Get started with a career in UX Design
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”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.
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 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.
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.
| 1. Project Title & Subtitle | A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project |
| 2. Client/Company/Project type | Who was the project for |
| 3. Project date | When did you work on the project |
| 4. Your role | What you were responsible for on the project |
| 5. Project Summary/About this Project | An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results |
| 6. 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 |
| 7. Solution | What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives? |
| 8. Results | Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Key things that I always like to include in my case studies to make them more interactive and engaging:
I like to create a folder structure for housing everything I will need as follows.
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.
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.
How to fill in the UX Portfolio Case Study template from scratch and I will use an example UX case study from my portfolio.Read more
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, […]Read more
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.
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.
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.
The UX Portfolio Case Study template has 8 critical sections that recruiters are looking for.
| 1. Project Title & Subtitle | A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project |
| 2. Client/Company/Project type | Who was the project for |
| 3. Project date | When did you work on the project |
| 4. Your role | What you were responsible for on the project |
| 5. Project Summary/About this Project | An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results |
| 6. 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 |
| 7. Solution | What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives? |
| 8. Results | Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt |
Let’s begin.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 addresses how we would know we had done a good job.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 then just upload the images.
Key things that I always like to include in my case studies to make them more interactive and engaging:
I like to create a folder structure for housing everything I will need as follows.
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.
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.
What to read next:
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…Read more
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, […]Read more
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
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.
Included in each design brief is the following:
This time we look at an agency website project.
Client
Choose any design agency brand of your liking
Timeline
2–3 weeks
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
Please design a design agency website for desktop (1200px wide and mobile view 365px wide)
The site must load quickly hence any interactions or large imagery must be kept to a minimum.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
| 1. Project Title & Subtitle | A headline and subtitle that indicates the name and goal of the project |
| 2. Client/Company/Project type | Who was the project for |
| 3. Project date | When did you work on the project |
| 4. Your role | What you were responsible for on the project |
| 5. Project Summary/About this Project | An overview that summarizes the project, goal and results |
| 6. 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 |
| 7. Solution | What method/process were used to solve specific problem, user needs, business requirements and/or pain points? How did features address the objectives? |
| 8. Results | Project success metrics, awards, reflections, project next steps and/or lessons learnt |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Usually the first two. If nothing stands out or if the work is unclear then they will quickly move on.
That covers the introductory part of your case study. Now we get to the body of the case study.
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?
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. Secondly, show how the project evolved through reviews and user feedback. I have put together a table that will hopefully guide your storytelling around each design deliverable. For each one speak on how the work evolved, was iterated on, or revised based on testing and stakeholder input.
Here are some examples for showing the overall process:
Length: 1 paragraph
The critical last section concludes the case study by outlining any project success metrics that were achieved, awards that were won. Here are some example results that one commonly finds in a design portfolio and how you can phrase it.
| Result Type | Example Impact |
|---|---|
| Improved Task Completion | Task success rate increased from 65% to 92% after redesign. |
| Reduced Drop-off | Checkout drop-off decreased by 30% after simplifying the form flow. |
| Increased Engagement | 40% more users interacted with the feature after UI overhaul. |
| Faster Task Performance | Average time to complete task reduced from 3 min to 1.5 min. |
| User Satisfaction Boost | CSAT score increased from 3.2 to 4.5 post-launch. |
| Error Reduction | 70% fewer user input errors after redesigning form validation. |
| Revenue Uplift | 15% increase in conversions after improving product detail pages. |
| Support Load Decrease | 25% drop in support tickets related to account setup after UX improvements. |
| Mobile Optimization Gains | Bounce rate on mobile dropped by 18% after responsive redesign. |
| Developer Handoff Speed | Reduced back-and-forth in dev handoff by 50% using component-based design. |
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.
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.
How to fill in the UX Portfolio Case Study template from scratch and I will use an example UX case study from my portfolio.Read more
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…Read more
This practice project/Client brief is the third one in this series from UX Design Mastery after the one for a Blog website and an eCommerce project.
Design Portfolio Projects
Design Portfolio Projects
Included in each design brief is the following:
Creating a portfolio project is hard work.
I still remember when I did not have a single project in my portfolio that would really make me stand out and get noticed by recruiters.
I had just left my job as a Java Developer and was about to put all my effort into starting a design career.
One of the very first successful projects I created was a conceptual mobile app for a local airline. I had recently been on a trip which was frustratingly delayed and poorly communicated to passengers.
So I decided to creatively express my opinions through a conceptual project and it was responsible for me getting hired for my first design job.
Its also my most appreciated project .
I hope this travel app project you work on, provides you with as many opportunities as I have received.
