2 Why have a UX portfolio?

“We think that whoever, decided that UX designers should need a portfolio, should have their head read.’¹
Nick Kellingley

The key reason to have a UX portfolio is protocol.

Like it or not, the UX portfolio is here to stay. As we discovered in Chapter 1, reviewing candidate portfolios is a key part of the recruitment process for many companies. Whatever its faults, the UX portfolio is now as important as the resumé or curriculum vitae for those looking for work in the user experience realm.

Apple, Google, IBM, Fitbit, and Adobe are among the companies who wish to see a UX portfolio. Yes, other companies are available, but you greatly reduce your pool of employment prospects if you don’t have a portfolio to offer. In short, you’re unlikely to get your dream job without one.

Recruitment ads for UX designers, researchers, content strategists, product managers, interaction designers, mobile app developers, UX directors and even Vice Presidents of Design often put it bluntly: ‘No portfolio, no consideration.’

A great portfolio differentiates you from the competition

The value of having a UX portfolio isn’t one-sided, for employers alone. The owner of a portfolio can find advantages in having one too, starting with the ability to stand out against the competition.

My former colleague Frank Gaine, who now runs the UX job board UXswitch, put it best: “A good one will set you apart. A poor one can hinder your career ambitions.”

The UX portfolio is a self-marketing tool. It provides you with the opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competition, including those more qualified. A designer with limited experience can stand head and shoulders against those with more if they have a portfolio that conveys their proposition more effectively.

Let’s say for a minute that you’re a hiring manager looking to recruit a UX designer. The ecommerce business you work for believes improvements to their checkout process will increase revenue. You need to find a suitable designer. You slap ‘Portfolio required.’ on the job ad and wait for applications to roll in.

Applicant A emails his portfolio over. It’s ten mock-ups for various clients. He has several years of experience in UX design and says he’d love to work with you. The work seems good.

Applicant B then gets in touch. She has worked in UX design for a year. Her portfolio also contains mock-ups, but they’re part of a narrative covering:

• The problems past employers have asked her to solve

• How she chose to solve these problems and why

• What she did and how she worked with others

• The constraints she faced and how she overcome them

• The outcome of her work for the client/employer

If you could only interview one candidate, which of the two would you call in?

If someone has clearly put thought and care into their UX portfolio, wouldn’t you expect them to lavish the same care and attention on their work for you?

An effective portfolio communicates both your passion and how thorough you are as a designer. It sets you apart from the competition.

The clarity of Khoi Nguyen Truong’s portfolio[^2-2] elevates her above UX designers with more experience.
[^2-2]: http://madebykhoi.com

Portfolios help you get your story straight

Designing a portfolio forces you to answer some difficult and important questions simply and succinctly:

• What is it that you do?

• How do you like to work?

• What contribution did you make when you worked with a certain employer/client?

• What work do you do well?

• What work do want to do?

These questions can come up at any time. Whether it’s at a local UX networking meetup, a recruitment event, or a chance encounter at the local gym, the process of designing your portfolio will ensure you have the right answers to intrigue and interest any potential client or employer.

Portfolios can influence your interview

Some companies are better than others when it comes to running job interviews. The best apply a thorough, tested, rigorous process where all candidates receive the same treatment. Others may simply invite applicants in for tea, cake, and unstructured chat.

In either case, a potential employer may use your UX portfolio as a guide for prompting you to elaborate on your skills or as confirmation that you possess the experience they require.

An effective UX portfolio can also lay a good foundation for an interview by focusing the reviewer’s attention on performance and motivation rather than skills and experience.

Performance and motivation trump skills and experience as it’s what you do with what you have that counts, not only what you have. It’s easier to be self-motivated doing work that is enjoyable. The best people want to do work they do well, and a great UX portfolio communicates what its author does well.

A great UX portfolio draws attention to the key information you want to convey about yourself. Referring to the content of your portfolio during an interview even if you haven’t been asked to formally present it, reenforces your message.

There have been times when I’ve felt during an interview that my portfolio has done all the hard work leaving me just to confirm that I possess the experience required for the position. That’s a great feeling when it happens.

Portfolios can clear up confusion

As we learned in the last chapter, companies introduced the screening of UX portfolios to try and ensure that they call people with the right skills to interview.

