UX Career Progression: Creating & Presenting a UX Portfolio

A presentation on how to think about, create, and present your UX design portfolio. First presented at General Assembly Seattle on November 19th 2015.

Transcript

1. Creating & Presenting a UX Portfolio
   November 19th, 2015
   UX Career Progression
   

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2. Who the heck is this guy?
   

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3. Photo credit: Jeff Croft
   Personal Site
   NickFinck.com
   Role
   Product Design
   Manager
   Employer
   Facebook
   

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4. UX Career Progression Series
   ● Part 1 - Starting a Career in User Experience Design (blog post)
   ● Part 2 - Finding a Niche and Building a Personal Brand (presentation)
   ● Part 3 - Creating and Presenting a UX Portfolio (presentation)
   ● Part 4 - Interviewing & Landing a UX job (coming soon)
   ● Part 5 - Understanding UX Career Paths (coming soon)
   

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5. ”The User Experience Honeycomb" by Peter Morville
   Findable
   Desirable
   Useful
   Usable
   Valuable
   Accessible
   Credible
   User Experience (UX) is about how a
   person feels about using a system or
   device.
   What is the user experience?
   •It is not:
   • Designed
   • Objective
   • Procedural
   • Static
   It is:
   • Designed for
   • Subjective
   • Philosophical
   • Dynamic
   

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6. Storytelling
   

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7. Photo from https://briankaldorf.wordpress.com
   #1 — Tell a story
   And then the
   creature ripped off both
   of his arms!!!
   

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8. Explain the challenge
   Photo of http://simonpan.com/
   

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9. Photo of http://simonpan.com/
   Describe your approach
   

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10. Photo of http://simonpan.com/
    Talk about what you learned
    

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11. Recap:
    ● Frame the Problem
    ● Cover your Approach
    ● Show your Solution
    ● Explain the Learnings
    #1 — Tell a story
    

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12. About You
    

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13. Photo from the Denver International Airport
    #2 — Tell us who you are
    We’re going to
    be late to our meeting
    with the Emperor.
    

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14. Quickly explain who you are
    Photo of http://zachkuzmic.com/
    

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15. Designing the
    interactive behaviors
    of a product or
    system with a
    specific focus on
    their use.
    Designing the visual
    qualities of a product
    or system in an
    aesthetically pleasing
    way.
    Planning for the
    creation, delivery, and
    governance of useful,
    usable content.
    Identifying and
    organizing
    information within a
    product or system in
    a purposeful &
    meaningful way.
    Measuring the quality
    of a user’s
    experience when
    interacting with a
    product or system.
    User Research Content
    Strategy
    Information
    Architecture
    Interaction
    Design
    Visual Design Usability &
    Analytics
    Understanding the
    people who use a
    product or system
    through
    observations.
    Describe your focus
    

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16. Show your personality
    Screenshot of http://andrewdoherty.com/
    

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17. Recap:
    ● Elevator pitch Who you are
    ● Inject your Personality
    ● Tell us your Focus
    #2 — Tell us who you are
    

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18. Showcase
    

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19. #3 — Showcase your work
    Photo of http://zachkuzmic.com/
    I just want to pick
    one of these up and go..
    “Zoooooomm!”
    

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20. Have good lead-ins
    Photo of http://zachkuzmic.com/
    

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21. Open strong
    Screenshot of http://haraldurthorleifsson.com/
    

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22. Show real client work
    Photo of http://www.edlea.com/
    

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23. Always explain your role
    Photo of http://simonpan.com/
    

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24. Show all of your work
    Photo from http://jenirodger.com/
    

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25. Explain your process
    Screenshot of http://andrewdoherty.com/
    

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26. Never show work under NDA
    Photo from What’s New World?!
    

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27. Recap:
    ● Show Real client work
    ● Tell us your Role in the work
    ● Show all Stages of the work
    ● Give an overview of your Process
    ● Never show Work under NDA
    #3 — Showcase your work
    

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28. Feedback
    

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29. #4 — Get feedback
    You guys should probably
    know about something…
    

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30. Find an expert to give guidance and advice
    My web site rocks!
    

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31. Get feedback often
    

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32. Photo from http://venturebeat.com/
    Get your portfolio critiqued by peers
    

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33. Recap:
    ● Find an expert for Advice
    ● Keep getting Feedback often
    ● Have peers Critique your portfolio
    4 — Get feedback often
    

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34. Presenting
    

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35. #5 — Don’t try to cover too much
    Wait, how many
    projectiles did you say?!
    

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36. #6 — Answer the question
    I don't know how to put this
    but I'm kind of a “big deal.”
    

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37. #7 — Be prepared
    Alright, listen up
    everybody!
    

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38. Thank you!
    

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39. ● Personal Site: NickFinck.com
    ● Email: nickfinck@gmail.com
    ● Facebook: facebook.com/nickfinck
    ● Twitter: @nickf
    Questions?
    

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40. Creating Better UX Portfolios:
    4 Do’s & Dont’s
    by Harish Venkatesan
    http://bit.ly/1WZZuCc
    Minimum Viable UX Portfolio
    by UX Beginner
    http://bit.ly/1O4fmOl
    Better UX Portfolios
    by Jason Mesut
    http://bit.ly/1I01qyo
    10 Inspiring UX Portfolios
    by Sarah Hawk
    http://bit.ly/1MnWIOM
    

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41. Mike Monteiro Ian Fenn
    Nick Disabato
    Cadence & Slang Design is a job Designing a UX Portfolio
    Com
    ing
    Soon!
    

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