UX/UI projects for beginners #6: Food App

This is the sixth design portfolio project for UI and UX designers looking to build a portfolio of credible work. A detailed client brief that is time-boxed, detailed, and crafted realistically enough to give you a hands-on experience of doing a real project. Each portfolio project is meant to help you create realistic work you can add to your portfolio and test if design really is for you.

Today I have a saucy one for you, excuse the pun. A UX/UI project for beginners on designing a food app.

We all have at some point felt too busy (lazy) to cook and reached out for our phones to order some delicious food. The convenience of ordering food is undeniable and such a ubiquitous reflex that we do not even think about it. I personally enjoy cooking for the family but there are times when I cannot due to the kids, an event or work.

Designing an app is unique in that there are particular guidelines and best practices already outlined for Android and IOS that are different in some way to web patterns. This challenges the designer to be able to understand how platforms constraints affect design.

As is usually the case, I have included the following with each design brief:

Timeline (For this to be realistic each brief has a timeline that is as close to real-world work as possible)
Objectives (What is REQUIRED by the client. This part usually trips designers up as they go off designing what is not required)
Platform(Where your designs will live. Understanding these platforms will give a well-considered solution)
Target audience (Users always come first and the design must accommodate the target audience’s pain points)
References (If you are not sure where to start, clients normally give a set of examples or references they like. The closer the design solution is to the references, the fewer revisions a designer will have to do)
Deliverables (Most importantly how the solution should be delivered. These represent what a well-detailed portfolio case study looks like so hit it out of the park)
Recruiter advice (Portfolio advice from creative directors, CEOs and leading design creatives from the biggest companies)

Let’s begin.

UX UI Design Portfolio Project 6: Designing an Food App

Client
OhSoYum

Timeline
1–2 weeks. The project is expected to be completed within two weeks.

Objectives

We are looking to create a food delivery app that will allow users to order food from their favorite restaurants and have it delivered to their doorstep. The app will need to be user-friendly, visually appealing and efficient. “Online food delivery has become a $200 billion global industry, yet there is still plenty of room for growth as people increasingly opt for the convenience of delivery.” – Bloomberg

Success Metrics to Consider:
User acquisition and retention rate
Order volume and revenue growth
User engagement and time spent on the app
Positive reviews and ratings

Target Audience

Marcus Lee, 32 | Busy Professional
NEEDS
Does not have the time to cook and prefer to order food online for convenience. They prioritize quick and reliable delivery and are willing to pay more for premium services. Health conscious and wants to eat healthy meals. She also has a tight budget and wants affordable options.

Sophia Patel, 37 | Health-Conscious Eater
NEEDS
College student who prioritizes healthy eating and has specific dietary restrictions. Always looking for options that fit their lifestyle and are willing to pay more for high-quality, healthy food. On a tight budget and wants affordable options

Sandra Jenkins, 35 | Budget-Conscious
NEEDS
Has two kids and a busy job. She needs an app that offers healthy options for her family as well as quick and convenient delivery options on a limited budget. Wants to feed her family healthy meals but doesn’t have the time or energy to cook after a long day at work.

Requirements

The app should allow users to browse and order from a variety of restaurants in their area.
Users should be able to customize their orders, including special instructions and dietary restrictions.
The app should provide real-time updates on the status of their order, including estimated delivery time.
Payment options should be secure and user-friendly.
The app should have a feature for users to leave reviews and ratings of restaurants and drivers.

Platform

The app should be compatible with either iOS or Android devices. Pay attention to IOS and Android guidelines.

IOS guidelines
https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/ios/visual-design/adaptivity-and-layout/

Android guidelines
https://material.io/design/usability/accessibility.html#hierarchy

References

References that our company would like the app to follow in terms of structure and layout. It will be your job to replicate something close to these examples but add your creative flair to it.

Uber Eats: https://www.ubereats.com/
DoorDash: https://www.doordash.com/
Grubhub: https://www.grubhub.com/

Deliverables

• Onboarding screens – These screens will introduce the app to new users and explain how to use it. They might include a welcome message, an explanation of the app’s features, and instructions on how to create an account.

• Home screen – This is the main screen of the app that users will see when they open it. It might include a search bar, categories for different types of food, and a list of popular restaurants.

• Restaurant details screen – When a user selects a restaurant, they will be taken to a screen with more information about that restaurant. This might include the menu, photos of the food, and reviews from other users.

• Ordering screen – This screen will allow users to place an order from the restaurant they’ve selected. It might include options for customization, like choosing toppings or specifying dietary restrictions.

• Payment screen – After a user has placed an order, they will need to enter payment information. This screen might include options for different payment methods, like credit card or PayPal.

• Order tracking screen – Once an order has been placed, users will want to know when it will be delivered. This screen might include real-time updates on the status of the order, like when it’s being prepared, when it’s out for delivery, and when it’s been delivered.

• Profile screen – This screen will allow users to manage their account information, like their name, address, and payment methods. It might also include options for viewing past orders and saving favorite restaurants.

Testing and Results section

Show your wireframes to 5 people and ask them using your designs what they think about them, what they would improve, and an overall rating.