Client: Choose any travel brand of your liking
Timeline: 1–2 Weeks
Objectives
Create a mobile app design that can:
• Allow a user to book a flight, a hotel and car on a specific date for different destinations
• Find the best deals on flights, hotels and car hires
• Ability to select holiday activities
• Organize all travel plans into one itinerary
• Notifications
Platform
Please design a travel app for either iOS or Android. So we require mobile screens. Pay attention to
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
Target Audience
References
Please conduct some research on the following travel apps that we love and get ideas for functionality and features to include
Deliverables
• Research (refer to references provided)
• Highlight 3 enhancements or unique features you have included to make our app stand out and solve user pain points
• Sketches of initial ideas
• Wireframes
• Visual mockups screens of
⁃ App Onboarding
⁃ Home screen where a user can book a Hotel, a Flight, a Car or an activity in a popular city
⁃ Listing page of Hotels
⁃ Map view showing hotels location
⁃ Itinerary screen
⁃ Possible notifications
• Results section: Feedback from testing with 5 random people
• Fonts: Brand related
• Colors: Brand related
• Link to this project
Nice to have
Video walkthrough (Screen record using QuickTime an Invision prototype interacation)
Pro-tip
Go through an entire booking experience to understand how the app is design.
Advice from recruiters
I wish more portfolio websites included little descriptions of what the designer’s role was in a specific project, or even pointed out some specific problems or personal thoughts about aspects of their designs. Too many portfolios now are just vanity shots and client name-dropping without actually communicating what was done.
James Cabrera, Senior Product Designer, Refinery29
Going the extra mile and making sure it’s easy to consume, well-presented, and filled with helpful context about your projects tells us a lot about your communication skills. Ideally a portfolio should be more than just a collection of pretty thumbnails and mockups — it should speak to your problem solving skills.
Ryan Le Roux, Metalab
If you’re just starting out as a designer, a good alternative to unsolicited redesigns are personal projects. These self-initiated projects are a great way to build up your design and product skills, while also putting something out into the world for people to use. You’ll learn a ton from the experience of launching something and the feedback you’ll get from your users will definitely make you a better designer.
Elyse Viotto, Shopify
If you are interested in ting the PDF download of the travel app project and all my extra example case studies download below.
One of the greatest challenges with transitioning into a UX/UI design role without any design work experience or educational background is proving your skills to a prospective recruiter or client.
This is the s project in the series after UX/UI portfolio projects for beginners #1 Blog Website
You may have already read up online on how to become a UX designer or a UI Designer but unfortunately you still have a vague or generic guide that comprises of:
The truth of matter is that you will need a portfolio with detailed design projects that effectively communicates to recruiters and clients that you are the right person to hire.
But such design projects are few and hard to come by unless you intern with a really good company that has cool projects.
Most unsolicited redesigns and Dribbble shots lack technical feasibility and real world constraints to be taken seriously.
So what can you do to address this problem?
My own journey into design from being a Java Developer was a challenging one when it came to creating a portfolio recruiters would take notice of.
I did not know what projects to put into a portfolio. Mobile, Desktop or app designs?
What level of detail did recruiters want to see from my work?
And just generally were to begin.
I am going to share with you two things worked for me and helped me get started.
I did not get a massive following of designers on Behance but what I did have was a collection of about 6 well thought out projects that helped me sell my skills. Calvin Pedzai on Behance
I
These projects got me headhunted by a digital design company who were impressed by the types of projects and the level of detail.
Each design project related to what the design companies were looking for and hiring me was a no brainer despite the level of experience.
To help you get the same opportunities and create a well-rounded portfolio, I decided to create a series of detailed briefs or practice projects that you can use.
Included in each design brief is the following:
This practice project/Client brief is the second one in this series after the one for a Blog website.
This time we look at an eCommerce website project.
I decided to design a solution for this brief as well so you can check out what I produced in about a week and a half, after hours.
Client
Choose any clothing brand of your liking
Timeline
2–3 weeks
Create a responsive eCommerce website that can:
• Tell the brand’s story alongside the products (VERY IMPORTANT)
• Showcase the latest products and bestsellers on Homepage
• Access to the cart throughout the site
• Show all category sections
• Allow readers to sign for an account
• Ability to Search through content
• Immerse the user into the ethos of the brand
Please design for responsive web. So we require desktop screens, tablet and mobile screens.
Limitations/Specifications
• Page performance (Loading time)
• Limited Screen size on mobile
Young males and females 25 to 35
Blake, 31
PAIN POINT
Faster way of discovering products when searching.
Sarah, 26
PAIN POINT
Can I change the quantity of the products I add to cart?
Crystal, 28
PAIN POINT
How do I know these products are worth purchasing and reliable?
Please conduct some research on the following eCommerce websites that we love and get ideas for features to include
-Homepage
⁃ Category page with filters
⁃ Product detail page
⁃ Menu/Search
⁃ Cart
Video walk-through (Screen record an Invision prototype)
Go through an entire shopping experience offline and online to understand how products are sold.
