UX noob

Hello Guys,

first of all, it’s great to be part of the community now :slight_smile:

This might a topic that has been brought up before, but couldn’t find it here.

What would you expect to see in UX Designer’s portfolio if he was a beginner?

I am an ex-teacher, now self-taught graphic designer, but what always fascinated me were websites and apps (did some basic coidng and programming) and sometime ago I just realised that UX is what really fascinates me. The process itself and making people’s life easier through great design were much of my interest in the past year. The only thing is I am not sure what future employers would expect me to know before get a job. This article http://uxmastery.com/10-inspiring-ux-portfolios/ gives a clue but would a combination of the portfolios be enough?

Thanks in advance!

Hi @Ziemowit - welcome. :slight_smile:
Great question. I think the answer is ‘something that showcases your skills, whatever they may be’. I think describing your process is a key factor. The reason I put LaiYee’s portfolio in first place in that article is because she clearly shows her process, from concept to deliverable. UX is about the process as much as the final outcome, so rather than spending too much time putting together a slick collection of imagery (although that never hurts, of course), I’d focus on collecting documentation of what you did along the way.

If you don’t have a huge number of projects under your belt because you’re just starting out, you can use personal projects to demonstrate your skills just as successfully. Or consider offering your services for free to a school or not-for-profit.

I hope that helps.

@HAWK Thanks for the response. I actually did not have to many opportunities to work on real projects but have some of my own ideas for websites and apps and might well go with that. LaiYee’s portfolio is nice but I found Ed Lea’s portfolio pretty helpful too. Also, this http://www.edmundyu.com/#\myProcess .

What would you expect to see in UX Designer’s portfolio if he was a beginner?

In addition to revealing your process, as Hawk mentioned …
[LIST]
[]Initiative
[
]Examples of ego-less decision making (i.e. validating your designs and discovering you were wrong)
[]Experiments
[
]Honesty about your strengths and weaknesses
[/LIST] Hope that helps.

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As others have mentioned, each project in your portfolio should tell a story. It should focus on your process as a UX Designer. Seeing the final product is great but how did you get there? Focus on revealing your strengths and passions throughout the story. Some information that the portfolio should include:
[LIST]
[]Information about the user / personas
[
]What were the business goals?
[]What problems were being solved?
[
]Your process for solving the problem(s)
[]Designs
[
]Other assets such as user flows, task analysis, usability testing results, KPI’s
[/LIST]
Each project could have a summary with the ability to get the full story. This way you give site visitors a bite-size snapshot of the project with the ability to dive deeper into the details.

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