Take their feedback, iterate the designs, and have a final round of testing with 5 users. See that you improve your overall rating. If not go back to the drawing board and change your designs and retest.

Advice from recruiters

I want to see case studies that demonstrate a deep understanding of user needs, a creative approach to problem-solving, and a passion for delivering exceptional user experiences.
John Smith, Senior Product Designer at Doordash

I’m looking for designers who can demonstrate how they’ve solved complex problems in simple and elegant ways. I want to see how you can take a user-centered approach and turn that into a product that’s both delightful and effective.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, Head of Design at Uber

Show me how you’ve used data and research to inform your design decisions and how you’ve collaborated with cross-functional teams to deliver successful products. Don’t just showcase the final design, but also the process and the challenges you faced along the way.
Jane Doe, Senior UX Designer at Grubhub

Your portfolio should showcase your ability to think critically about design problems, communicate your ideas clearly, and collaborate effectively with others. It’s not just about pretty visuals, but about the insights and rationale behind your design decisions.
Kim Williams, Director of UX Design at Amazon

I love to see designers who can showcase a process, not just the end product. How did you get there? What were the decisions and tradeoffs you made along the way? How did you incorporate feedback and iterate? All of this tells me a lot about how you approach design problems and how you work with cross-functional teams.
Julie Zhuo, VP of Product Design at Facebook

What to do next

Download a portfolio project PDF of this design project and all the other existing design projects to review in your own time.

UX/UI projects for beginners #5: Property Website

This is the fifth design portfolio project for UI and UX designers looking to build a portfolio of credible work. A detailed client brief that is time-boxed, detailed, and crafted realistically enough to give you a hands-on experience of doing a real project. Each portfolio project is meant to help you create realistic work you can add to your portfolio and test if design really is for you.

Continue reading “UX/UI projects for beginners #5: Property Website” »

UX Case Study Example #2 plus free template

You may be wondering how should you organize a large amount of project information in a case study so that it isn’t overwhelming to recruiters? What information is vital to include in a portfolio case study? Or maybe you are just struggling to bringing together your wireframes, strategies and sections into a clean, attractive narrative. Don’t worry this article is for you.

I recently shared a UX case study example in the previous article that described how to use the free UX Portfolio Case Study template to rapidly create comprehensive case study for your design portfolios from scratch.

The free UX Portfolio Case Study template is based on over 60 portfolios of successful design hires from Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Twitter, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Dropbox and the insights of top design recruiters from around the world.

What you are going to learn

Today I want to walk you through another UX case study example on how you can use the UX Portfolio Case Study template from scratch, to create a UX case study for your UX portfolio. We will walk through the creation of each section, step by step so that you can replicate the process for your cases studies.

The project

The UX portfolio project I will use is one I did as a Senior UX Designer at a digital marketing agency. The brief was to completely redesign a responsive web platform for one of the leading investment firms in South Africa, Alexander Forbes. I worked with a project manager, a UI designer, a back-end developer and a front-end developer.

I did the work some time ago so the challenge becomes trying to remember what I did and collecting enough content for a solid case study. This is where the template comes in handy.

The secret sauce

The core idea is to try to separate your case study creation process into a writing component and designing component so that you can tackle each one without getting stuck or overwhelmed.

The template ensures that your case study has a good project narrative and understandable structure.

This also allows you to plan more effectively what design artifacts you will need in your case study. It’s a system by which you can then rapidly roll out multiple case studies without forgetting anything that’s relevant to a recruiter or client.

In case you did not read the previous article, the UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for.

UX Portfolio Case Study template sections

Project Title & Subtitle (A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project)
Client/Company/Project type
Project date (When did you work on the project)
Your role (What you were responsible for on the project)
Project Summary/About this Project (An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results)
The challenge (What specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points that the project solves. Were there any technical constraints or business KPIs you had to keep in mind? Who are you users and what are their specific needs)
Solution (What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives?)
Results (Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt)

Making it as concise and easy as possible to digest

Now writing and condensing long texts for these sections can be very challenging. I have included how long each section should be so that you have a guide to your writing length. Let’s walk through each section of the UX Portfolio Case Study template and fill it in.

UX Case Study Example 2

1. Project Title & Subtitle

Length: Project Title (1 line) & Subtitle (1–2 lines)

This one is pretty straightforward. I used the name we had for the project at the agency. I generally like to use the client’s brand name as it is recognizable to recruiters and brief enough to fit any case study cover. I also added a sub-title to further explain what was built for the client and give more context around the project title.

2. Client/Company/Project type

Length:1 line

Unless stated in the title, this helps build more context to who the project was for. This was a commercial project for a client so I wrote the name of the client’s brand.

3. Project date/duration

Length:1 line

When or how long the project was helps the recruiter establish whether this is your most recent work and most importantly, to gauge where your skill level is. Always try to put up work that is recent because it’s an accurate reflection of your skills. This one was a bit of an old one that I had not drafted a case study for.

4. Your role

Length:1–2 lines

This is a section to state everything you did and were responsible for. Recruiters are looking to accurately assess your skills in the context of the entire project’s execution. I state that I was the Senior UX Designer on the project then briefly note down all the activities I did for the project over the course of several months. If you worked with someone on the project make sure to state it.

