The portfolio is one of the most important factors in the job application process. As far as employers are concerned, you're only as good as your portfolio! A well executed UX portfolio looks professional and helps demonstrate your level of skill, ability and breadth of experience within the industry. But not everyone has the money, time, or skills to create their portfolio from scratch, which is why online templates offer an ideal solution. We’ve taken a look at some of the best options available to help get you on your way!
Wix
Wix helps you to create a professional and clean website and is aimed at both professional designers and amateurs. It offers a variety of highly innovative templates and ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) to create a unique, dynamic and robust website in just a few minutes.
Why it’s popular: Wix has features such as Wix ADI and Wix Editor which can change the flexibility and personalisation of the site. Wix doesn’t hinder your design choices; just because it helps you when creating your designs it doesn’t mean that it hinders your creative freedom. As a UX professional you should still be able to ensure that your site has all information presented just as you wish.
Cost: Their basic plan is free with upgrade options available to allow for more storage, your own domain name and removal of ads.
Behance
Behance is one of the leading online platforms to showcase and deliver creative work and aims to help maximise exposure for both students and professionals online. It is part of the adobe family and prides itself on being one of the leading online platforms to expose and promote creativity. The site attracts millions of visitors from across the world including small, medium and large organisations as well as individuals.
Why it’s popular: Behance is a popular choice for many UX and UI designers as it has a large number of UX and UI members. The layout of the site allows you to add more content focused on the process behind your design journey and design decisions as well as just the finalised product- something that is essential when creating a successful portfolio.
Cost: Behance is free for any user, regardless of their discipline. There are no limitations to the amount of projects a user can create or upload.
WordPress
WordPress, one of the most popular CMS’s out there and the blog of choice for companies such as the New York Times and CNN. Although WordPress allows designers to code their own site, it also stands out amongst its competitors for being one of the most user friendly sites for non professionals to utilise. There are plenty of online tutorials to help create the best site for your portfolio needs and most importantly, it’s free (with the option to pay more for a larger range of designs).
Why it’s popular: WordPress offers a multitude of themes ideal for portfolios (many of which are preferred by UX and UI communities) and is extremely easy to manage. It’s also fully customisable both in terms of design and functionality giving you the freedom to make your site as unique as you.
Cost: WordPress is free at www.wordpress.com whereas at www.wordpess.org there is an annual fee in order to have your own domain name. www.wordpress.com also gives you the option to pay and upgrade offering more features and templates.
Creativepool
Creativepool is ultimately a platform to showcase users work and has a heavy emphasis on networking’. Agencies, brands, organisations and individuals connect with one another sharing their work and skills, via the visual network.
Why it’s popular: The fact that Creative pool offers numerous UI and UX professionals’ jobs ultimately means that there is a large quantity of designers who also use it to create their portfolio.
Cost: You can obtain a free basic account, however there are more available benefits to having a pro account, such as; free job postings, press release distribution, unrestricted searching, profile reports and sponsored listings.
Slideshare
Slideshare was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012 and is a hosting service whereby users can upload files such as PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote, or Open Document presentations, both privately and publically. Slideshare allows users to upload and share slideshows. Originally the site was created for businesses to privately share work and information but increasingly now many people share publically on the site. Surprisingly large audiences do view the slides, with 60 million users and 159 monthly page views.
Why it’s popular: One of the main benefits of having your portfolio on slideshare is it’s easy accessibility to LinkedIn. It's also free! Even though using a PowerPoint slide/ PDF isn’t the most interactive way to showcase your work, there are still thousands of existing UX portfolios available to view publically on slideshare.
Cost: One of the main bonuses of slideshare is the fact that it is completely free, even some of the features that you previously had to purchase (e.g. analytics) have now also become free.
Carbonmade
Carbonmade is a quick and simple way to create an online portfolio. It gets rid of the hassle and makes the process as simple as possible by having a huge range of templates for you to choose from. There are free portfolio options however like most competitive sites you have the option to upgrade to allow for more project space.
