As a tech-inclined person with an eye for design, you’re probably familiar with user interface (UI) design. UI designers make fantastic salaries and get to plan out the interfaces we all use in our daily lives. To compete for the top jobs, though, you need to know how to build a UI design portfolio. When you have a competitive UI portfolio, you stand out and get noticed by prospective employers. It can mean the difference between applying for a position and getting an interview.
We’ve put together this guide to help you put your portfolio in order. In this article, we show you the approach that you can use to make sure that your UI portfolio represents you and conveys your skills and knowledge to any hiring managers that review it. By the time you finish our guide, you’ll be ready to start whipping your portfolio into shape and getting ready for your new coding gig.
Pick Projects that Apply to Your Job Search
When you work in UX/UI design, you wind up tackling all sorts of issues. A zillion different software development projects use UX and UI, after all, and so there’s a wide range of approaches and purposes when you set out to design an interface. That’s fine, but not every job needs every approach. You should always make sure that your portfolio includes projects that bear some relevance to the positions for which you’re applying.
Plan your portfolio out to best reflect the hiring companies’ requirements. If you’re looking to get hired by a banking firm to design their mobile apps, you should include relevant projects that address customer interfaces that require heightened security. If you have existing financial projects, so much the better. Your portfolio is going to be your stand-in when the manager reviews applications, so you need to make sure it shows you at your best.
Give Context, and Make Sure Your Projects Are Visual-Heavy
Whether you picked up your UI chops in school or through online training, you can’t be shy about showing them off when you’re looking for a new job. Make sure to include your best features in your portfolio projects, and always include context to explain what the projects do and why you include them. A hiring manager looking at projects with no accompanying explanation might not know how they demonstrate your job suitability.
You should also ensure that you use project that go heavy on visuals. This might seem obvious; you’re dealing with visual and tactile design, after all. But it’s easy to select a project you’re proud of without considering how it will appear to a newcomer. You need to flaunt your visual design prowess in your portfolio and include striking graphics and a grasp of aesthetic concepts. It’ll help you land interviews and jobs.
That’s the deal, peeps. UI design jobs are hot right now, and there are lots of people competing for the gigs. Our guide shows you how to build a UI design portfolio and get your foot in the door. Before long, you’ll be confident and ready to compete for any UI jobs that come along, and your portfolio will shine.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
