An ode to my UX portfolio: A beginner’s guide
Finally, the day has come!! 🎉
It’s time to showcase my work and skills through a portfolio. As I have no professional experience in design. So, this article is totally based on my learnings and crucial steps that I took while crafting my portfolio as a self-taught designer. I hope you find this helpful.
Let’s get started!!
As a beginner we have a lot of questions in our mind.
What to include in our portfolio?
What type of projects should we choose?
What design tools should I use?
How to choose fonts and colours for our portfolio?
And a lot more!!
These typical questions strike our head very often. So, today we will together get the answers to these questions.
So, grab a cup a tea or coffee ☕️ and let’s dive in and craft a portfolio that truly represents your unique style and expertise.
In this virtual showcase, I’ll be unveiling the secrets behind my carefully curated portfolio. You’ll get a sneak peek into the minds of my projects, discover the wild and wonderful challenges I face.
As a beginner UX designer, a well-crafted portfolio is your golden ticket to showcase your talent and prove your worth in the vast realm of user experience. It’s more than just a collection of projects; it’s your personal narrative, a visual testament to your skills, creativity. A thoughtfully curated portfolio not only demonstrates your ability to tackle diverse design challenges but also serves as a powerful tool to captivate potential employers or clients. It’s your passport to opening doors, building connections, and making a lasting impression in the ever-evolving world of UX design.
Step 1 : The Initial Step
This is basically setting up. The first and foremost step that I followed was to establish a clear outline or structure of my content. The basic idea was to just write down everything that came to my mind. This helped me to organise my thoughts, ensure a logical flow and effectively convey the information that I wanted to share.
I also thought of including a sketch as it will allow me to visually communicate my ideas, layout and overall design concept to the readers.
Through sketching, I emphasised on the key elements such as the placement of sections, navigation menus (what to include). This will help to visualise the overall structure and aesthetics of my portfolio.
It’s also a good idea to include a logo that is versatile and complements your personal style.
Step 2 : What to include?
Now, comes the most important step i.e what should I include in my portfolio?
- Brief introduction
I started with a brief introduction about myself providing a little glimpse into my background.
What I learnt: Keep the introduction short and concise. Make it engaging.
- Projects
Since I didn’t have a professional experience I tried to focus on my personal projects and included them in my portfolio. Through these projects I tried to create detailed case studies that describe the problem I was trying to solve, the target audience, my design process and the outcome.
What I learnt: Choose projects that align with your interests and allow you to explore different aspects of UX design.
- My skills
I included a skills section where I listed the tools I am proficient in like Figma, Sketch. Also, I mentioned other relevant skills like user research, information architecture.
What I learnt: Highlight your skills, mention the tools that you are proficient in and also mention some relevant skills related to UX design.
- Contact information
I included various social media profile links to my portfolio such as LinkedIn, Twitter. This will help people to reach out to me.
What I learnt: Have a dedicated page for your contact information including your e-mail id and social-media profiles.
Now, I wanted to talk about the navigation menu in my portfolio. As a beginner, it’s very important to keep the navigation menu simple and focused. Some essential items that I included in the navigation menu were:
- Home – The main landing page of my portfolio. I tried to keep it minimal, clean and easy to navigate through.
- About me – I created a dedicated page for this section where I introduced myself, my background, my journey.
- Resume – As a beginner who is currently seeking for work. I created a separate section for my resume so that recruiters can easily look into my background and know more about me.
- Work – In this section, I included my personal projects that I am actually proud of.
- Contact – In this section, I provided my e-mail id as if someone wants to connect with me or they have a project in their mind or they want to provide a feedback or suggestion.
What I learnt: As a beginner, try to keep the navigation menu simple and focused. Prepare a dedicated section for your resume as you are seeking for an opportunity. Do not try to overwhelm people with too much information on this menu.
Step 3: Choosing design tools
As a beginner, I decided to choose design tools that are both user-friendly and commonly used in the industry. Starting from the sketches to the main design I used Figma and for building my personal portfolio website I used Framer.
What I learnt: Design tools offer a range of features that support your design process, including wireframing, prototyping, and visual design. Consider exploring various tools and experimenting with their features to find the one that aligns with your workflow and preferences.
Step 4: Choosing font styles and colour schemes
Fonts and colours play a very important role in crafting the portfolio as they help create a visually appealing and harmonious presentation.
- For fonts
For my introduction, I chose “Inika” is quite different from the usual fonts as I wanted to give my portfolio a welcoming feel and I think I made a good choice.
I chose “Roboto” a clean and legible font for the body text to ensure readability. It offers a modern and professional look to the portfolio.
As for the headings, I chose “Playfair Display” for a touch of elegance and distinction.
- For colour schemes
I actually aimed for the colour scheme that balances readability and visual appeal and as a beginner I tried to have a limited colour palette to provide a cohesive and professional look to my portfolio. As for the background, I used White (#FFFFFF)
For the text, I used Black (#000000)
For the CTA’s, I used Beautiful Gradients and also a subtle black colour.
What I learnt: Choose clean and legible fonts and maintain a consistent font hierarchy. As for colours, choose colours that provide sufficient contrast between text and background.
Takeaways
A few steps that I followed as a beginner and I think you should too –
- Learn design fundamentals: As a beginner, it’s crucial to build a strong foundation in design fundamentals. Invest time in understanding principles such as colour theory, typography, layout, and composition. Learn how to effectively use design tools and software.
- Start small, but start now: As a self-taught designer, it’s important to begin your design journey by taking small steps. Start by tackling small projects or redesigning existing interfaces to gain practical experience.
- Seek feedback and iterate: Don’t be afraid to seek feedback on your work. Share your designs with peers, mentors, or online design communities. Embrace constructive criticism and use it to refine your designs.
It’s a wrap!! 🎉
THANK YOU FOR READING!!!
I appreciate your time and dedication in exploring the ins and outs of crafting a compelling portfolio. As you’ve made it all the way to the end, I invite you to continue the experience by visiting my portfolio here.
I look forward to connecting with you.
You can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter, Behance
I hope you find this article helpful. I will see you in the next one. Till then, HAPPY DESIGNING!!
A little reminder: You can clap up to 50 times for this article, if you find it helpful in any way or enjoyed reading this. Thank you:)
