Portfolios: An OverviewSuper Sochi Friday Lunches: 9/20

What is a portfolio?

• A showcase of your background, your work, your skills, and, to future employers, your potential.

• A place for you to display your relevant work

• A way for you to start building a professional “identity”

• A place for you to show off your style and a bit of personality

• What sets you apart? What makes you unique?

Do I need one?

• Do you want to be a UX designer? You should definitely have a portfolio

• Design is a very creative process that may be hard to talk people through

• Design is very visual

• Do you want to be a UX researcher? You probably want to have a portfolio

• Help people see your interests and methods

HELP! I DON’T HAVE A PORTFOLIO!

• It’s ok!

• Part of being at UMSI is to become involved in professional projects that are relevant to your future career

• But everyone has different backgrounds, and not everyone has done “UX” work in the past

• The majority of us that came in last year didn’t have a portfolio coming in, and set one up near the end of the semester

• A portfolio is only as useful as the amount of relevant work you can put in it

• So a portfolio with nothing is not very useful

• Most internships don’t start springing up until January/February, so you’ve got time!

Why is a portfolio important to an employer?

• First thing you give employers is typically a resume

• But that’s really static…boils things down to a couple of bullet points

• The portfolio works as an extension of your resume

• The relevant skills and positions you include on your resume should be on your portfolio, + more

• It will likely be seen by two primary parties:

• Hiring managers

• “Ok, is what this person has on his resume legit? Is this person who they say they are?”

• Looking for a quick overview, looking for your creativity

• Once a hiring manager is satisfied, the portfolio (along w/ resume) goes to the UX manager/supervisor

• Will be interested more in the details, methods, outcomes, etc.

• Could be brought up in a phone interview

• In-person interviews, could be asked to do a portfolio walkthrough

So…what goes into the portfolio?

• Core elements:

• Projects

• What have you done?

• ‘About me’

• Who are you?

• A resume

• Something to download, pass along

• Contact information

• How can we get in touch of you? E-mail, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn

Projects

• You may not have any finished projects to put up right now

• Start documenting your work

• 501? 582? 539? Alternative Spring Break…Design Jams…

• Take screenshots! Capture photos! Save your documents! Keep a diary!

• The end product is nice, but employers like to see process

• What was your role?

• 501…you’re all project managers!

About me

• Can just be some static paragraph about what your background is and outline what kind of position you are seeking

• Or could be more…a blog…photographs…quick thoughts…etc

Remember…

• Aim for clarity!

• Just enough depth to show what your involvement was and how you achieved your goals

• Easy to navigate

• Easy to contact you

• Emphasize your work…creativity and pretty things are important, but secondary

• Especially true for UX research stuff

Some technical stuff

• Where do you put your portfolio?

• Doesn’t have to be super complex

• Uploading designs, sketches, into a profile in imgur, deviantART, coroflot, behance

• Or…you could get more of a ‘structured’ website

• Free hosting services: wordpress.com, weebly, blogger.com

• Limited control over style, and typically the url is appended with their name

• If you want your own domain name:

• Buy hosting: arvixe.com, dreamhost.com, anhosting.com, etc.

• Ranging anywhere from $6/month to $60/year

• Important things to consider: cost, support

• Get a domain name: midphase.com, Squarespace, Namecheap, etc.

• ~ $10 a year and up

• .com, .net, .org, etc.

• Some hosting services will offer free domain registration

Some technical stuff contd.

Domain name

Hosting

Software

Software is what people see:• wordpress.org• Drupal• Joomla• Or build your own!

Things to think about:• How much control you have• How much effort you want to spend• Themes, look and feel, etc.

Resources

• Check out other people’s portfolios!

• Google search for UX Designers, UX Researcher, or whatever role it is you’re trying to get into

• http://sima.si.umich.edu/portfolios

• http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/29/ultimate-guide-to-using-wordpress-for-a-portfolio/

• http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/build-a-killer-online-portfolio-in-9-easy-steps/

• http://99u.com/articles/7127/6-steps-to-creating-a-knockout-online-portfolio

• These slides are available via slideshare: