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.

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 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.

UX Portfolio Case Study template

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

6. 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?

7. 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. 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.

Deliverable	Storytelling tips
Personas	Describe what data personas were based on, incorporating real quotes and behaviors to humanize user data
Sketches	Share the evolution of ideas through sketches, highlighting how initial concepts addressed specific user needs or problems.
Interview Notes	Present compelling user quotes and stories that reveal underlying needs or pain points, setting the stage for design decisions.
Usability Test Results	Tell the story of a user’s interaction, focusing on challenges faced and how design iterations improved their experience.
Whiteboards	Describe collaborative sessions, capturing the dynamic process of brainstorming and decision-making that led to design insights.
Wireframes	Explain how wireframes translated user needs into structured layouts, and how feedback informed subsequent iterations.
UI Designs	Discuss how visual elements align with user expectations and brand identity, enhancing usability and engagement.
Prototypes	Share scenarios where prototypes enabled user testing and feedback, leading to refinements that improved the final product.
Site Maps	Describe how the site map evolved to improve navigation and user flow, addressing specific usability challenges.
User Journeys	Walk through a user’s experience step-by-step, highlighting emotions and touchpoints that influenced design decisions.

Here are some examples for showing the overall process:

8. 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. 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.

What you can do next

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

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.Read more

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…Read more

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 website and an eCommerce project.

Design Portfolio Projects

Blog website

Design Portfolio Projects

eCommerce

Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

Included in each design brief is the following:

Objectives (What is REQUIRED by the client. This part usually trips designers up as they go off designing what is not required)
Timeline (For this to be realistic each brief has a timeline that is as close to real-world work as possible)
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)

A little about me

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.

Let’s get into it

Design Portfolio Project 3: Travel App

Client Brief

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

https://itunes.apple.com/za/app/kayak-flights-hotels-cars/id305204535?mt=8

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/expedia-hotels-flights-car/id427916203?mt=8

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.

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 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:

Doing an internship
Mentorship
Reading books
Doing courses
Learning design tools
Going to meet-ups

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?

A little about me

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.

Looking at other designers work. I was a member of Behance community and would spend hours going through the most popular projects, most awarded projects and how they were structured.
Creating detailed design projects of problems I found on forums and in the news.

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.

Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

Included in each design brief is the following:

Recruiter advice (Portfolio advice from creative directors, CEOs and leading design creatives from the biggest companies)
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)

This practice project/Client brief is the second one in this series after the one for a Blog website.

Lets get into it

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.

Design Portfolio Project 2: Ecommerce website

Client
Choose any clothing brand of your liking

Timeline
2–3 weeks

Objectives

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

Platform

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

Target audience

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?

References

Please conduct some research on the following eCommerce websites that we love and get ideas for features to include

Deliverables

Research (refer to references provided)
Highlight 3 enhancements or unique features you have included to make our eCommerce site to stand out and solve user pain points
Sketches of initial ideas
Wireframes
Visual mockups on desktop and mobile of the

-Homepage
⁃ Category page with filters
⁃ Product detail page
⁃ Menu/Search
⁃ Cart

Results section: Feedback from testing with 5 random people
Fonts: Brand related
Colors: Brand related
Link to this project

Nice to haves

Video walk-through (Screen record an Invision prototype)

Additional message from client

Go through an entire shopping experience offline and online to understand how products are sold.

Advice from recruiters

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

More Inspiration (Your cheat guide)

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.

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.

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.

A good portfolio is made up of relevant, well considered detailed design projects.

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:

Timeline (For this to be realistic each brief has a timeline that is as close to in work)

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, client 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)

A little about me

(You can skip this part if you are ready to get down to some work)

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 brief #1 Blog Website

Client:
Name: Vibz
Fonts: Use any you like
Colors: Use any you like

Timeline:

2 weeks to 4 weeks

Objectives

We would like a unique blog website that can:

Show featured articles on Homepage
Article page
Show all category sections
Allow readers to signup to a newsletter
Showcase our Instagram feed
Ability to Search through content
Guest authors
Social Sharing and liking of posts
Article ratings

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

References

Please conduct some research on the following blogs we love and get ideas to include

GQ website

Men’s Health

Deliverables

Research section (refer to references provided and find features that should be added in order for our blog to be competitive)
Sketches of initial ideas
Sitemap/journey map
Wireframes

Visual mockups on desktop and mobile of
- Article page
- Homepage
- Category page
- Article page
- Menu

Highlight 3 enhancements or unique features you have included to make our blog stand out and solve pain points

Results section:Feedback from testing with 5 random people

Link to this project’s deliverables

Nice to have

Video walkthrough (Screen record an Invision prototype)

Additional message from client

Make it pop!!!