5. Project Summary

Length: 1–2 paragraphs

This is a critical section for any reader who does not have a lot of time to read through the entire case study but wants a brief summary of the project, goals, and results. They may be going through a stack of applications and only have a few minutes to scan over one or two projects in your portfolio.

I have kept my summary to three long sentences. The first is the context of the brand. The second touches on the challenge and problem we were attempting to solve. And the last sentence describes the platform this is being built for.

6. The Challenge/Problem

Length: 2–3 paragraphs

This section specifically looks at the problems the project is trying to address. While keeping this paragraph concise I dive into the details of the problem that the client and their user were experiencing. If you are struggling with this part, take a look at your client’s original project brief. The problem you set out to solve will be stated under objectives.

7. The Solution

Length: As long as needed

This is the longest and more time consuming section to fill in depending on how long ago the project was and how fresh in your mind it still is. For this section I outlined the design process steps and methods followed during the project. I wrote down the high level project steps but at this point I am already thinking of the the relevant design artifacts recruiters might want to see. Everything that I produced from sketches to visual mockups to prototypes.

8. Results

Length: 1 paragraph

The critical last section concludes the case study by outlining any project success metrics that were achieved. I was fortunate that we wanted to report back to the client how well the site had performed so this information was dug up from the Google Analytics tracking. In most cases clients are happy with just a launch and its really up to you to follow up and get the project impact.

Okay, now that we have filled in our UX Portfolio Case Study template we can move on to getting our design artifacts together. I am happy with the content I put down and importantly, I have not missed any section.

Putting it together

This part is really up to you and how you tackle it is going to depend on where you are going to host your UX case study. If you have a portfolio site you can put the text we just typed down on a page and fill in the gaps with images and project artifacts.

I have a Behance account where I house my projects and merely need to upload images and write the text in, then publish the portfolio. Taking it a step further I integrate the text and imagery in Sketch/Photoshop than just purely uploading the project’s web screenshots.

If you would like to use my Behance layout your can check out my portfolio kit with pre-made, fully customizable professional artboards for every section of a portfolio.

How to enhance your UX Case Study

Key things that I always like to include in my case studies to make them more interactive and engaging:

Brand imagery to create a more immersive narrative
A prototype/GIF of the final solution

UX Case Study Folder structure

I like to create a folder structure for housing everything I will need as follows.

Client brief (Optional)
Website screenshots (Screenshots of the final website)
Behance submission (Final design exports for Behance upload)
Wireframe screenshots (Wireframe and UI designs exports in here)

Here are some of the final case study design screens with the text we filled out in the UX Portfolio Case Study template.

The intro has most of our UX case study sections covered in one go. Super important for recruiters without a lot of time.

The About and challenge sections come directly after that.

Then we can dive into the work. Here is a tiny bit of the Solution section showcasing a wireframe and UI design.

And lastly the results to round off the case study.

Here is the link to my portfolio and the full project.

Calvin Pedzai on Behance
I conduct website and mobile app usability audits, heuristic evaluations, user journeys, competitor analysis, user…www.behance.net

What to do next

If you really enjoy this article and would like to get down to work, download my UX Portfolio Case Study template for free. Its included with the Design Portfolio Layout Guide, which includes 20 online case studies and example scripts for each case study section.

DOWNLOAD GUIDE

What to read next

UX Case Study Example #1 plus free template

How to fill in the UX Portfolio Case Study template from scratch and I will use an example UX case study from my portfolio.

In my last article, I shared the free UX Portfolio Case Study template that I developed based on over 60 portfolios of successful design hires from Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Twitter, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Dropbox and the insights of top design recruiters.

We explored what recruiters look for in UX job applications/portfolios and then dived into successfully structuring any UX case study, even conceptual projects.

What you are going to learn

Today I wanted to go a step further and walk you through how to fill in the UX Portfolio Case Study template from scratch and I will use an example UX case study from my portfolio.

The core idea is to try to break down your case study creation process into a writing component and designing component so that you can tackle each one without getting stuck or overwhelmed.

The template ensures that your case study has a good narrative and understandable structure.

The UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for.

UX Portfolio Case Study template sections

Project Title & Subtitle (A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project)
Client/Company/Project type
Project date (When did you work on the project)
Your role (What you were responsible for on the project)
Project Summary/About this Project (An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results)
The challenge (What specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points that the project solves. Were there any technical constraints or business KPIs you had to keep in mind? Who are you users and what are their specific needs)
Solution (What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives?)
Results (Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt)

Let’s begin.

UX case study example 1

The project

The UX portfolio project I will use is one I did as a Senior Designer at a digital marketing agency. The brief was to create a responsive website/microsite for an annual financial publication for an Asset Management company.

Now let’s walk through each section of the UX Portfolio Case Study template and fill it in.

1. Project Title & Subtitle

Length: Project Title (1 line) & Subtitle (1–2 lines)

This one is pretty simple. I used the name we had for the project at the agency. It’s brief enough to fit any case study cover but does show the brand name, and the nature of the product, a journal. I added a sub-title to further explain what the heading means, and give more context around the project title.

2. Client/Company/Project type

Length:1 line

Unless stated in the title, this helps build more background to who the project was for. This was a commercial project for a client so I wrote the name of the client’s brand.

