Every UX designer knows that their portfolio will be crucial for their career and for showcasing their body of work. However many designers (even great ones) fail at effectively building them. UX portfolios are especially important because not only does the website need to showcase the great products you’ve designed before.
It will become a product in and of itself. Ideally, UX portfolios will prove the designer’s ability before the user even reads the case studies. The portfolios below effectively combine the best of great UX, storytelling, organization and detailed case studies.
Here are your top 10 UX portfolios in no particular order.
Justin Edmund
Justin’s UX portfolios are simple, yet effective. The homepage outlines the case studies in a basic structure, but once you select a project Justin’s storytelling skills come into full display.
The steps in this process are clearly separated and outlined, and he takes you through them in a comprehensive way that highlights the skills. He does a great job of taking the viewer through the early stages of the process leading up to the final product.
Cody Sielawa
This is an example of a beautifully designed UX portfolio website. The homepage focuses on Cody’s qualities not only as a designer but as a person and co-worker. The goal of any UX portfolio is to effectively communicate who you are, why you do what you do and how well you can do it. In one page Cody does all three, by building a website that proves his UX skills in itself. The only thing we would have liked to see more of would’ve been his process: the project pages focus almost strictly on showcasing the final products.
Gui Bento
The UX of your portfolio website should reflect your own design style and this portfolio is a great example of this. Gui Bento creates “eye-catching designs” with a lot of motion like this one and his portfolio is no different. There’s a lot going on and it looks great.
He effectively takes us through his background, skills and projects. But we want to highlight the “knowledge” section, which features an interactive graphic where readers can easily see Gui’s.
Zach Kuzmic
As Zach prominently highlights on the homepage of his portfolio, he is a storyteller and UX design is simply a means for him to tell his stories. This becomes clear when reading his case studies, where he effectively takes us through his problem-solving process.
What really stands out in this portfolio is that he does not focus strictly on UX, but rather describes how he thinks through a problem in general. The most important skill for a UX designer is not to design good-looking websites; it is to understand a user’s need and effectively solve this issue through design, making the experience seamless. Zach is a master at this and his portfolio shows it.
Michael Szczepanski
Michael has designed a fresh and simple website that is made for effective storytelling. The homepage is straight to the point and his projects take the reader through a step-by-step process.
The stories are interesting and fun, like this creation that let people in the office know when the bathroom was available, which eventually turned into an app for scheduling conference rooms across locations. Michael certainly shows how he can be creative both in his UX and UI designs as well as in working through a problem.
John Ellison
John’s homepage is focused on his story, outlining his great work “at the intersection of design and social change”. In his case studies, John tells the story of his projects in an exceptionally organized and detailed way. He defines the problem he is trying to solve, the goal of his product and takes us all the way from research to inception.
Anyone can see a finished product, the key here is explaining why and how you came to that product. One way in which John does this is by displaying pictures of his research and creative process. This gives the reader a better grasp of how he actually came up with the final product in a visual format, so make sure you take photos throughout your process and display them on your UX portfolios.
Christine Walthall
Christine’s portfolio page looks really good, and her focus is very much on the projects she’s worked on in the past. We can’t blame her as she’s worked for big companies like Nike and Twitter, as well as helping Venmo from its early stages. Christine’s focus is on UX, but she highlights how she’s also worked in different areas and has diverse skills.
She takes us through her research, main user problems and really keys in on user testing, which is crucial for any designer. She even includes videos of her process of user testing in the field! If you want to learn about how to make a great portfolio while at the same time learning a lot about the actual creative process of UX design this is a great portfolio to check out!
Adrienne Hunter
Adrienne is focused on the user: think through user personas, their problems and needs, how to best solve them and go through relentless user testing to continually improve the original idea. Sounds about right.
UX design is a vastly interdisciplinary subject, involving psychology, communication and problem-solving. Adrienne knows that these skills contribute to her ability to design. For her, the design is a tool to solve problems and tell stories.
Her website UX is flawless and with hints of humour, she captures the reader into the stories of her projects. With a heavy focus on how to get to know the user, this is one of the best portfolios around.
Joel Califa
Your UX portfolio is not simply a reflection of your work, but of yourself. Employers will look for personality and uniqueness on your website; there are a lot of great designers out there. But only some can be great co-workers, team players and effective problem solvers.
In his portfolio, Joel highlights his humour and his passion for work, as well as his plethora of skills. The website is really easy to navigate and he uses motion throughout the page to showcase his design abilities. It feels personal, funny, but really professional all at once.
One can tell Joel really cares about the process of his work. And he made sure to record all his steps in pictures so that the reader feels like they’re working alongside him. Try to limit the amount of text on the first page of the portfolio, instead try to make it personal and simple. You’ll be able to expand on your skills and process in the case studies.
Alan Shen
Alan’s portfolio is the best example of in-depth, exceptionally written case studies. He shares the problem and goes through the process of creating the user experience in great detail but in an engaging fashion.
Throughout the writings, he highlights his skills in working on multiple platforms and understanding users needs as well as his skills beyond UX. He pairs the engaging case studies with a clean and beautiful homepage, which highlights his main skills and tools.
So there you have it, our top 10 UX Portfolios. Let us know what you’re favourites are and which great ones we left out!