Why it’s popular: It has to be said that Carbonmade doesn't seem to be the most popular site building a portfolio, however there is still a large number of UX and UI portfolios within the platform. The site is ideal if you want something simple, quick and easy to use, but can be limiting if you want a unique and eye catching portfolio.
Cost: Carbonmade has a basic free package, as well as the option to upgrade to three different types of premium accounts. These offer extras such as the addition of extra projects, stats, extra personalisation and support.
Coroflot
Coroflot displays a range of portfolios on their website, proudly contributing to the global design community and creating exposure for a range of designers. The site displays a range of design disciplines, from industrial, modelling, UX, architecture, illustration, and much more. Their job board has cliental such as, Nike, Song, Microsoft, Fuseproject, and Nokia, as well as local operations.
Why it’s popular: Coroflot boasts one of the largest pools of portfolios in the world and attracts numerous artists, designers and UX professionals. The platform operates with rigorous standards and designers have apply to showcase work and use the platofrm. It is extremely easy to navigate and offers a great platform to make connections with other professionals in the industry.
Cost: Coroflot is free to use, however this doesn’t mean you are guaranteed to be accepted into their design clique!
Dribbble
Dribbble is one of the most fun and creative design communities out there. The platform describes itself as “the place to show and tell, promote, discover, and explore design”. The homepage of Dribbble acts as a showcase for work housed on the site; images that can be shares liked and commented on, all creating exposure. Dribbble also has a level of exclusivity whereby artists have to earn the right to post content. Dribbble has been compared to Behance although people usually view Behance as more suitable for displaying case studies, whereas Dribbble is perfect for sneak peaks, and work in progress.
Why it’s popular: Dribbble is not only great for UX inspiration, but is also allows for the option to further convey your creativity and passion. With things such as the 100 Daily UI Challenge, it adds something extra to your profile, showing that you are passionate about UI/UX even if you don’t manage to complete it!
Cost: Dribbble offers a free, basic package as well as pro and team packages depending on your needs.To retain the standard and exclusivity of the platform, Dribbble requires you to be invited by another member before you become a member yourself.
Adobe Portfolio
Adobe portfolio is a great way to create your portfolio quickly and effectively. Although Adobe portfolio is used by a range of designers; (graphics, typography, illustration, photography etc.) and is commonly used amongst UX and UI professionals. It has a range of elegant layouts and easy navigation making it one of the most popular choices within the industry.
Why it’s popular: Adobe portfolio is one of the most popular choices for building your portfolio. It has fantastic UI and is great if you are already familiar with the Adobe Family. It also doesn’t require any skilled coding skills so saves time but is still professional looking.
Cost: If you are a Creative Cloud member then your Adobe portfolio is free as part of your subscription (You don’t have to purchase the full Creative Cloud bundle in order to receive the free usage of adobe portfolio).
Squarespace
Squarespace is similar to WordPress in that you can create your own website using a range of templates and acquire your own domain name. Squarespace has over 1 million users and is particularly popular for users opting for a clean looking minimalistic, and heavily graphics/image orientated- ideal for UX and UI designers.
Why it’s popular: Some of Squarespace’s main benefits are; its fast page loads and responsive layout- making it a popular choice for many UX and UI portfolios. Although Squarespace does have some restricted features, these limitations also mean there is less room for error and your website will receive frequent updates.
Cost: Although you do have to pay to utilise the site, you can get a free trial to explore the capabilities of the platform before making any financial commitments.
Are there any other sites you’ve used to build your UX portfolio not mentioned here? Tweet us @Consortia. If it’s UX jobs you’re after, we can help with that too!
Consortia is a specialist User Experience Recruitment Agency with over 10 years' experience. We place the very best User Experience candidates with the very best clients. Are you interested in a new role as a UX Designer? Alternatively, contact our expert User Experience consultants to send us a brief.
