Creating a Killer Portfolio

Hey Shannon,

It is very slick! Love the blue header - blue always makes things look so much more professional. And I agree with Hawk that image with the pretty whiteboard thing is really working for you.

There are a few things that did stand out to me.

I am UX-er but please feel free to ignore me - I have as habit of being brutally honest but please understand I only want to help you :slight_smile:

The first thing I saw was ā€˜hire meā€™ and I though 'ooh where will that take me?! ā€™ so I clicked it and it scrolled really fast all the way down to the fat footer. It wasnā€™t easy to look at and made my eyes spin and definitely wasnā€™t what I was expecting. I was expecting it to lead to contact details just minus the visual rollercoaster :slight_smile:

Whenever I see this ā€˜Thanks for visiting my online portfolioā€™, I find it as annoying as ā€œWelcome to the intranet!ā€. Itā€™s just derr-factor and noisy. I think there are better ways to communicate what it is Iā€™m looking at and I think you do that very well without reminding people they are online.

I clicked on the hamburger and the scrolling thing happened again - I donā€™t see how the hamburger adds value on the desktop version. Is it just there for mobile? Iā€™m on my laptop. You already know what I think of the scrolling.

Ok now some good news - I really like it how youā€™ve put your accomplishments first. Thatā€™s really important information and youā€™ve surfaced it well.

The heading ā€œUX portfolioā€ confuses me - I thought the whole site was the portfolio?

Why do I have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see the ā€˜career snapshotā€™? It looks like you couldnā€™t find a home for it and buried it at the bottom.

This is nice ā€œIf you are searching for an enthusiastic and passionate UX practitioner, letā€™s chat. Iā€™m seeking to join a product-driven UX team in Melbourne.ā€ I would move it up to next to your presenting photo.

I hope this is helpful and not too brutal! Iā€™m lucky enough to work in a very flat and safe environment where I can say what I think (and be told what others think) and the design is better for it.

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How have you found things since you posted last Shannon? I notice your portfolio still lists you as looking for work. Any bites?

Hi All,

I have just completed the free course on springboard created by julia debari in ux and loved it. now i am at the create a portfolio step and am stumped on how to proceed. there is a project as part of the course that i am working through on my own. but i dont know if itā€™s good or right. is there a step by step process i can use to create a portfolio somewhere on the web? or maybe a book of project ideas? would you suggest i get a mentor to help me walkthrough the portfolio process step by step? i got the knowledge from the springboard course now i just need to apply it. would you suggest taking another course in the hopes that its project based? i dont want to waste time course hopping. i want to stay focused and get my portfolio setup so i can apply for my first job asap. Thoughts?

Sorry for the late response @erin_mccool ā€“ somehow your post slipped under my radar.

I can help.

[quote=ā€œerin_mccool, post:23, topic:216ā€]
but i dont know if itā€™s good or right
[/quote] Every project is good for a portfolio ā€“ it all comes down to how you document your process and present it. Here are some of my favourites, with notes about why:

There is this Udemy course (which is currently on sale for $10)

Here is some advice that I compiled a while back:

Nope ā€“ not necessarily. There are other ways to find projects. This article has some ideas:

This topic is also useful:

And another article that I like:

thank you so much for all the info. ive seen the david travis article and
am taking his course on ux now.

Erin

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I wanted to ask about sketches/wireframes/high fidelity prototype.
When presenting in portfolio should I be selective or should I show the whole project with every possible windows that may appear?

Be selective. Show one example of each type.