👩💻 Month 5: Build your portfolio
Once you have designed features and products, it's time to start building your portfolio. It is a collection of your best work and is essential for getting hired as a UX Designer.
You need to create ☝️ 4-5 projects, select platform where you'll build your portfolio and the case studies.
Creating projects is probably the most time-consuming. To keep us within the set timeframe, I recommend creating 3 projects where you design a feature and 1-2 projects where you design the whole product.
Of course, you can use the work you did in months 3 and 4. You can make changes and improvements as you see fit since you've gained more experience with time. Remember to follow the right process and document it as you go. You will need the artifacts from all the phases for your case studies, so don't delete anything and save versions of your files.
Choose the platform
When it comes to platform for your portfolio, you can choose between:
They give you the most freedom when it comes to how your portfolio will look and building the sections you need. It's definitely easier to start with Wix, it's more beginner-friendly. If you have more time, I recommend learning Webflow or Framer. It will require a little more effort, but should be relatively easy now that you know Figma.
They, of course, give you more creative control, but more importantly, you're building marketable skills that you can add to your resume or even look for freelance web design projects. I think it's worth it.
I do not recommend it as your main portfolio since those platforms are not optimal for presenting UX case studies. On Dribble, you can present only mockups and graphics. On Behance, creating presentations is more adjusted to visual graphics, and you can add a mobile version. You can share your work on those platforms in addition to your main website to establish your social media presence and potentially get some freelance work.
Those two options, effort-wise, would be between building your own website and using a social platform.
UXfolio is dedicated to creating portfolios. You will be able to use templates of UX-specific sections and build your portfolio quite quickly.
Notion can also be a good alternative, especially if you customize the workspace visuals and pay attention to UX decisions, for example, keeping a fairly flat structure that is easier to explore than multiple nested pages.
Portfolio content
Now, that you've chosen the platform, it's time to create your portfolio landing page and the case studies. Creating a UX portfolio is an art in itself. I will not go into detail in this video, but I will share some useful resources with you:
Portfolio playlist - I will link the portfolio playlist in the card and in the description. It's a growing collection of videos where I talk about the topic of creating and improving your portfolio.
Free 5-day Portfolio Masterclass - My free course will point you in the right direction and show you how to make adjustments that put your portfolio on a more senior level. It includes topics like choosing the right project, goals, text and structure, presenting the design process, mockups and visuals, and how to come up with ideas for portfolio projects.
Portfolio checklist - It's a list of things that you need to include in your portfolio and in your case studies. I'll link the Notion page in the description. You can duplicate it and use it in your process.
Personal projects
Since your portfolio will contain personal projects, 🚨 you need to make it clear in every case study. You can add a 'personal project' label that is clearly visible. You want to avoid misleading the reviewers. The worst experience is when they think that you're presenting real-life projects, and during the portfolio review, it turns out those were personal projects. Being disappointed and feeling misled is not a great start to a professional relationship 😳.
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