How to Present a UX Portfolio During a Job Interview

In the competitive field of user experience (UX) design, a standout portfolio can make all the difference when it comes to securing your dream job. Your UX portfolio is not only a showcase of your skills and accomplishments but also an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to solve complex design problems and create delightful user experiences.

However, simply having a remarkable portfolio is not enough; you need to know how to present it effectively during a job interview.

In this blog post, we will explore tips and strategies that will help you confidently navigate the process of presenting your UX portfolio, impressing potential employers, and increasing your chances of landing that coveted UX design position.

Whether you are a seasoned designer looking to level up your career or a fresh graduate stepping into the industry, these insights will empower you to make a lasting impression and stand out from the competition.

• The Role of a UX Portfolio in the Job Application Process
• Why Do You Need to Present Your Portfolio?
• What Do UX Team Leads and Hiring Managers Look For?
• What Format Should You Use To Present Your Portfolio?
• How to Structure Your UX Portfolio Presentation During an Interview
• The Importance of Asking for Feedback
• Key Takeaways

The Role of a UX Portfolio in the Job Application Process

A UX design portfolio is a collection of your design projects that demonstrates your expertise and problem-solving abilities. Its purpose is to provide potential employers with a comprehensive understanding of your design approach, methodologies, and outcomes.

Your portfolio serves as a visual representation of your skills and experience. It allows employers to assess your ability to create intuitive user experiences, solve complex design problems, and deliver impactful results.

Why Do You Need To Present Your Portfolio?

When you initially apply for a job, you’ll usually be asked to submit your portfolio (in addition to your resume and cover letter). 

The initial submission is part of the screening process—if you move on in the interview process, you’ll present your portfolio live, in front of one or more interviewers.

Delivering a UX portfolio presentation can feel like an academic test, where you’re judged on how “correct” each point your answer is.

But that’s so far from the truth. 

Your portfolio presentation is an opportunity to craft a compelling story that narrates your design journey and highlights your passion for improving the lives of users through your product design work. It’s also a means of providing future employers a glimpse into the industries or projects that you’re drawn to. 

For this reason, the projects you put into a portfolio should be thoughtfully chosen with your career goals in mind. If a recruiter, for example, were to come across a portfolio full of e-learning and health care projects, for example, they might not reach out to them to work at a company like Nike. (Unless the initiative was also something education or health-related.)

Each UX design interview is an exciting opportunity to share your work, your process, your ideas and hear from an audience who are looking for someone with your skills and passion.

Read more: UX Interview Tips: How to Prepare for a UX Design Interview

What Do UX Team Leads and Hiring Managers Look for? 

Often, you’ll end up presenting your portfolio to a group of people. As you begin your prep, consider the specific needs and preferences of your target audience, whether it's a hiring manager, a design team, or a potential client. Tailoring your own portfolio presentations to their expectations increases the chances of leaving a lasting impression.

During a portfolio presentation, UX team leads and the hiring team and managers are particularly interested in seeing the following key aspects:

Your Role

Share what your responsibilities were on a particular project, as well as who you worked with to make it happen. UX is a collaborative field, and team leads and hiring managers value candidates who can effectively communicate and work with cross-functional teams. Share examples of how you collaborated with stakeholders, developers, or other designers throughout your projects. Discuss how you gather and incorporate feedback and how you communicate design decisions to various stakeholders.

Design Process and Methodology

UX team leads and hiring managers want to understand your design process and methodology. Walk them through the steps you took, from research and ideation to prototyping and testing. Highlight how you conducted user research, gathered insights, and applied them to your design decisions. Emphasize your empathy for users and how you advocate for their needs throughout the design process—and what decisions you made to pair user needs with business goals.

Hot tip: this doesn’t mean having a diagram of the UX process. Hiring managers already understand what steps are taken in UX design. They want to understand how you implemented them in your work. 

Visual and Interaction Design Skills

While the focus for a UX portfolio presentation might be on the overall user experience, a strong command of visual and interaction design is also essential—especially if UI and visual design skills are highlighted on the job description. Highlight your attention to detail, typography, color usage, and the consistency of your designs across different devices, final screens, or platforms.

Adaptability and Growth Mindset

UX is a rapidly evolving field, and employers value candidates who demonstrate a willingness to learn and adapt. Discuss any instances where you had to quickly learn new tools, methodologies, or technologies. Show that you actively seek opportunities to grow your skills and stay updated with industry trends.

It’s also ok to talk about challenges, or why something didn’t work. Use it as another opportunity to share how you pivoted and made changes to improve the user experience.

Impact and Results

UX team leads and hiring managers want to see measurable outcomes and the impact of your work. Include metrics or data that demonstrate the success of your designs, such as improved user engagement, increased conversions, or positive user feedback. Showcasing the value you have brought to previous projects helps build trust and credibility.

You can also highlight the Key Performance Metrics (KPI’s) you would use to monitor the ongoing health of your product. Be sure to highlight why those KPI’s are the most important to track. 

Clear and Engaging Presentation Skills

Remember to practice your presentation multiple times to ensure a smooth delivery and to stay within the allocated time. Engage with the audience, maintain eye contact, and speak clearly and confidently. 

What Format Should You Use To Present Your Portfolio?

Many design portfolios are built in website format, which is how you’ll share the portfolio during the initial application process. 

However, when presenting a portfolio, you’ll want to use a slide deck. Google Slides and Canva are two popular presentation deck options, since they’re easily shared and viewed with a single link. However, you can also use Keynote or PowerPoint, if you prefer.