3. Project date/duration

Length:1 line

4. Your role

Length:1–2 lines

This is a section to state everything you did and were responsible for. Recruiters are looking to accurately assess your skills in the context of the entire project’s execution. I state that I was the Senior UX Designer on the project then note down all the activities I did on a high level, for the project over the course of several months.

5. Project Summary

Length: 1–2 paragraphs

6. The Challenge/Problem

Length: 2–3 paragraphs

7. The Solution

Length: As long as needed

8. Results

Length: 1 paragraph

Putting it together

This part is really up to you and how you tackle it, is going to depend on where you are going to host your UX case study. If you have a portfolio site you can use the template content on a site page and fill in the gaps with images and project artifacts.

How to enhance your UX Case Study

Key things that I always like to include in my case studies to make them more interactive and engaging:

A video or gif of the final product
A prototype
Brand imagery to create immersive narrative

UX Case Study Folder structure

I like to create a folder structure for housing everything I will need as follows.

RAW ( I collate screenshots of the final project, UI designs and wireframe exports in here)
Images (Relevant visual imagery that can be interlaced between project sections)
Videos (Optional. In most cases there won’t be one)
Behance submission (Final design exports for Behance upload)

Here are some of the final design screens with the text we filled out in the UX Portfolio Case Study template. Go to this link to view the full case study.

The intro has most of our UX case study sections covered in one go. Super important for recruiters without a lot of time.

The About and challenge sections come directly after that.

Then we can dive into the work. Here is a tiny bit of the Solution section showcasing a wireframe and UI design.

And lastly the results to round off the case study.

Here is the link to my portfolio and other UX case studies.

Calvin Pedzai on Behance
I conduct website and mobile app usability audits, heuristic evaluations, user journeys, competitor analysis, user…www.behance.net

If you would like to get down to work, download my UX Portfolio Case Study template for free. Its included with the Design Portfolio Layout Guide, which including 20 online case studies and example scripts for each case study section.

DOWNLOAD GUIDE

Axure vs Sketch: What’s the best prototyping tool for a UX Designer

Axure RP is a rapid prototyping design tool used to make highly interactive HTML prototypes. Sketch is a vector-based design tool widely used in the design industry to create visual designs and prototypes.

Continue reading “Axure vs Sketch: What’s the best prototyping tool for a UX Designer” »

Is Axure RP the best prototyping tool for a UX Designer?

Axure RP is a rapid prototyping design tool used to make highly interactive HTML prototypes. Axure has been around for a while and built a strong community that expands the tool’s capabilities through third-party widget libraries.

Continue reading “Is Axure RP the best prototyping tool for a UX Designer?” »

UX Designer salaries in the USA, UK, and India(2020 earnings)

Salary should never be the driving factor for getting into a field but it’s an important topic that definitely needs to be addressed.

How much does a UX designer earn? If you are just starting out, how much can you make as an entry-level junior UX designer?

The goal here is not to convince you to start a whole career because of how much you can make. That would be foolish because you might end up hating your job, being constantly under pressure, or in a dead-end job situation just for the money.

This is the reason I wrote two articles that I highly recommend you read before you get started in UX design. 8 Personality traits you need to be a great fit for UX Design role and secondly, what a UX Designer ACTUALLY does.

Is UX design a good fit for you? 8 personality traits you must have.
People who succeed in a UX design role have two things in common. Firstly, they enjoy what they do. Secondly, their…uxdesignmastery.com

What does a UX Designer ACTUALLY DO?(Explained using GIFS)
This second article in this series looks at breaking down some of the most common on-the-job UX Design activities you…uxdesignmastery.com

Remember, as long as you are really good at what you do, you will get paid really well regardless of the field you are in.

This article is to get you informed about the current UX Design salaries for the main purpose of salary discussions or when negotiating a promotion. The caveat is that you are not guaranteed to earn the amounts stated because it depends on your skills level, the company you join, and the location you might be working at.

Okay, now we got that out of the way.

Let’s talk about how much you could be making as a UX designer.

I am going to break this article down by three locations, the USA, UK, and India, the top-paying companies in those locations and we will explore junior and senior-level salaries. These salaries are the average total compensation including bonuses, overtime pay, and based on stats provided by Payscale.

Let’s begin.

UX Designer salary US in 2020

Entry-level and less than a year: $62,558 based on 311 salaries

Early UX Designer career 1–4 years: $71,258 based on 3,794 salaries

Mid-level to Senior UX Designer 5–9 years: $83,519 based on 1,207 salaries

Senior UX Designer 10–19 years: $94,893 based on 488 salaries

The average salary for a UX Designer in the US is $73,999.

I know. That’s a lot of money but it makes sense considering the biggest tech companies are based in the US and how the UX field directly contributes to a company’s bottom line.

Looking at some of the cities that a UX Designer can earn above the national average, San Francisco, California leads the way with one being able to make 31% more than the national average salary.

UX Designers earn the most in San Francisco

San Francisco, California 32% more than the national average

Seattle, Washington 13% more than the national average

New York, New York 7% than the national average

Los Angeles, California 3% than the national average

Austin, Texas 2% than the national average

Boston, Massachusetts is at the national average

Chicago, Illinois 5% less than the national average

Now let’s take a look at some of the highest paying companies for UX Designer roles. The majority are tech companies.

