Build a Powerful UX Portfolio (that gets you HIRED!) from Udemy

I’m going to let you in on a little secret:

There’s a damn good chance your portfolio — no matter how visually impressive or cleverly worded it may be — is working against you.

It’s the reason you’re not getting messages from recruiters.

It’s the reason those job applications or messages you’ve sent to recruiters seem to have disappeared into the void.

It’s the reason prospective clients suddenly go dark on you and stop responding to your calls and emails.

In my nearly 30-year career, I've hired plenty of UXers and Designers; for my own company and for a dozen other organizations who built UX practices from the ground up. And what I've seen over the years, then and now, is that the formats and presentations 98% of people use for their UX portfolios actually hide the things that truly make them excellent candidates.

Things I often only discovered after hitting the wall and forcing myself to spend a lot of time I didn’t really have revisiting those portfolios in depth, digging deep into navigation and case studies.

In any event, I felt like something needed to be done — specifically, this course.

A path to quickly illustrate these critical mistakes and show you a better, more effective way to structure and present your work and your value — to recruiters, hiring managers, employers and prospective clients.

I’m inviting you to forget whatever you’ve been told about how to create an online portfolio.

Because if it’s anything like the hundreds I've seen, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

So in this course, across 14 lectures, I’m going to give you everything you need to do it better, from the perspective of the person doing the hiring.

Whether that person is a recruiter, an HR or company exec, or a prospective client looking for freelance help, I’m going to walk you through what works and what doesn’t, with real-world examples.

I’m going to show you why you’re making it harder for yourself to get noticed and get hired. Because even if your work itself is spectacular (which I’m sure it is), I have no doubt you’re making many of the same mistakes I’ve seen thus far in my own recruiting endeavors.

More importantly, I’ll show you exactly what you should be doing instead, from the very first screen.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Learn to build the kind of competitive, effective, impactful ux portfolio recruiters, employers and prospective clients want to see!
Why (and how) your portfolio is sabotaging your job (or client) search
The one thing every single portfolio gets wrong
What employers and clients really want from your portfolio
The one thing you must speak to, visually and verbally
Why impressive visuals won’t get you the job
How to position yourself as a strategic asset, not an order-taker

The right (and wrong) way to present case studies
The only 3 things any recruiter, employer or client cares about
Using social media — and making sure it doesn’t hurt you
A free, downloadable portfolio guidebook to walk you step-by-step through creating a winning portfolio
A portfolio template that details the required content recruiters, employers and potential clients need to see.
Show more
Show less

Learn to build the kind of competitive, effective, impactful ux portfolio recruiters, employers and prospective clients want to see!
Why (and how) your portfolio is sabotaging your job (or client) search
The one thing every single portfolio gets wrong
What employers and clients really want from your portfolio
The one thing you must speak to, visually and verbally
Why impressive visuals won’t get you the job
How to position yourself as a strategic asset, not an order-taker
The right (and wrong) way to present case studies
The only 3 things any recruiter, employer or client cares about
Using social media — and making sure it doesn’t hurt you
A free, downloadable portfolio guidebook to walk you step-by-step through creating a winning portfolio
A portfolio template that details the required content recruiters, employers and potential clients need to see.
Show more
Show less

Syllabus

Why The Standard of UX Portfolio Excellence... Is Mediocrity

Introduction: The Real Question You Have to Answer

Are You Drowning in the Sea of Sameness?

Career center

Learners who complete Build a Powerful UX Portfolio (that gets you HIRED!) will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

User Experience Designer

A User Experience Designer plays a critical role in shaping how users interact with products and services, ensuring ease of use, accessibility, and satisfaction. For anyone aspiring to become a User Experience Designer or advance in the field, this course provides an indispensable framework for crafting a portfolio that genuinely resonates with recruiters and hiring managers. It specifically addresses how to overcome common mistakes that prevent even excellent candidates from being noticed, guiding you to structure your work to demonstrate impact and strategic thinking. The course helps you showcase specific case studies and results, avoiding the "sea of sameness" and positioning you as a highly competitive strategic asset.

