressing yourself with colors, fonts, thumbnails, and other design elements. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals. They want you to explain your decisions and to tell why you decided to go with those specific solutions. She starts by outlining the challenge she set for herself, then walks through the steps of her design process, with plenty of images to document her work.. Our speakers were keen on conveying how important these case studies are, as recruiters won't simply take notice of your design outputs. Stockwell agrees as they put it, "WebFX's services have impacted our core business by assisting with the brand awareness . User Research and Testing experience. You can use the steps in your process to create a navigation section, such as the one offered in UXfolio, to tie all parts of your case study together. Include 3 to 4 Relevant UX Case Studies Your UX design portfolio should contain 3-4 relevant UX case studies to sufficiently demonstrate your abilities. Tie great UX back to business value (how does solving a user problem impact the business in a positive way?). The Storytelling Approach in UX Case Studies An essential part of the portfolio of a UX designer is the case studies that pack a showcase of the designer's skills, way of thinking, insights in the form of compelling stories. Resist the urge to simply redesign the interface. Read about prioritizing personas, mapping user journeys and practical techniques to achieve an engaging user experience. Jon Aizlewood May 19, 2022 User flows and customer journey maps. While the project thumbnails are quite large in size their content is way smaller. You could borrow this technique and present iterations based on user research to tell the story of a project. A case study should reflect a meaningful, learning or growth design experience where you worked with real stakeholders and created something of value for the customers. In her Bubs case study, we get a walkthrough of all the projects stages. Throughout the case study, we get personas, a hand-drawn journey & flow, wireframes, as well as prototypes to help us visualize the findings Quentins design process. Behance offers a free online portfolio platform for creative work, including UI, UX, and graphic design. If youd like to protect only certain case studies, you can set a password for those projects only. In the Toolbox case study, Carson wrote about the key challenges they faced during the wireframing phase. Jaclyn describes herself as someone with [an] eye for simplicity, keen observational skills, and obsession with organization skills that can be traced in her UX design portfolio. But need someone to work a little on the research part and the to do some ux activities and to have it in a presentation pdf. Meta Front-end Developer Professional Certificate: Throughout this program, you'll manage a project in GitHub using version control, Git repositories, and the Linux terminal. Ability to discuss and explain your design decisions and back them up by applying customer insights and business metrics. This type of project is great for: Establishing familiarity with the design process, Shu Jiang, a product designer at Google, includes an excellent example of an unsolicited redesign of the app Houzz in her portfolio. He gives an outline of the project and an overview of his approach, then walks through the steps of research, ideation, design, and presentation.. This way you can be sure that you wont be judged based on mediocre work. In this article, well dive into this further and highlight some UX case study examples, templates, and more. We created it specifically for UX professionals, so its packed with powerful features thatll help you through the portfolio-building process. Theres a reason why UX designer portfolios are structured the way they are. Here is an example of next steps for a minimum viable product (MVP) for a wine-pairing app. Design leads or recruiters will not read through 10 case studies, so its better to curate your best work only, like Nuwanthi does. Keep the same tone as in the rest of your design portfolio's copy, in order to form a clear personal brand and consistent browsing experience. This is particularly important when giving background on the problem you set out to solve.