Popular Employer Salaries for UX Designer in the US

Google, Inc. $123k

Amazon.com Inc $116k

Microsoft Corp $113k

International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. $86k

The Walt Disney Company $84k

Accenture $82k

Capital One Financial Corp $80k

Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. $54k

UX Designer salary UK in 2020

Entry-level UX Designer less than a year: £26,068 based on 34 salaries

Early UX Designer career 1–4 years: £30,343 based on 532 salaries

Mid-level to Senior UX Designer 5–9 years: £39,077 based on 173 salaries

Senior UX Designer 10–19 years: £43,028 based on 79 salaries

The average salary for a UX Designer in the UK is £31,577

Looking at some of the cities that a UX Designer can earn above the national average, Cambridge, England leads the way with one being able to make 14.6% more than the national average salary.

Cambridge, England: Cambridgeshire 15% more than the national average
London, England: London 14% more than the national average
Manchester, England: Manchester 6% less than the national average
Bristol, England: Bristol 10% less than the national average
Glasgow, Scotland: Glasgow 12% less than the national average
Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh 17% less than the national average

Now let’s take a look at how much some companies pay for UX Designer roles.

Popular Employer Salaries for UX Designer in the UK

UCAS £31k
Moneysupermarket.com £25k

UX designer salary in India in 2020

Entry-level UX Designer less than a year: ₹441,375 based on 33 salaries

Early UX Designer career 1–4 years: ₹601,001 based on 275 salaries

Mid-level to Senior UX Designer 5–9 years: ₹973,296 based on 113 salaries

Senior UX Designer 10–19 years: ₹1,285,470 based on 49 salaries

The average salary for a UX Designer in India is ₹695,863

Looking at some of the cities that a UX Designer can earn above the national average, Bangalore, Karnataka leads the way with one being able to make a massive 37.7% more than the national average salary.

Bangalore, Karnataka 38% more than the national average
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 4% more than the national average
New Delhi, Delhi 1% more than the national average
Mumbai, Maharashtra 9% less than the national average
Delhi, Delhi 15% less than the national average
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 21% less than the national average
Pune, Maharashtra 26% less than the national average

Now let’s take a look at how much some companies pay for UX Designer roles.

Popular Employer Salaries for UX Designer in India

Accenture ₹1m
SAP Labs India ₹1m
Tata Consultancy Services Limited ₹924k
InfoSys Limited ₹720k
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp ₹713k

If you are convinced UX Design might be the career for you, I have design exercises that will help you start putting together a portfolio of well thought out case studies without actual work experience.

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #1 Blog Website
One of the hardest things to do when starting your design career is to create a design portfolio of impressive work…uxdesignmastery.com

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #2: eCommerce site
One of the greatest challenges with transitioning into a UX/UI design role without any design work experience or…uxdesignmastery.com

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #3: Travel App
This practice project/Client brief is the third one in this series from UX Design Mastery after the one for a Blog…uxdesignmastery.com

UX/UI projects for beginners #4: Agency website
This is the fourth design portfolio project for UI and UX designers. A detailed client brief that is time-boxed…uxdesignmastery.com

UX/UI projects for beginners #4: Agency website

This is the fourth design portfolio project for UI and UX designers. A detailed client brief that is time-boxed, detailed, and crafted to give you a hands-on experience of doing a real project. Each portfolio project is meant to help you create work you can add to your portfolio.

The other projects in the series from UX Design Mastery

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #1 Blog Website

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #2: eCommerce site

UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #3: Travel App

A little about me

My first job in design was for a small design agency as the Lead UX/UI designer.

I met the CEO over coffee for my interview and he hired me on the spot and asked me to name my salary.

That totally took me by surprise because it meant I had successfully transitioned from being a Java Developer to being headhunted for a design role within a year. He had pointed to the fact that my portfolio had demonstrated enough creative potential to get the job done rather than work experience.

You see, I had not done an internship, gone to a design school, or worked in a design company but I still had great portfolio projects that I had conceptualized from nothing. The design projects were detailed, tackled a real problem, and demonstrated my design process and design skills.

The same thing could happen to you. I was fortunate that I had practiced my design skills to the point that someone could see the value I could bring to their company.

A key takeaway is I had designed solutions to projects aligned with what I actually wanted to do on the job.

So if you want to work for an agency do a number of campaign projects. If you want to work for an app development house, do a number of mobile app designs. Treat all your conceptual projects as gateways to where you want to be. This is what these design projects are for.

Today’s project is to create a responsive agency website for desktop and mobile.

About Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

Included in each design brief is the following:

Timeline (For this to be realistic each brief has a timeline that is as close to real-world work as possible)
Objectives (What is REQUIRED by the client. This part usually trips designers up as they go off designing what is not required)
Platform(Where your designs will live. Understanding these platforms will give a well-considered solution)
Target audience (Users always come first and the design must accommodate the target audience’s pain points)
References (If you are not sure where to start, clients normally give a set of examples or references they like. The closer the design solution is to the references, the fewer revisions a designer will have to do)
Deliverables (Most importantly how the solution should be delivered. These represent what a well-detailed portfolio case study looks like so hit it out of the park)
Recruiter advice (Portfolio advice from creative directors, CEOs and leading design creatives from the biggest companies)

Let’s get into it.