See salaries and explore the career path for User Experience Designer

User Interface Designer

A User Interface Designer focuses on the visual and interactive elements of digital products, crafting intuitive and engaging experiences. To excel as a User Interface Designer, presenting your visual and interaction design work effectively is paramount. This course is specifically designed to help you construct a portfolio that transcends mere aesthetics, showing how your design decisions lead to tangible results and meet user needs. It guides you in presenting case studies that highlight not just impressive visuals, but also the strategic thinking behind them, addressing what employers truly seek. This approach is essential for demonstrating your unique value and securing desired roles.

See salaries and explore the career path for User Interface Designer

Freelance User Experience Consultant

A Freelance User Experience Consultant offers specialized UX expertise to various clients, working independently to solve design challenges and improve user experiences for multiple organizations. For a Freelance User Experience Consultant, your portfolio is your primary business development tool. This course directly addresses the challenges freelancers face, explicitly mentioning how to prevent prospective clients from "going dark." It provides the essential strategies for structuring your portfolio to not only attract but also convert potential clients, positioning you as a strategic asset. You will learn to showcase results and outcomes that demonstrate your value, ensuring your work speaks volumes to secure new engagements.

See salaries and explore the career path for Freelance User Experience Consultant

Product Designer

A Product Designer is involved in the entire product development lifecycle, from user research and ideation to interaction design and testing, bridging user needs with business goals. For those pursuing a career as a Product Designer, this course is crucial for developing a portfolio that showcases your holistic approach to design. It helps you move beyond just showing pretty screens, enabling you to articulate your problem-solving process, strategic contributions, and the outcomes of your work. The course directly addresses presenting compelling case studies and focusing on results, critical elements that recruiters and hiring managers look for in a versatile Product Designer.

See salaries and explore the career path for Product Designer

Experience Strategist

An Experience Strategist operates at a high level, defining vision and direction for user experiences across products and services, aligning them with business goals. For an Experience Strategist, a portfolio must go beyond design artifacts to demonstrate leadership, strategic thinking, and business impact. This course is particularly suited to help you position yourself as a strategic asset by guiding you on how to present case studies that emphasize results and outcomes, showcasing the bigger picture implication of your work. It helps you communicate your value to an executive audience, mitigating their risk and highlighting your contribution to organizational success. An advanced degree may be useful for this role.

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Interaction Designer

An Interaction Designer concentrates on how users interact with digital systems, focusing on usability, accessibility, and intuitive flows. Crafting a portfolio that effectively communicates complex interaction patterns and their impact is vital for an Interaction Designer. This course helps you highlight your design methodology and problem-solving skills, going beyond simply showing static mockups. It enables you to structure your case studies to emphasize specific interactions, user flows, and the strategic rationale behind your choices, which are key for employers. The guidance on focusing on results and outcomes ensures your portfolio clearly demonstrates your value in enhancing user experiences.

See salaries and explore the career path for Interaction Designer

User Researcher

A User Researcher investigates target users and their needs to inform product design and strategy, providing crucial insights through methods like interviews, surveys, and usability testing. While often less visual than other UX roles, a strong portfolio is still essential for a User Researcher to showcase research methodologies, findings, and the impact of those insights on product development. This course can help you articulate your value by guiding you to present compelling case studies that focus on results and outcomes, rather than just raw data. It teaches how to position yourself as a strategic asset, demonstrating how your research mitigates risk for employers. This role typically requires an advanced degree.

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Design System Designer

A Design System Designer creates and maintains reusable components, guidelines, and tools that enable consistent and efficient product development across an organization. To succeed as a Design System Designer, you need a portfolio that showcases your methodical approach, attention to detail, and ability to think at scale. This course can help you frame your design system contributions within compelling case studies, highlighting how your work improves efficiency, consistency, and overall product quality. It guides you in presenting not just the components, but the strategic value and outcomes of your system, positioning you as a key asset to any design and development team.