Sketches, wireframes, unused design concepts, etc. That is the work. The final design is just the end of that entire design process. Getting to see that thinking and decision making is a big differentiating factor when deciding on who to hire.
Aaron Stump, VP, Creative Director Invision
Imagine us sitting in our weekly meeting room at 5 p.m., the last meeting before home time. We open up your portfolio and see several screenshots of mobile interfaces under a project name. The work seems relevant but there’s no description of what we’re looking at. We don’t know what you did, what the goal was or how you feel about it. We’re left with questions and move on to the next portfolio. Never forget your user.
Stanley Wood, Spotify
A more effective use of time would be explaining how a project solved a client’s problem, how designs were changed based on client feedback, and anything they wished they could have done but couldn’t, for whatever reason. Those stories are far more useful and interesting than someone trying to sell their talent.
Todd Dominey, Mailchimp
If you would you like a PDF of this design project you can download it below. Included are 2 additional eCommerce case studies and 5 online examples that you refer to from the best agencies and design companies in the world.
One of the hardest things to do when starting your design career is to create a design portfolio of impressive work.
But many have not had any substantial design work experience and the UX/UI projects they have done, are not worth putting up.
The Dribbble portfolio work they have is beautiful but often not technically feasible and has not enough real-world constraints for the work to be considered industry standard.
How do you start a design career without work experience or a college degree?
What level of detail is best to provide in a user experience designer portfolio?
How do you build a UI design portfolio?
Well, I’m glad you asked.
At UX Design Mastery, we have created a simple and not overly complicated series of portfolio projects or practice projects, that will test your skills and help you create a well rounded UX/UI portfolio project that a recruiter will definitely take notice of.
Included in each portfolio project is a client brief that has the following:
When I started out in design, I had no portfolio projects or commercial experience because I had not been to a design school, let alone worked for a design company. I was coming from a technical background (software developer) but knew design was a passion because of a part time design job I did for a real estate company.
It was the most alive I had felt doing work.
You know what I mean.
When you get into the zone and can’t do anything else but DESIGN.
However I never fully considered it as a potential career at the time, until I left my developer job.
I decided to create a portfolio of conceptual work that would not only showcase my skills to potential recruiters but also help me track my growth.
In total I must have done 12 projects.
I would research on forums and help boards for reoccurring problems real people were complaining about and try to design an appropriate solution.
That gave each project, real world constraints and limitations that recruiters absolutely loved.
It was not long after I posted my portfolio that I got headhunted.
Repeatedly.
Without a degree or work experience. Woah.
But well thought out detailed portfolio projects.
I hope these portfolio projects do the same for you.
If you are ready to create some awesome work, let’s begin!!
Advice Quotes: (A few things to consider from recruiters)
We don’t want work that simply copies everything else. Our clients come to us to help them meaningfully resonate and differentiate. That means that we need to be on the bleeding edge of what is relevant, inspiring and thought-provoking.
Karin Soukup, Managing Partner, Collins
On a good/bad day I look at maybe 20–30 portfolios. Most of the time for maybe five seconds before I decide if it’s worth exploring further. So my first recommendation would be to make sure you grab the audience straight away. Show me something great and/or unexpected. Ideally both.
Haraldur Thorleifsson, CEO, Ueno
Show me how you’ve gone from insight, to concept, to solution, to impact with a real project example. That will help me understand how you work and think, and assure us you can do it again.
Katie Dill is Director of Experience Design at Airbnb
Client:
Name: Vibz
Fonts: Use any you like
Colors: Use any you like
2 weeks to 4 weeks
We would like a unique blog website that can:
Platform
Please design for responsive web. So we require desktop screens as well as mobile screens.
Limitations
Page performance (Loading time)
Limited Screen size on mobile
Target audience
Young males 25 to 35
Pain points
Searching for inspiration about lifestyle, health, news, music, movies and gadgets (Our category sections)
Get bored with uninspiring content
Hate having to return to websites to check for new articles
Please conduct some research on the following blogs we love and get ideas to include
Nice to have
Video walkthrough (Screen record an Invision prototype)
Additional message from client
Make it pop!!!
If you are still unsure about where to start I have a couple of very cool blogs done by the best agencies and design companies in the world.
Here are two case studies for you to analyze:
Here are other awesome example blogs:
The Awwwards site is great source of inspiration. Make sure to bookmark it and visit it often.
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/coda-story
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/oceanographic
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/the-official-squarespace-blog
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/vogue-arabia
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/sojournal
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/ubisoft-stories
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/caleo-magazine
https://www.awwwards.com/sites/disconnect
Go through them and find features you think will work for this brief.
Download the PDF version of this post so you can work through it.