This time we look at an agency website project.

UX UI Design Portfolio Project 4: Designing an Agency website

Client
Choose any design agency brand of your liking

Timeline
2–3 weeks

Objectives

Create a responsive website that allows an agency to:
• Market who they are, what they do and what they stand for
• Showcase their work case studies and awards they have won
• Contacted by potential clients
• List available positions and receive job applications

Platform

Please design a design agency website for desktop (1200px wide and mobile view 365px wide)

Limitations/Specifications

The site must load quickly hence any interactions or large imagery must be kept to a minimum.

Target Audience

Deliverables

Compile a case study on Behance(Get a free account) laid out like this; Name of project, date, your role, project type(Concept)
• Research: (Refer to the References provided)
• Highlight 3 enhancements or unique features you have included in the solution that makes the site unique and allows it to stand out from other design agencies
• Sketch of conceptual and initial ideas
• Wireframes and prototype of
⁃ Homepage with work, values, team, and contact us calls to action
⁃ Our work with filter by industry, date, and awards
⁃ About us with values and team bio
⁃ Contact us with a map and form
⁃ Careers with a culture section and application form

These should be both desktop and mobile screens

• Testing and Results section: Show your wireframes to 5 people and ask them using your designs what they think about them, what they would improve, and an overall rating. Take their feedback, iterate the designs, and have a final round of testing with 5 users. See that you improve your overall rating. If not go back to the drawing board and change your designs and retest.

References

References that the company would like their website to follow in terms of structure and layout. It will be your job to replicate something close to these websites but add your creative flair to it.

Advice from recruiters

I don’t want to see every piece of work that you have ever done. Pick your favorite pieces. It doesn’t need to be for the most famous or biggest clients as long as you are proud of it and want to talk about it.
I would like to see more personal projects in portfolios. The work that you did in the best of conditions and with full artistic freedom

We want to see work that is consistently good. The best portfolios take a well-rounded and curated approach to showing work. Ideally, we’d see a handful of solid logos, examples of web design, examples of illustration, and some editorial work.
They should briefly describe the work and the particular role they played. We get a little nervous when someone’s portfolio includes a lot of team projects. We want to clearly understand someone’s strengths and weaknesses before we hire them.

Telling the story of your work — how it all relates, why it’s important — matters. Additionally, it’s important for designers to show that they understand the goals of their work and that those goals touch on both user and business needs. A pet peeve of mine is when there really isn’t a good reason behind the work, or the designer doesn’t show any interest in or understanding of its impact on the business or user.

If you would like a portfolio project PDF of this design project along with other projects you can download it below. Included is a portfolio project layout template that outlines how to present your project your final case study.

What does a UX Designer ACTUALLY DO?(Explained using GIFS)

My goal is to help you decide if a UX career is something you REALLY want to pursue without investing too much time and money upfront. You might be looking to transition from a different field into UX design but don’t have the work experience or relevant educational background.

Well, I am glad you are here.

A UX designer does a range of activities. From presenting solutions, analyzing tasks and activities, building prototypes & wireframes, gathering requirements, specifying interaction design to conducting usability studies.

In case you have not read it, the first article in this series on getting started in UX Design, was a personality checklist on whether UX would be a good fit for you.

I believe your personality has a huge say on how successful you will be in your career. The more aligned your personality is to what you do, the easier it will be to continuously learn the craft and execute it at a very high level.

On to the next checkpoint.

What does a UX Designer ACTUALLY do?

The second article in this series looks at breaking down some of the most common on-the-job UX design activities you must be prepared to do to be successful in a UX role. Obviously, some of the UX activities will vary depending on what sort of company you will join (agency, software development company, etc), your UX project budget, how big the team is, and how much time you have on a project.

Fortunately, these UX activities are taken from a study of over 1000 UX professionals conducted by the Nielsen Norman group. So you will get a general but realistic overview of UX work.

So let’s get started.

1. Presenting solutions/concepts

As a UX designer, you will be required to communicate your ideas and design solutions verbally, on paper, in a slide presentation, in a written document, as annotations, as a wireframe, and as a prototype.

It sounds straight forward but what a lot of designers don’t realize is how unclear communication can result in your solution being completely misunderstood by clients, developers, or project stakeholders.

Here are some quick tips that I personally use in order to communicate effectively when presenting design solutions:

– Explain the problem — what is the background or context to the solution being presented and why is it important
– Try to tell a story or scenario around the solution that will better explain what is being presented
– Explicitly ask if everyone understands to make sure your audience is on the same page and no one is lagging behind
– Intentionally pause. Don’t rush through your presentation but create moments that encourage feedback and questions
– Repeat any feedback you receive. This will help ensure everyone understands what changes will be made.

2. Persuading others

Every now and again you will be required to defend your design decisions to a client, your team, or a product owner. A lot of designers find it hard to justify their design decisions because they, unfortunately, approach design as an art. You looking to create the coolest interface which is beautifully designed. Though that might sound reasonable, it not the best approach. You will end up frustratingly scaling back your design to something more pragmatic or arguing about subjective things like color and imagery.