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Service Designer

A Service Designer crafts the end-to-end experience of a service, orchestrating touchpoints, processes, and people to deliver coherent and valuable interactions. For a Service Designer, a portfolio needs to illustrate your ability to map complex systems and demonstrate impact across various service components. This course helps you go beyond individual design pieces, guiding you to present compelling case studies that focus on the strategic outcomes and improvements achieved through your service design interventions. By teaching how to position yourself as a strategic asset and mitigate recruiter risk, the course provides a framework for showcasing the holistic value of your work.

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User Experience Lead

A User Experience Lead guides design initiatives, mentors team members, and drives strategic UX decisions within an organization, ensuring alignment with overall product vision. For a User Experience Lead, demonstrating not just individual design skills but also leadership, strategic influence, and impact on broader initiatives is crucial. This course helps you position yourself as a strategic asset by providing a framework for presenting case studies that highlight results and outcomes at an organizational level. It guides you in crafting a portfolio that communicates your ability to mitigate risk and drive successful user experience strategies, essential for advancing into leadership roles.

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Information Architect

An Information Architect organizes and structures content within digital products, ensuring discoverability and ease of navigation to create intuitive user experiences. For an Information Architect, it is essential to showcase your strategic thinking in structuring complex information. This course helps you to frame your work in a portfolio that highlights not just diagrams, but also the rationale and impact of your architectural decisions. By guiding you to present case studies focused on results and outcomes, and to mitigate recruiter risk, the course enables you to clearly demonstrate how your work transforms complex content into accessible user journeys, positioning you as a strategic asset.

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Content Strategist

A Content Strategist plans, creates, and manages content for digital products and platforms, ensuring it meets user needs and business objectives. For those looking to excel as a Content Strategist, a portfolio that effectively communicates your strategic impact is vital. This course can help you structure your portfolio to showcase how your content decisions drive user engagement and achieve specific outcomes. By guiding you on how to present case studies that focus on results and outcomes, and to position yourself as a strategic asset, the course helps you articulate your value beyond just writing, demonstrating your comprehensive understanding of content's role in user experience.

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User Experience Writer

A User Experience Writer crafts clear, concise, and helpful language within digital interfaces, guiding users and shaping their overall experience with a product. For a User Experience Writer, a portfolio must effectively showcase how your words impact user understanding and behavior. This course can help you articulate the strategic value of your content decisions by guiding you to present compelling case studies. It focuses on how to highlight results and outcomes, visually and verbally, demonstrating how your writing not only improves usability but also contributes to business goals, positioning you as a strategic asset. This is vital for showing your expertise beyond just crafting text.

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Design Manager

A Design Manager leads and mentors design teams, oversees projects, and ensures the quality and impact of creative output, bridging design execution with strategic objectives. While this role involves leadership, understanding what constitutes a truly effective portfolio from the perspective of a hiring manager or recruiter is invaluable. This course may be helpful for a Design Manager as it is taught from the perspective of someone doing the hiring, detailing what employers and clients truly want to see. It helps you recognize strategic assets, evaluate compelling case studies, and identify how candidates can mitigate risk, equipping you to build stronger teams.

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Accessibility Specialist

An Accessibility Specialist ensures digital products are usable by people with diverse abilities, adhering to standards and integrating inclusive design principles. For an Accessibility Specialist, a portfolio that articulates the impact of inclusive design is crucial. This course may be helpful in guiding you to structure your portfolio to demonstrate how your accessibility solutions enhance user experience for all, showcasing your strategic value to employers. By focusing on how to present case studies with clear results and outcomes, the course can help you highlight your specific contributions and problem-solving approach in this specialized field, mitigating recruiter risk.

See salaries and explore the career path for Accessibility Specialist