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Maggie Law (MIMS 2003) UC Berkeley, School of Information 11/22/2013
UX Careers Issue 13.1, April 2013 http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/uxmagazine/issue/13-‐1/ Onsite UX Interviews: What They Don’t Teach You in Design School Satyam Kantamneni, Sr. Director of Design, Citrix http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/uxmagazine/onsite-‐ux-‐interviews The UX Portfolio: Your Golden Ticket to Job Interviews Nick Morgan, Lead UX Designer, Salesforce.com http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/uxmagazine/the-‐ux-‐portfolio-‐your-‐golden-‐ticket-‐to-‐job-‐interviews/ How Much UX have You Put into Your UX Portfolio? by Alison Lawrence, Didus http://uxmag.com/articles/how-‐much-‐ux-‐have-‐you-‐put-‐into-‐your-‐ux-‐portfolio Improving Hiring for User Experience: The Applicant by Nick Cawthon http://uxmag.com/articles/improving-‐hiring-‐for-‐user-‐experience-‐the-‐applicant
14 people responded to my UX Portfolio Best Practices survey. All respondents are influential in hiring decisions.
The web portfolio is an introduction to decide whether to invite for further deep dive. I'm looking for evidence of quality, story, taste, craft, innovation, novelty, range, delight. A sampler of what's possible that could lead to valuable discussions. Once invited [for an onsite], I hope to learn their approach to problem solving, tactics in exploring options, decision-‐making styles when weighing options, design principles/philosophies, as well as rationale for design choices.
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No relation.
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minimally important
absolutely essential
¡ Standard of quality ¡ Education, experience, seniority ¡ Talents, skills ¡ Communication style ¡ Process ¡ Personality ¡ Work / collaborative style
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As a recruiter, I share an online portfolio with managers. When it's a pdf, there is a chance that the manager won't open up such a large file. Or the large file may not be able to be stored on our applicant tracking system. AND if there is a mistake, the candidate has to edit it and resend. It's just such a hassle. Online portfolios are the best!
What is unacceptable is a designer simply submitting a resume for a job application and not providing any work samples.
Essential!
I suspect many hiring managers immediately filter out any candidates that do not have an online portfolio.
They don't have to have a fancily-‐coded web site – they can use templates out there, but it needs to be accessible online, not just a PDF they send me.
“How many design portfolios do you review per week?”
“How much time would you guess you typically devote to reviewing a single design portfolio?”
“How much time would you typically devote to reviewing that same candidate's resume?”
Generally, 2-‐5 (as many as 10-‐50 if needed)
Range: 1-‐10 min (up to 20 min if engaging)
Range: 2-‐6 min (may be as short as 10 sec or as long as 15 min)
Generally, 0-‐5 Range: 7-‐30 min Range: 2-‐7 min
50-‐70 1-‐5 min 15-‐60 sec
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
Is it modern and clean?
Is the portfolio itself well-‐designed?
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality Is it unorganized, messy, and wordy
or structured, clean, and concise?
Stick to basics. Make your portfolio beautiful and usable. Don't get fancy for the heck of it.
A portfolio should be simple to navigate. Mess that up and I'm not impressed.
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
How the person speaks about his/her work, describes process, and explains decisions.
Do the projects have problem statement, role, goal, etc. … as well as representative images?
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
I want to see lots of stuff in-‐between. If I only see final product, that doesn't tell me much.
Projects completed and the iterations it took to get there.
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality I want to know what you've done
and I want to see the assets. Don't show me a tiny thumbnail as a tease and eliminate the full-‐screen view unless the lawyers are on your back.
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
Are they more artist than designer? Design is not art.
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
Types of projects worked on (desktop, mobile, web…)
¡ Polish, craft ¡ Organization, usability ¡ Explanation, storytelling ¡ More than just final outcomes ¡ Viewable assets ¡ Experience ¡ Range ¡ Personality
The portfolio is often the one thing the designer has complete control over (work samples are often shaped by stakeholders or teammates) and should reflect his or her style.
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The dreaded bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final visual designs, but nothing else
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else Spell check.
No, seriously... spell check!
*Sigh.*
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else
The designer used a lot of JavaScript and CSS animation tricks. They were not subtle or well executed.... They made it about them and not the user. Shows immaturity in their decision making.
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else
Tiny thumbnails… couldn't be enlarged.
We don't have time to read long dissertations but want to understand the high-‐level information about a project, or even yourself.
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else
If you worked with a group of people, tell me what you did [vs.] what others did. Understanding how you collaborated, and what your role in the team was, is important.
I don't care much about good looking images if they don't have any context. I need to know what kind of a project (conceptual or delivery), the company and its business, the problem statement, goals, maybe some of the significant challenges and constraints. These should be brief but informative.
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else
Stale content: "My goal for 2010 is…"
¡ Typos, sloppy, ugly ¡ The gratuitous bag o’ tricks ¡ Too much text, not enough visuals ¡ Too little explanation ¡ Outdated work, stale content ¡ Final designs, but nothing else
If you're an interaction designer, [an image of] the final product may have little to do with your talents or work effort.
A single very polished screenshot of a product [with no explanation] doesn't tell me anything.
¡ Simple, just enough detail ¡ Best work front and center ¡ Honest, reflects a personal “brand” ¡ Showed process and artifacts ¡ Reflects a personal “brand”
¡ Simple, just enough detail ¡ Best work front and center ¡ Honest, reflects a personal “brand” ¡ Showed process and artifacts
Projects have sufficient information and images to tell me a story. She was able to walk me through one of the projects using the portfolio site.
¡ Simple, just enough detail ¡ Best work front and center ¡ Honest, reflects a personal “brand” ¡ Showed process and artifacts
Work shines up front.
¡ Simple, just enough detail ¡ Best work front and center ¡ Honest, reflects a personal “brand” ¡ Showed process and artifacts
Best: this person organized her portfolio … showcasing what's her best areas, mid-‐areas of improvement, and even flops/failures that she bravely said reflect her poorest areas but how she learned, in terms of growing as a designer…. She presented a nicely told story.
¡ Simple, just enough detail ¡ Best work front and center ¡ Honest, reflects a personal “brand” ¡ Showed process and artifacts
[One candidate’s great portfolio] talks about process -‐-‐ even stuff like using KLM [keystroke-‐level model], personas, storyboards, journey maps, etc. Shows examples of all types of artifacts.
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I wouldn't hold it against the candidate, so long
as the portfolio is crafted skillfully
Hey, man, a *real* designer would craft a portfolio from scratch
Hmmm, I'm torn....
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Managers love to see how a designer presents him/herself. I think it's ok to use templates to organize the samples, but the ones mentioned above don't seem to work well. Dribbble seems to get through though.
For a researcher, I don't hold it against them. For a full-‐on interaction designer, not very impressive.
There are well-‐crafted responsive templates out there that are clean, simple and will let your work shine. Don't be afraid to use them. Take the time that you save and apply it to refining and editing your work examples.
I do think it puts candidates ahead if they do make their own site. That said, any solid projects that are hosted online are sufficient for me if presented with care.
Designers come in all shapes and sizes. I prefer designers that are skilled in the technical aspects of their medium -‐-‐ it adds value to the product team. That said, a willingness to learn front end technology makes up for the lack of experience. If a designer for a web application/site does not want to learn HTML, CSS, and a little JavaScript then I start to question their passion for the craft.
It should be clear to me that they used a template-‐driven publishing platform. That's my only requirement. I think it's ok to use all the available tools to build a skillfully crafted portfolio site. If it requires using a template, so be it. As long as you show enough of your work on the portfolio to demonstrate your skills as a designer, we're good :)
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Not a requirement. But the ones who do are immediately seen as more collaborative with designers. :)
I find it impressive when a candidate has one, but I have not dismissed candidates when they did not. If a candidate does not have one online, I still ask that they put a portfolio presentation together to present so that I can learn about their research background.
I don't fully think it's a requirement, but I think it's a really good idea. I'm much more likely to respond to a candidate with a portfolio, because I'll have learned more about him or her.
Some are frankly very academic. Others are more visual. We recently hired a fabulous junior researcher who combined methodology with visually relevant displays of her studies/results. Presentation does matter! But if you're a total hardcore academic HCI research junkie, don't try to make something "pretty". You'll fail and be called out for it. Just be true to who you are.
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minimally important
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¡ Experience, skill set ¡ Range of research tools and methods ¡ Attention to detail ¡ Communication style ¡ Balance of research + design ¡ Ability to visualize research results ¡ Projects, process, approach ¡ Impact, influence ¡ Examples, case studies
When I ask a candidate to do a portfolio presentation I expect to learn: • how they present (first and foremost because
presenting and influencing is essential for this job)
• how much care they put into the presentation (tells me how much they want the job), and then
• all of the essentials of the candidate's background (education, relevant jobs, methods used)
Bonus points are earned for samples of work that demonstrate how they approach research problems and make impact with findings.
¡ Test it -‐-‐ phone, tablet, various browsers. Extra credit if you make the site responsive.
¡ Put your resume as a separate page on your website.
¡ Spring the few dollars for a short, easily typed, custom domain name. Hiring managers don’t want to have to try to copy youruniversity.edu/students/2013/~yourname from your resume.
¡ Don't fake stuff, and never copy designs or pass them as your own.
¡ Keep it interesting -‐-‐ include memorable details.
¡ Think about what your hiring managers are looking for in a candidate. Help them make the decision.
¡ For each project, provide sufficient information at a quick glance (summary + images), but also provide more detail should the reviewer need or want it.
¡ Show you understand usability by leveraging conventions and use common patterns for navigation.
¡ Don’t feel bad if all of your projects are academic. Hiring managers expect this from current students and recent grads!
