How to Create an Online Design Portfolio
By: Gloria Lo
Tags: Design Thinking, UX Design, Design, Portfolio, Product Design

Define your content

Once you’ve defined what your personal statement is, start to think about the contents that will go into your portfolio.

Your portfolio should have at least the following components:

3–4 case studies

About me section

Remember, don’t include everything — only select the pieces that you’re most proud of. Lead with your most impressive case studies instead of listing them in chronological order.

Structure your case studies

When you’re writing your case studies, craft a strong narrative. Avoid dumping images into your project without explaining the process that you went through to get to the end solution. This is especially important if you’re looking to position yourself as a product designer.

Consider crafting the following:

Purpose. Provide some context around why you and your team started the project. What problem/s were you trying to solve for?

Provide some context around why you and your team started the project. What problem/s were you trying to solve for? Duration. How long did the project take and what was the scope of work?

How long did the project take and what was the scope of work? Contribution. If you worked in a team, describe what your responsibilities were and how you contributed as an individual.

If you worked in a team, describe what your responsibilities were and how you contributed as an individual. Design process. Describe the steps that you took to get to the final solution — don’t just dump images in without explaining what they are!

Describe the steps that you took to get to the final solution — don’t just dump images in without explaining what they are! Visual artefacts. Show evidence of research collected such as quotes from user interviews, affinity maps, sketches, wireframes, videos or screenshots of the high-fidelity UI or a link to the prototype.

Show evidence of research collected such as quotes from user interviews, affinity maps, sketches, wireframes, videos or screenshots of the high-fidelity UI or a link to the prototype. Impact (optional). Not everyone will have shipped a product or feature but if you have, it would add immense credibility to your work if you can document the impact that your designs had on users and the business with real metrics and data.

Craft a story like Elizabeth Lin

An example of a well structured case study would be Elizabeth Lin’s redesign of the Khan Academy teacher dashboard.

Note how she crafts her story. By defining the problem statement upfront - “How might we enable teachers to identify & fill student gaps in learning?”, she immediately provides context to the viewer about the problem she is solving for.

Elizabeth then takes us on a journey by supporting each phase of the design process with evidence of her research in the form of affinity maps, direct quotes from user interviews, survey results and high-fidelity mockups.

To wrap it up, she adds a summary of the impact that her redesign had on users with real statistics. Defining the impact of your designs is proof that you were able to deliver value.

Break down your story like Guru Perichetla

Another example of a comprehensive case study is by Guru Perichetla. Notice how Guru breaks down his project into sections to make it easier for the user to digest by using a simple side-navigation menu that also serves to illustrate his design process.

Similar to Elizabeth, Guru pairs each phase of the process with visual artefacts to strengthen his portfolio. For example, he has incorporated affinity maps to demonstrate his user research skills, user flows to illustrate his user experience skills, videos of the final solution to showcase his user interface and interaction design skills and finally, usability testing results to highlight his product thinking.

Pair your design process with evidence

As you can see from the above examples, the design process can be used as a framework to structure your case studies. Add weight to your portfolio by pairing each phase of the process with supporting evidence and artefacts to demonstrate relevant skills:

Research. Explain what the problem is and who it affects by inserting evidence from user research such as quotes from user interviews, survey data, affinity maps and user persona profiles.

Explain what the problem is and who it affects by inserting evidence from user research such as quotes from user interviews, survey data, affinity maps and user persona profiles. Ideation. Illustrate how your team tackled the problem by including user journey maps, brainstorming session results, rough sketches and iterations of the solution.

Illustrate how your team tackled the problem by including user journey maps, brainstorming session results, rough sketches and iterations of the solution. Test. Show how usability testing results informed your decision making to decide on the final solution by inserting evidence of data and insights captured.

Show how usability testing results informed your decision making to decide on the final solution by inserting evidence of data and insights captured. Prototype. Demonstrate how a user might interact with the solution by including screenshots of the UI, a link to the interactive prototype and even videos of the user flow.

Your case studies should serve to represent your journey and the obstacles, successes and failures that you faced along the way. Don’t try to be perfect — let your work speak for itself.

What if I don’t have any experience?

If you’re starting out in the industry, it can be difficult creating a portfolio from scratch if you don’t have any work experience.

So how can you get experience when you have no experience?

Personal projects. Is there an existing problem that you’re passionate about solving or an idea that you’re burning to test out? Consider this as an opportunity to kick-start a new business or startup idea, similar to what I did for a self-education product.

Is there an existing problem that you’re passionate about solving or an idea that you’re burning to test out? Consider this as an opportunity to kick-start a new business or startup idea, similar to what I did for a self-education product. Design challenges. If you’re stuck for ideas, check out Artiom Dashinsky’s website on Solving Product Design Exercises. Sign up to his newsletter to receive a new design challenge every week and familiarise yourself with the challenges used by companies to evaluate product designers.

If you’re stuck for ideas, check out Artiom Dashinsky’s website on Solving Product Design Exercises. Sign up to his newsletter to receive a new design challenge every week and familiarise yourself with the challenges used by companies to evaluate product designers. Hackathon ideas. Hackathons are a great way to network with other people and collaborate with a team to formulate an idea and pitch to an audience. Check out this hackathon idea that I used as a case study in my portfolio.

Hackathons are a great way to network with other people and collaborate with a team to formulate an idea and pitch to an audience. Check out this hackathon idea that I used as a case study in my portfolio. Help nonprofits. Is there a non-profit or charity that you’d love to help out? Consider this as a great opportunity to level up whilst giving back to the community. You can get started by checking out this list of volunteering sites by Marvel.

Is there a non-profit or charity that you’d love to help out? Consider this as a great opportunity to level up whilst giving back to the community. You can get started by checking out this list of volunteering sites by Marvel. Redesign products. If you’re still stuck for ideas, think about the products or apps that you currently use. Do any of them frustrate you or inspire you to come up with a better solution? If you’re seeking inspiration, below is an exemplary case study by Priyanka Gupta on her redesign of the Sephora app.

Priyanka Gupta redesigns products

Priyanka’s case study on Sephora is a great example of how you don’t always need to have a job to get experience — often it’s a matter of initiating the project yourself.

After having experienced frustrations with the app as a consumer, Priyanka decided to pursue this redesign as an opportunity to improve the usability of the app. Whilst she is not affiliated with Sephora in any capacity, she goes to the extent of conducting online and in-person user research to understand the usability issues with the app before proposing a new information architecture and improvements to the UI.

As you can see, she strengthens her case study by incorporating evidence of her research and ideation through survey data, user persona profiles, user interview results, lo-fidelity prototypes and finally mockups of the end solution.