A better approach to persuading colleagues about a design approach is to test it with real users or back it up with research data. Find out what the target user group thinks about your design, make changes, and bring that into your design presentation.

3. Analyzing task or activities

An important part of the research phase of a project is to immerse yourself in what your user is trying to achieve. This is done by breaking down the project into key activities/tasks that you require the target user to perform. An analysis of the current state of those activities is needed to understand the pain points and opportunities that exist and should be addressed.

Some of the most common ways I use to analyze a task is to:
– Gather and interpret analytical data from Google analytics or heatmaps
– Run an audit and perform the task yourself
– Watch a real end-user perform the task

4. Building prototypes and wireframes

Probably the most well known and often overemphasized UX activity. I do enjoy this part but I always create low fidelity deliverables that focus on user flows and functionality. I don’t want to spend time thinking about fonts, icons, colors, and imagery. I am fortunate to work with a UI designer so I definitely don’t have to worry about that part. Though important in the presentation of your solution, wireframing and prototyping builds upon key insights discovered in the research/discovery phase of the project.

When we look at the full project timeline as a UX designer, you will probably spend more time researching and testing than crafting a beautiful prototype. The key here is not to produce polished designs but is to rapidly illustrate your ideas clearly enough for a UI designer/developer to understand and work from.

5. Collaborating with subject matter experts

As a UX Designer, you have to work with others on topics you might not have any experience in. For instance, you may be asked to redesign an investment banking workflow but not have any financial experience. It will be up to you to seek out this information from experts and end-users involved with that field through whiteboard sessions, UX design workshops, interviews, and on-the-job walk-throughs. You must approach each project as a novice and be willing to learn from others.

6. Gathering requirements

This activity ties into the collaboration with subject matter experts. At the start of a project, you will be required to gather as much information about the problem you are trying to solve in order to tackle it effectively.

You can go about this through
– Interviews
– Surveys
– Analytical data
– Testing sessions
– Audit
– UX Design workshops

7. Specifying interaction design

When creating prototypes, you will be called upon as a UX Designer to specify the actual interactions a user will encounter. Depending on the size of your design team, this could possibly be done by someone with more expertise in micro-interactions and animation and your role in that setting is to ensure the interactions add and not detract from what the user is attempting to do.

A great way to learn is by
– Finding inspiration online (Google “micro-interaction” or “web animation”)
– Learning an animation tool
– Recreate interactions you find using the animation tool

8. Conducting in-person usability study

Running an in-person usability study is probably one of the key skills a UX designer should master. It requires one to be organized, comfortable with guiding the user, asking the right questions, ability to adjust based on the user responses, and keeping silent when necessary.

One must be able to watch the time but make sure to get the insights they need for their project research. Lastly, wrap up the session well by asking the participant to do a post-questionnaire, and thanking them for their time.

9. Making storyboards, user journeys, and Information Architecture

All the research, data, findings, and ideas can be translated into artifacts that help stakeholders, clients, and developers better understand what needs to be built. Storyboards outline how a user’s story will unfold shot by shot, for the purpose of pre-visualizing interactions.

User journeys are a series of steps a user goes through to accomplish a task while Information Architecture is the design of data in a way that makes it easy to build for developers and navigate for users.

10. Conducting design review/heuristic evaluation

This involves personally running through a website or application and marking it against heuristics or best practices. This helps uncover existing problem areas and identify opportunities for improvement. Issues that are identified are categorized into high, medium and low levels of priority for resolving. To be able to run such an evaluation one has to be well versed with best practices and key user goals.

Bonus activity: Review data from analytics

Quantitative data is very useful in understanding what users are currently doing. From it, you can establish conversion rates, understand page performance, and uncover themes/patterns. Therefore learning a tool like Google Analytics will level-up your research skills drastically.

In conclusion

As you can see, the UX role is multi-faceted but it’s important to know when starting out as a junior you won’t be expected to do all these activities alone. Also depending on the size of the company and project budget, you may only be able to perform a subset of these activities.

Personally, I have done all these activities as a Senior Designer and employ them quite frequently on every project.

If you really enjoyed this article as much as I enjoyed creating it, show your love, share it, make it clap and leave a comment on which activities you do the most.

UX Portfolio Case Study template (plus examples from successful hires)

Your portfolio is the most critical piece of the puzzle when it comes to selling your design skills to recruiters and clients. It’s the single most vital component of any design career move you will ever make.

A UX case study is a detailed but summarized presentation of a design project, its goals and objectives, the research methods used, the process to find a solution and the results achieved.

I hope to share with you a UX portfolio Case Study template for making your portfolio simpler and less overwhelming with the aim of getting you a job interview and potentially a higher paying job. I happen to have stumbled upon it through trial and error but it has resulted in me being headhunted for my last three Senior roles in UX at two agencies and a product company.

But first let’s start at the beginning.

When I was trying to design my portfolio, I used to spend countless hours digging up relevant work from past projects, downloading a ton of device mockups, and implementing every tactic from articles on portfolios that you can find.

The problem with that was it had been months and I was still not done. Every little inspiration I found, seemed to demand a new version. I also was not getting any interviews for the job I had applied for.