Inspiration (Life’s cheatsheet)

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.

UX portfolio teardown: Real portfolio example that secured internships at Google and Microsoft

You may have seen a number of UX portfolio examples online but you are still not sure what makes them work.

Is it the colors, the layout or the type of projects?

I am starting a series on UX and UI portfolio teardowns on the blog that you might benefit from in order to ultimately get a job. Will take guessing out of the way and focus in on what really works to land a job.

Today I look at Cedric Ith’s UX portfolio by quickly exploring his website, a single project and resume, to tease out the portfolio elements that helped him secure internships at Google and Microsoft. You might not be targeting these companies (You don’t really rate them ;)) but there is still alot you can learn from how his portfolio is structured and translate that to your portfolio.

UX Engineer and Interaction Prototyper. Exploring VR/AR/MR.

This is not a comprehensive teardown but structured in such a way as to simulate a recruiter, potential team lead or creative director who have to go through a 50 resumes a day.

Ready?

Let’s begin!!

Portfolio Website

http://cedricith.com/

Let’s dive into a project

Since the first one has a high likelihood of being selected. Will go for that one.

And lastly for the resume.

[ap_custom_testimonial type=’list-layout’ template=’template-3′ display_num=’1′ content_length=’full’ custom_layout=’disable’ title=’show’ comp_detail=’show’ email=’hide’ rating=’hide’ order_by=’random’ order_type=’ASC’ date=’hide’ image=’show’]

Takeaways

So what lessons should you take away from this UX portfolio example?

Recruiters don’t have a lot of time to read through your portfolio. Ensure your best and most relevant work is the first one listed.
Have a download link to your resume.
Use testimonials as powerful social proof.
Use language that is understandable for your headings.
2–3 really good portfolio projects are enough to get you an interview and possibly the job
Between you LinkedIn, portfolio website and resume, ensure you use a consistent and relevant job role throughout.
Identify job keywords and ensure your resume has them.
List your experience first as this is what is most relevant to a recruiter or employer.

If you really liked this post and want to see more of these, drop me a comment or just share this page.

Cheers!!

A little about me

About Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

Let’s get into it.

UX UI Design Portfolio Project 4: Designing an Agency website

Objectives

Platform

Limitations/Specifications

Target Audience

Deliverables

References

Advice from recruiters

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

Why the structure of a case study is important

Peter

Dan

How do you write a UX case study

UX Portfolio Case Study template

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

1. Project Title & Subtitle

2. Client/Company/Project type

3. Project date/duration

4. Your role

5. Project Summary

6. The Challenge/Problem

7. The Solution

8. Results

What you can do next

What to read next

UX Case Study Example #1 plus free template

UX Case Study Example #2 plus free template

Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

A little about me

Let’s get into it

Design Portfolio Project 3: Travel App

Client Brief

A little about me

Design portfolio projects for UX and UI designers

Lets get into it

Design Portfolio Project 2: Ecommerce website

Objectives

Platform

Target audience

References

Deliverables

Nice to haves

Additional message from client

Advice from recruiters

More Inspiration (Your cheat guide)

A good portfolio is made up of relevant, well considered detailed design projects.

A little about me

(You can skip this part if you are ready to get down to some work)

Client brief #1 Blog Website

Timeline:

Objectives

﻿References

Deliverables

Inspiration (Life’s cheatsheet)

UX Engineer and Interaction Prototyper. Exploring VR/AR/MR.

Portfolio Website

Let’s dive into a project

And lastly for the resume.

Takeaways

References