Example portfolio home page (UXA former VP of Content Caleb Sun)
While a strong resume is still important, employers are increasingly focused on real, tangible examples of how you think, design, and problem-solve. If you want to stand out, you’ll need to craft a captivating portfolio that tells your story.
A portfolio is a collection of your work that demonstrates your skills to a potential employer. The showcased work is typically presented in the form of project case studies, which include both final designs/prototypes and an explanation of your design process.
Projects might be from professional experience, academic projects, or personal passion projects. You’ll want to clarify the scope of your project (i.e. timeline, team, who you’re designing for), but otherwise you can include any piece of work you’re proud of!
While many portfolios are hosted on personal websites, a portfolio might also take the form of a PDF, presentation, or interactive Notion page. The format is flexible, but the goal is always the same: to highlight your best work and convey your unique approach to design and innovation.
Often less is more with portfolios. Both in the number of projects you include in your portfolio and the amount of content you use to describe those projects, you are better off including fewer strong demonstrations of your skills than trying to include every project you have.
While people will likely spend more time looking at your portfolio than your resume, they still probably won’t look through the entire thing. Consider what projects, and what points in describing those projects, you are truly proud to share and most want them to see.
For any HCI-related career, you are a valuable asset not only for your technical skills & expertise but also for your critical thinking and problem-solving skills as a knowledge worker. How do you think? How do you overcome challenges? What makes you curious? How do you pursue those curiosities? These are all important questions that your portfolio should help answer.
Example story plot diagram, mapped in Figma
To write your case studies so that they capture the reader’s attention, it may help to consider them in the form of stories with a narrative arc. By doing this, you build interest and anticipation, getting viewers invested in your success as the protagonist of your own design story.