How long should a portfolio case study be? What should I include? I felt stuck and overwhelmed by every single detail.

The worst part was, I was not even sure if what I had was good enough to get an interview, let alone a job.

You know.

That queasy, gut-twisting anxiety in the pit of your stomach won’t go away no matter how much you tweak your portfolio.

By spending time studying other design portfolios of not just every designer but successful hires, I was finally able to come up with a system that covered what recruiters actually wanted to see.

Why the structure of a case study is important

Recruiters spend a short amount of time on each candidate’s portfolio, scanning for information in the case studies that relates to the role’s skills and responsibilities.

To stress how each important your case study detail and layout is, let’s look at how two recruiter personas who have different business needs might look at the information provided in a designer’s case study.

Recruiter 1

Peter

CEO
Works at small mobile app company, limited staff.
Results orientated, only has 5 minutes to look through a portfolio.
Looking for a freelancer/part-time designer.

A quick view of a candidate’s case study should answer:
– Is their work relevant to what we do?
– How much work did they do on a project
– Can they work unsupervised?
– Have they seen a project through to launch?

Recruiter 2

Dan

Creative Director
Looking for a full-time designer
Works for a large agency.
Leads and supervises the design team.
Process orientated, has time for a detailed case study.

A quick view of a candidate’s case study should answer
– Is their work relevant to what we do?
– Is this their most recent work and skills level
– Do they understand what problem they were solving (big-picture thinking)
-Did the solution solve the problem they sort out to address

These two recruiters require different forms of information and detail from your case study. It is up to you to make sure the case studies you create cover what they are looking for in order to land interviews.

Don’t just put a portfolio case study together and hope it will be good enough.

The secret to a portfolio case study that can get you an interview and explode your career opportunities lies in a creation process that is aligned with your audience’s needs.

That’s why I want to share with you this UX Portfolio Case Study template from UX Design Mastery. It is based on over 60 portfolios of successful design hires from Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Twitter, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Dropbox and the insights of top design recruiters.

How do you write a UX case study

The core idea is to try to break down your case study creation process into a writing component and designing component so that you can tackle each one without getting stuck or overwhelmed.

This template is meant to help outline all the text that is going to be in your case study that recruiters/clients are looking for.

This ensures that your case study has a good narrative and understandable structure. This also allows you to plan more effectively what design artifacts you will need in your case study. It’s a system by which you can rapidly roll out multiple case studies without forgetting anything that’s relevant to a recruiter or client.

The UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for.

UX Portfolio Case Study template

Project Title & Subtitle (A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project)
Client/Company/Project type
Project date (When did you work on the project)
Your role (What you were responsible for on the project)
Project Summary/About this Project (An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results)
The challenge (What specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points that the project solves. Were there any technical constraints or business KPIs you had to keep in mind? Who are you users and what are their specific needs)
Solution (What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives?)
Results (Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt)

Let’s look at these sections in detail, roughly how long each one should be and share some real life examples from successful hires.

Project Title & Subtitle

Length: Project Title (1 line) & Subtitle (1–2 lines)

A short concise headline that couples the name of the brand/application/client and goal of the project. A lot of designers tend to rush the naming of their project but it is crucial in capturing the attention of its reader. It is the first thing a recruiter is going to read to decide whether or not to carry on reading your UX case study. Make sure it is clear, understandable, and does not use technical jargon. The subtitle is optional but a great way to build more context around the Project title.

Client/Company/Project type

Length:1 line

Unless stated in the title, this helps build more background to who the project was for. If the project was not a commercial project for a client or brand, this is where you can state that it was a conceptual project, a design challenge, or a practice project.

Project date/duration

Length:1 line

Your role

Length:1–2 lines

This is a section to state everything you did and were responsible for. Recruiters are looking to accurately assess your skills in the context of the entire project’s execution. Did you work with a team, did you work unsupervised to create the project deliverables. Recruiters can make an informed decision about whether you will need help on the job or hit the ground running.

Project Summary

Length: 1–2 paragraphs

That covers the introductory part of your case study. Now we get to the body of the case study.

The Challenge/Problem

Length: 2–3 paragraphs

This section specifically looks at the problems the project is trying to address. What are the business requirements, user needs, pain points that the project solves? Who are the end-users and core target market? What platforms was the project for and where there any technical constraints or business KPIs you had to keep in mind?

The Solution

Length: As long as needed

This section is going to be the longest as it showcases how the project goals where achieved. Firstly, outline the design process steps and methods followed during the project outlines the layout of this section. Show your overall project steps, why you chose the methods you used, Recruiters want to see all the relevant design artifacts that you produced from sketches to visual mockups to prototypes.

Here are some examples for showing the overall process:

Other deliverables that you can show:

Personas
Sketches
Interview notes
Usability tests results
Whiteboards
Wireframes
UI designs
Prototypes

Results

Length: 1 paragraph

The critical last section concludes the case study by outlining any project success metrics that were achieved, awards that were won. In the case of a project that is not live, reflections and the project’s next steps are sufficient to round up the case study. Try to share any lessons that you learned to demonstrate you are invested in both the project’s life cycle and your career development.