December 2015
Beginner
255 pages
4h 54m
English
Content preview from UX for BeginnersBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
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Chapter 100. What Goes in a UX Portfolio?
UX is still relatively new, and difficult for nondesigners to understand. When you apply for a job you need to inform and inspire.
Remember your audience: they don’t understand UX.
The average “boss” that is interviewing you for a UX position won’t actually know a lot about UX. Or, at least, that’s what you should assume.
Begin your portfolio by saying what you do or what responsibilities you are interested in. It might not be a bad idea to say what you believe you are going to add, as well.
If your future boss is a UX wizard, they will appreciate your clarity and the fact that you took the time to explain it in a simple way.
If they are regular people, it will help them understand what to ask you about, and why your portfolio might not include many “pretty things.”
Tell Short, Visual Stories
A UX portfolio doesn’t have the luxury of showing lots of beautiful screenshots. If you can make sexy interfaces, too, then great. If not, then you have to tell stories about what you have done.
Make it simple and short. If the boss wants details, they can ask you for them in the interview. For now, explain what you did, why you did it, how you researched it, and any of the limitations you had to work with.
And even though UX isn’t about style, you should have visual things to show: sketches, wireframes, analytics screenshots, site maps, before-and-after designs, etc.
Show your process! Teach them what you do!
Focus on Problems, Insights, and Results
If you focus ...
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I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.