Having a portfolio of your work as an aspiring UX designer is one of the most valuable things you can have in your job search process. A well-researched, focused, and comprehensive portfolio can help to show employers your unique perspective as well as your deep expertise in a particular area. But if you are just starting to learn UI and UX design, you might be wondering what sorts of projects you should be working on to get a job as a junior UX designer.
If you have a love of design and an interest in getting hired in this design field, you are going to need an attention-grabbing design portfolio that shows hiring managers and recruiters exactly what you can do. A good design portfolio is more than just a list of previous clients or design projects. Your UI/UX designer portfolio should include wireframes, photos, mockups, and other supporting content to demonstrate that you have what it takes to solve real-world design problems. This article will show you what you can do to make a rock-solid portfolio.
3 Elements to Include in Your Portfolio for UX Design
Your portfolio should include examples of your best UX design work, along with an overview of your work history and a landing page that makes it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to find what they need. Here are the things that you cannot miss.
1. Case Studies
A UI/UX case study dives deep into your design process, giving readers insight into how you approach design problems. Each case study typically describes your role in the project, explains each step of the design process, and should include screenshots or other relevant graphics.
If possible, include at least three design case studies in your UX designer portfolio. These case studies should highlight some of your best work, and reflect the type of design work you want to get hired to do.
2. Attractive Landing Page
Your portfolio landing page should have previews of each case study, making it easy for the reviewer to find key information. Use the same formatting conventions for every project preview to show the reviewer that you understand how to create a great user experience.
It is good to include a short description of each UI/UX project because it makes it easier for recruiters to determine if any of your previous projects are relevant to their needs. For instance, if a recruiter is looking to fill a UX design role in the restaurant industry, they can navigate right to the project you did for a local restaurant instead of clicking through several projects.
3. Work History
Including an "About Me" section on your portfolio website is also a good idea. Recruiters can check this page if they want to know more about your work history and education. If you do not want to set up a separate page for your bio, add an "About Me" section to the homepage of your site. You may also want to include testimonials from satisfied clients or links to your social media profiles.
3 Cool Projects for Your UX Design Portfolio
In this section, we will present some UX design projects that if done correctly, could be mind-blowing to anyone looking for a new member for their team.
1. Blog or Digital Publication
This might be a UX project type that you would normally skip over, but many people said that being able to craft a unique digital blog or content site is a crucial skill to showcase. Companies are putting more and more money into content marketing, creating written content that is used as a lead generation tool for acquiring inbound traffic and email addresses, and most content marketing is tied directly to a business’s marketing budget and growth. Being able to design a unique blog that optimizes for lead capture and that is beautiful enough to convince visitors to come back over and over again is a required skill to be able to promote in interviews.
For this project, you will need to design a homepage, category page, and article page. Your final deliverables should include sketches, wireframes, and a working hi-fi prototype.
2. Lead Generation Landing Page
One of the simplest but most impactful UX design projects you might work on for employers and clients is designing a simple landing page with the sole purpose of converting visitors into signups or leads. This is generally done via signup forms or simple user registration widgets.
Your job is to design a page that maximizes the number of visitors who submit their information and become leads so the client’s sales team can follow up with them afterward and try to convert them into paying customers.
For this project, come up with a client in an industry you are passionate about and think about the type of information you would need to gather from a visitor to convert them to a lead, like their name, email address, location, or product interest.
3. Mobile App Design
Mobile app design is one of the most popular UX/UI specialties, and for good reason. People spend hours on their phones per day, so being able to design simple and intuitive apps that delight users is a highly desirable skill set.
For this project, think about problems you encounter in your everyday life and how a simple app product could solve those problems. This could be as basic as a productivity or reminder app or as complex as a social network. Here, you should design a simple onboarding flow, as well as the in-app screens and user dashboard or profile. Your final designs should include personas and use cases as well as sketches, wireframes, and a final prototype beautifully mocked up.
Bottom Line
These things that we present to you have the purpose of giving you some design ideas for you to make the greatest UX design portfolio so you can be able to choose a project to work for that you are actually interested in and not be forced to sign with the first one who is willing to take you.