Some general points to keep in mind:

• Length: Most portfolio or case study presentations are 15-20 minutes. Keep this in mind as you craft and practice your presentation.
• Content: As you prep each slide, keep the emphasis on the visuals of the design process and key insights—keep the lengthy descriptions for your speaking notes. 
• Visuals: The visual presentation of your portfolio and slide deck should use UX principles. Consistent headers, body font and size, grids, imagery, etc. 

How to Structure Your UX Portfolio Presentation During an Interview

Structuring your portfolio presentation is crucial to ensure a clear and engaging delivery. Here's a sample suggested structure that you can follow when creating yours:

1. Introduction

Introduce yourself, sharing an overview of your background and areas of expertise. You’ll want to set the tone for your presentation by expressing enthusiasm and confidence. Some topics you might incorporate include your personal brand and unique value proposition as a UX/UI designer, your design philosophy and approach, and any relevant achievements, awards, or notable experiences.If you’re new to the field, you can absolutely pull on relevant highlights from past roles outside of UX/UI design, whether that’s leadership, project management, working with end users, etc. 

2. Presentation Overview

Explain your rationale for selecting the specific projects included in your portfolio. Briefly introduce each project to provide context before diving into a detailed case study.

3. Case Study Format

Present each case study in-depth, one at a time. Each case study should follow the same format. Here’s a sample:

• Define the problem: Clearly articulate the problem or challenge you aimed to address.
• Design process and methodology: Walk through the steps you took, from research to implementation.
• Key insights and user research: Share important findings from user research and how they informed your design decisions.
• User testing and iteration: Discuss how you gathered feedback and iteratively improved your designs based on user insights.
• Results and impact: Highlight the positive outcomes, metrics, or feedback received as a result of your work. Clearly communicate the challenges faced, the solutions implemented, and the lessons learned.

4. Your Favorite Project

You will likely be asked to present your favorite project, rather than multiple case studies. In this case, the interviewers will be paying attention to your project selection—as well as why you chose it. 

Some common sense here: be thoughtful about what you share. If you’re interviewing for a small company where you’re the first UX hire, but you emphasize how much you loved working on a project with multiple designers and a well-developed process…it might not work to your favor. 

As is the case with UX design: keep your audience—and their needs—in mind. 

5. Key Takeaways and Design Principles

One of the key components of your presentation will be your extrapolation: what the key takeaways from your case studies say about your work as a UX designer. 

Take the time to highlight the design principles that guided your work throughout the projects and emphasize how these principles reflect your overall approach to UX/UI design in best projects. Interviewers pay attention to how well you are able to touch on and articulate UX design principles and how they correlate to user and business needs in your work.

6. Conclusion and Q&A

As you conclude your presentation, express gratitude for the opportunity to present your portfolio. Open the floor for questions and engage in a discussion with the audience, and be prepared to answer questions related to your design choices, thought process, and outcomes.

The Importance of Asking for Feedback

Asking for feedback after a portfolio review and presentation is essential for several reasons:

1. Self-Reflection and Improvement: Feedback provides an opportunity for self-reflection and growth. It allows you to evaluate your performance, presentation style, and content delivery objectively. Constructive criticism can help you identify areas where you can enhance your presentation skills or clarify certain aspects of your portfolio. This feedback enables you to refine your future presentations and improve as a UX/UI designer.
2. Gain Valuable Insights: Feedback from UX team leads or hiring managers can provide valuable insights into their perspective, expectations, and preferences. Understanding how they perceive your portfolio and presentation helps you align your approach and content with their specific needs. It gives you a clearer understanding of what aspects of your work resonated positively and what areas might need further development.
3. Address Any Misunderstandings or Clarifications: Sometimes, due to the complexity or brevity of a presentation, certain aspects of your portfolio may be misunderstood or require further clarification. Feedback allows you to identify such gaps and address them effectively. 
4. Showcase Adaptability and Willingness to Learn: Actively seeking feedback demonstrates your openness to constructive criticism and your desire to continuously improve. UX team leads and hiring managers appreciate candidates who are receptive to feedback and show a growth mindset. It conveys your ability to take feedback onboard, learn from it, and adapt your approach accordingly.
5. Build Relationships and Rapport: Requesting feedback fosters a sense of engagement and collaboration with the individuals who reviewed your portfolio. It opens up an opportunity for dialogue, allowing you to build rapport with UX professionals and potentially establish a mentorship or networking connection. Positive interactions resulting from feedback requests can leave a lasting impression and increase your chances of further professional opportunities.

When asking for feedback, be specific about the areas you would like feedback on, such as presentation style, clarity of communication, or specific projects. Be open-minded, receptive, and grateful for the feedback provided. Take note of any suggestions or recommendations and use them to refine your portfolio, presentation skills, and overall approach.

Key Takeaways

• A well-crafted UX portfolio is crucial for UX/UI designers to stand out in the competitive job market.
• A UX portfolio demonstrates expertise, problem-solving abilities, and design process to potential employers.
• Key aspects employers look for in a portfolio presentation include the candidate's role, design process and methodology, visual and interaction design skills, adaptability and growth mindset, and measurable impact and results.
• Presenting the portfolio in a slide deck format during interviews is recommended, emphasizing visuals and key insights.
• Asking for feedback after a portfolio presentation is important for self-reflection, gaining insights, addressing misunderstandings, showcasing adaptability, and building relationships with UX professionals.