But it works both ways. As Luke Chambers and Matt Magain write again in their ebook ‘Get Started in UX’:²

Some employers advertise for a UX position but actually want to fulfil a UI design role without any support for a user-centred design process. Not to say that UI designers can’t or don’t do UX, but many employers don’t understand the difference.

The phrase ‘user experience’ was coined during the early nineties by Donald Norman, who was then working at Apple. In 1998, Donald told fellow designer Peter Merholz:³

I invented the term because I thought Human Interface and usability were too narrow: I wanted to cover all aspects of the person’s experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual. Since then, the term has spread widely, so much so that it is starting to lose its meaning.

In 2007, Don spoke with Peter again. He confirmed his concern:⁴

user experience, human centered design, usability; all those things, even affordances. They just sort of entered the vocabulary and no longer have any special meaning. People use them often without having any idea why, what the word means, its origin, history, or what it’s about.

A few months ago, a UX designer I know arrived for an interview. There was no request for his portfolio beforehand, so he thought he’d go through it during the interview. The prospective client listened patiently to his presentation before finally asking, ‘This is all great, but where are the pretty pictures you did?’

At this point, the definition of UX continues to be a hot topic. It would take an entire book to resolve all of the arguments, and I’m busy writing this one. So, tackling the topic (or ‘defining the damn thing’ as it’s called within the UX community) isn’t something I’m going to be doing today.

However, sharing your UX portfolio before an interview allows you to explain your interpretation of UX design. Importantly, you have the opportunity to avoid arranging interviews with clients who have a totally different understanding. Had he shared his portfolio in advance, my friend probably would have avoided his awkward, unproductive interview.

A portfolio helps others act as your advocate

The reviewer of your UX portfolio isn’t always the person responsible for making the hire. In this situation, a UX portfolio acts like a crib sheet for the reviewer in justifying your selection. A great UX portfolio makes it easier for them to explain your previous successes.

Preparing your portfolio can make you a better designer

In 2008, Malcolm Gladwell published Outliers, in which he claimed anyone can master a skill with 10,000 hours of practice. This was sadly only half-true. If you make the same mistakes every hour that you practice, any length of time is unlikely to help. You’ll just be a little older, and not necessarily wiser.

Mastering a skill requires not just time, but also attention, often on areas of weakness, typically as directed by a mentor or coach. This action of paying attention and addressing weak spots is called deliberate practice. (Without a coach, it’s often referred to as ‘reflective practice’.)

Maintaining a work journal or log book assists immensely with creating an engaging portfolio. As we’ll learn in Chapter four, you can also share your notes with a mentor, or simply reflect on it yourself in a quest to improve.

In other words, designing your UX portfolio can help you be a better designer overall.

Portfolios encourage career management

Ideally, your UX portfolio is a living document that you regularly update. Over time, you’ll start to see patterns appear in your work preferences. You may also observe gaps in skills and knowledge compared to what employers and clients say they need. If you see a gap, consider filling it. Alternatively, decide if the time is right to specialise in a particular area. Use the information to guide your future training and employment decisions.

Can you get by without a UX portfolio?

You could ignore a company’s request to provide a portfolio and apply, but the chance of gaining an interview is low. Hiring managers may also come to the conclusion that you think yourself above the rules. It’s not a good reputation to have.

You may hear long-established UX designers cry ‘I created a portfolio when I went independent several years ago. Not one prospective client has wanted to see it.’

A portfolio is only part of your work-seeking toolkit, not everything in it. A portfolio sits alongside your resume or curriculum vitae, LinkedIn profile, and covering letter. It is always possible to obtain work without a portfolio or any of the other tools, particularly if you’re an effective networker and obtain work mostly through referrals.

Or if you’re Sir Jonathan Paul Ive. He’ll probably get by without one.

In this chapter

In this chapter we learned:

• Employers demand UX portfolios to weed out unsuitable candidates.

• For the designer, having a UX portfolio can offer benefits:

– It can differentiate you from the competition.

– It can help you get your story straight when you network.

– It can lead your interview and encourage interviewers to focus on the right things.

– It can deter an ill-fitting client before you spend too much time on courting them.

– It can allow others to act as your advocate more easily.

• Developing a portfolio can encourage you to reflect on your practice and make you a better designer.

• Reviewing your portfolio encourages you to manage your career rather than just take the next job that comes along.

• It is possible to obtain work without a UX portfolio, but working against market expectations is hard. You may reduce your list of potential employers if you try.