Written By Seetha Talluru
“Treat your portfolio as a product. The more effort you put into it, the more chances recruiters will be interested in you.” — Sarah Doody
As a new UX Designer who has just finished studying UX Design in a boot camp or university, you might have been told to create a portfolio to apply for jobs or freelance work. A portfolio is essential because it shows the UX Design work you’ve done in the past. It’s not just about how your work looks but also how you present it. Your portfolio isn’t just a collection of your work — it should be designed, improved, and marketed to attract recruiters or potential employers. Getting a portfolio review is vital to land your dream job. In this article, we will delve into the following aspects of a UX Design portfolio:
- Why is it essential to receive a portfolio review
- Importance of storytelling in a portfolio review
- How to join IterateUX for portfolio reviews
Ultimately, your UX Design portfolio showcases the realization of your significant projects and can open up tremendous opportunities for you.
Importance of Portfolio Reviews in the UX Design World
Sarah Doody is a well-known UX Designer who is the founder of Career Strategy Lab, which is a UX career coaching program in which she helped people get hired for UX Design jobs at companies such as American Express, Google, Microsoft, etc. According to Sarah Doody, asking for feedback on your UX Design portfolio for the first time after a job interview is a big mistake. It’s better to get feedback while you’re working on your UX Design portfolio and once you’ve finished it before the job interview.
Sarah explained that gathering feedback on your UX Design portfolio is like creating a product. When making a product, you must research and get feedback during creation. If you don’t, you might make wrong assumptions, add unnecessary features, miss essential features, and need to make time-consuming changes after the launch (Sarah Doody, Invision). If product teams take the time to get user feedback while developing a product, they are more likely to launch a product that meets users’ expectations successfully.
Sarah brought up the importance of seeking frequent and strategic feedback, ensuring people avoid the following:
· Overthinking
· Forgetting things
· Things that do not stand out
Power of Storytelling
Storytelling is a strong way to communicate, convince others, and teach the world about your ideas (LinkedIn). Designers use storytelling to better understand users, build empathy, and connect with them. In UX Design, storytelling is used throughout the entire design process to ensure that your work focuses on what users need and the value you bring them (Interaction Design). As a new UX Designer, telling stories about your projects, portfolios, and research is essential. Sharing stories can make your ideas more engaging and real. When creating a UX design portfolio, storytelling helps showcase:
- How you solved problems and learned about users’ experiences through your product or service research
- Your story — about yourself, your strengths, and your path toward becoming a UX Designer
- Your personality and voice as a creative professional, as well as the trust and rapport you’ll build with your potential employers and clients (LinkedIn)
Your UX Design portfolio attracts hiring managers and recruiters to interview and hire you based on your story, which includes
- Information about yourself and your journey as a UX Designer,
- Communicating your design process of providing a product solution through a case study
- Engaging the audience by making the portfolio memorable, showing how the work has created an impact
Value of IterateUX Portfolios
IterateUX has experienced senior UX designers who give great feedback on portfolios. The best part about IterateUX is getting a free one-on-one portfolio review with a senior UX Designer mentor with industry experience. This means you’ll receive detailed feedback from someone who has worked in UX Design for many years. Here is what mentors of IterateUX offer in a typical free portfolio review:
- Personalized Feedback: Gather constructive feedback from seasoned UX professionals who understand what companies are looking for
- Actionable Insights: Before identifying areas of improvement, we provide you with concrete steps to enhance your portfolio
- Career-targeted advice: Our reviews are more than just aesthetic judgments. We focus on career aspirations, aligning your portfolio to the opportunities you desire
- Exclusive resources: Access our curated collection of resources, from UX Case study templates to the latest design trends and tools
Here is a testimonial from a mentee who received a free portfolio review from IterateUX:
“Recently, I had my portfolio reviewed by Jayesh Dhonde through IterateUX, and his feedback on consistency, easy navigation, and storytelling was incredibly insightful. Grateful for the opportunity, Jayesh Dhonde and IterateUX.” — Faranak Vaghayenegar
If you are eager to get a free portfolio review from IterateUX, here is the current process for registering for a portfolio review:
1. Join the IterateUX Design community on Discord
2. Register for a free portfolio review through the ticket system in IterateUX Discord server
3. Once you complete the portfolio registration process, you are assigned a mentor with strong UX Design experience
4. The mentor will work with you on the portfolio review
Conclusion
As an entry-level UX Designer, having a portfolio is essential to share your work experience to land job interviews, get clients for freelancing, and so on. It not only helps with storytelling but also shows the projects you’ve done and how you’ve solved problems for products or services and brought ideas to life. IterateUX will help you by providing a free, high-quality portfolio review that could land you with wonderful opportunities. The key takeaway is to have a well-reviewed portfolio ready to land your dream UX Design job. Remember to treat your portfolio as a product. It’s crucial to accept feedback during and after a portfolio review before you start job hunting.
I hope this article helps you understand the importance of getting a portfolio review from a senior UX designer or hiring manager. To receive a free portfolio review, join the IterateUX Discord community and register for one. Please subscribe to IterateUX Medium. Happy designing!
Resources
Sarah Doody on UX Portfolio Reviews
Interaction Design on Storytelling in UX/UI Design
Feel free to follow or join:
Please subscribe to IterateUX Medium: https://iterateux.medium.com/
If you want to join the IterateUX community, please join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/iterateux
Visit IterateUX website: https://www.iterateux.com/
