How to Create a Compelling UX Research Portfolio: Tips and Examples
28 June 2024 - By N. Hoeberichts
When applying for jobs, UX Researchers are often asked to provide a link to their portfolio; a page which showcases your work as a UX Researcher and your experience.
The UX researcher’s portfolio is a key artefact in the application process as it explains and showcases how you go about your work, what research methods you employed and why and what the impact of your work was in the organisation.
In this blog post, let’s dive into some tips on how to create an effective and compelling UX Research Portfolio that showcases your work as a UX Researcher.
What to Include in Your UX Research Portfolio
Perhaps the most important thing you should highlight in your portfolio work is explaining the why behind certain decisions in your work as a UX Researcher, and walking the reader through the journey that you took for certain projects.
Why did you choose to to usability tests instead of in-depth interviews? Why did you choose to research this persona and not another?
Explaining the goal and purpose of your research projects, the why behind your decisions and above all, the impact that your research had on the business and the ultimate product design and solution, is key for a strong portfolio case study.
It’s also important to mention how you proceeded to communicate and share your research findings within your organisation or with your client, because that’s often what makes or breaks the impact of a research study.
Visuals
You may think that you don’t need to add any visuals to your portfolio cases as it’s about the research and not the UX design. However, there’s plenty of visual artefacts you can show on your portfolio, such as customer or user journey maps and personas. You could even add a screenshot or a picture of a workshop you’ve facilitated for instance. This will make your case study and portfolio more engaging and it’s easier for the readers to grasp and visualise how you conduct your research.
Structuring Your UX Research Portfolio
Don’t try to cram all of the research projects you ever did on your portfolio.
Instead, to avoid cluttering your portfolio, choose the ones that were most successful and had the most impact. Try to highlight those where your decisions had significant influence on the success of the project and subsequently, the solution that was built based on the insights you’ve gathered via the research.
It’s better to highlight 2 or 3 really great projects, instead of 10 ‘mediocre’ ones.
It’s also good to include a mix of different kinds of research projects that you did. Don’t focus only on your projects that were usability tests for instance, but choose projects that you did at different stages of the research process. This will show the hiring people that you are able to lead different kinds of research techniques and that you choose the right one, depending on the goal of the project.
The value of Storytelling
As you’ll most likely be competing with other UX researchers for the job you’re applying to, you will need to stand out in one way or another. One way to do that is using good storytelling in your portfolio cases. Storytelling in itself is an important skill to have as a UX researcher as it’s the best way to get your results across and get stakeholder’s attention. In your portfolio cases, try to paint a picture and write in a compelling and understandable way. Avoid writing in a very formal and ‘academic’ manner, although this also depends a bit to which kinds of companies you’re applying to of course!
Template
Make sure that all your case studies are structured in a similar and it’s logical for people to understand the context of your research.
There’s a great UX Research Portfolio template out there by a UX Researcher at IBM, which you can find here. It shows an example on how to best structure your research case studies.
Visualising Your UX Research Portfolio: Which Tools to Use?
There are a few websites and tools out there that can easily be used to create your UX Research Portfolio.
Most of them are free and easy to use, so it’s fairly quick to get started creating your Portfolio.
Here’s a list:
- Notion.so
- Miro
- Google Slides
- Squarespace (not free)
- UXFolio (free for 1 portfolio case study)
Examples of great UX Research Portfolios
There are some great Portfolio’s example out there of seasoned UX Researchers that you can take as an inspiration.
Here are just a few:
Rachel - view one of her portfolio cases
In her portfolio case, she keeps the text concise and to the point, as well as showcasing some artefacts from her research case. It’s structured in a clear way and she emphasises the outcome and impact of her research study.
Nikki - view her portfolio
In her case for a generative research study, Nikki provides ample context regarding the goals of the research study, and leading the reader through her process and work in a structured way. What I like about the case as well is that she also points out some of the challenges she’s faced in the project and how she dealt with them.
Tiffany - view her video portfolio
Tiffany did things a bit different - she create a video to walk the viewer through her UX research process! Creating unique and out-of-the-box ideas for your portfolio is another way to grab attention in your job application.