Building a UX Research Portfolio
Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about UX Research portfolios. Why do UX Researchers need one? Which projects should be included? How do you organize the information? Where do you even start? Well, I’m here to answer these questions so let’s dive into it!
Why do you need a UX Research portfolio?
Portfolios haven’t always been needed to apply for UX Research roles. Technically, they still aren’t “required” for most UX Research roles now. Some people even feel like UX Researchers don’t need a portfolio. What I’ll say to that is it’s ultimately each individual’s choice whether they want to create a portfolio or not. And, yes, maybe it is unfair that we need portfolios in the UX field when so many other fields don’t need one. But, in this job market, my stance is to do everything you can to position yourself to stand out as a candidate. When you view recruiters and hiring managers as your users, there are a few things you can do to make their lives easier:
Craft an elevator pitch to summarize your background
Create a resume that displays your experience
Build a portfolio that demonstrates how you think and problem-solve, which is what we’re here to chat about today!
As a UX Research hiring manager, having access to both a candidate’s resume and their portfolio gives me a much clearer picture of who a candidate is and how they think, before we even meet in an interview.
Which projects should be in a UX Research portfolio?
When deciding what projects to include in a UX Research portfolio, I would start off by creating a list of the projects you’ve worked on. If you haven’t ever created a portfolio before, this could be anything you’ve worked on in the last ~3ish years. This will give you a high-level overview of the types of projects you’ve done. You can even start bucketing (or affinity mapping 😅) your projects into categories such as:
Qualitative vs. quantitative
Foundational research vs. generative research vs. evaluative research
Information architecture
By methodologies used: user interviews, surveys, cognitive walkthrough, contextual inquiry, stakeholder mapping, service blueprints, card sorts, tree tests, etc.
Rapid research
And more!
Once you have a categorized list, you can start narrowing down what projects you’d like to highlight in a portfolio. I usually recommend 3-5 portfolio pieces. If you have more than 5, I would try to narrow it down because a hiring manager will spend maybe 10m on your portfolio the first time they look at it so make it easy for them to navigate and get the information they need.
When choosing your final portfolio pieces, I recommend showing diverse projects and methodologies to show the breadth of your capabilities. For example, if you take a look at my portfolio, you’ll see the following (as of May 2024):
Research-backed user personas for a cybersecurity company
Information architecture for a security admin console
Service design and process improvement for a small NASA contractor
A list of all upcoming and past thought leadership events and articles
How should the information be organized in a UX Research portfolio case study?
There are many different ways of organizing your UX Research portfolio. To get some ideas, I highly recommend checking out Aona Yang’s YouTube video How to Create a UX Research Portfolio. Also, check out the portfolios of some UX Researchers you know/follow (if they have publicly available ones). This will help you finalize a plan for how you want to organize your portfolio case studies!
Taking into account research storytelling and the impact of research, here’s how I organize my portfolio case studies:
Project Summary: This can include your role, the high-level objectives, cross-functional partners, timeline, etc.
Background: Short but needed context to understand the project
Key Insights: 2-4 key insights and recommendations that came out of the research
Research Impact: How this research impacts the Business, the Strategy (product strategy, project strategy, etc.), and the Users
Methodologies: What methodologies were used during this research study
Reflections & Learnings: What did you learn from this project (highlight soft skills, conflicts, etc. here)
And there you go! You’re on your way to building your UX Research portfolio 🙌🎉