If you are looking for a new job, your UX design portfolio and its presentation will play a critical part in the process. A well-constructed portfolio can be the difference between landing a job or being passed over for an interview, so it's crucial to put time and effort into building a strong one.
The best UX design portfolios look professional, demonstrating high levels of skill and experience, articulating the journey as well as the final impact of your work.
We've done our round-up of some of the best platforms and websites to ensure your UX design portfolio presentation will let you stand out from the crowd!
Wix
Wix helps you create a professional and clean website for prospective employers to access your portfolio quickly. 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 offers a variety of templates to choose from if you're feeling creative, but if you want a quick fix, there are even ready-made 'UX portfolios' as an easy choice. 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 remains free, but premium plans allow for more storage, your own domain name and removal of ads.
Behance
Behance is a fantastic place to showcase creative work and aims to help maximise exposure for 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 UX and UI network. The site layout allows you to add more content focused on the process behind your design journey and design decisions, as well as the finalised product- essential when creating a successful portfolio.
Cost: Behance is free for any user, regardless of their discipline. There are no limitations to the number of projects a user can create or upload.
WordPress
WordPress is one of the most popular CMS's and the blog of choice for many Fortune 500 companies. 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. There are plenty of online tutorials to help create the best presentation for your UX portfolio needs, and most importantly, it's free (with the option to pay more for a more extensive range of designs).
Why it's popular: WordPress offers a wide range 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 for design and functionality, giving you the freedom to make your site as unique as you wish.
Cost: WordPress is free at www.wordpress.com, whereas at www.wordpess.org there is an annual fee to have your domain name. www.wordpress.com also allows you to pay and upgrade, offering more features and templates.
Creativepool
Creativepool is a platform to showcase and present users' work alongside other functions, such as networking and sourcing talent. Its heavy emphasis on networking means it's a popular site for agencies, brands, organisations and individuals to connect and collaborate.
Why it's popular: Creative pool has a job and hiring section on the site, which means UI and UX designers cannot only present their portfolios but also potentially pick up work in the process.
Cost: You can obtain a free basic account. However, there are more benefits to having a pro account, such as; free job postings, press release distribution, unrestricted searching, profile reports and sponsored listings.
Slideshare
Slideshare became part of LinkedIn in 2012 and is a hosting service where 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. Initially, the site was created for businesses to share work and information confidentially, but now many people share publically on the site. Large audiences 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 its easy accessibility to LinkedIn. Even though using a PowerPoint slide/ PDF isn't the most interactive way to showcase your work, thousands of existing UX portfolios are available to view publicly on Slideshare.
Cost: One of Slideshare's main bonuses is that it is entirely free. Even some of the features you previously had to purchase (e.g. analytics) have now become free.
Carbonmade
Carbonmade is a quick and straightforward way to create an online portfolio. It eliminates the hassle and makes the process as simple as possible by having a vast range of templates for you to choose from. There are free portfolio options; however, like most competitive sites, you have the opportunity 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 for building a portfolio amongst our UX network. However, there are still plenty of UX and UI portfolios on the platform. The site is ideal if you want something simple, quick and easy to use, but it can be limiting if you want a unique and genuinely eye-catching portfolio.
Cost: Carbonmade has a basic free package and 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 its website, proudly contributing to the global design community and creating exposure for various designers. The site displays a range of design disciplines, from industrial, modelling, UX, architecture, illustration, and much more. Their job board has clients 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 must apply to showcase work and use the forum. It is effortless to navigate and offers a great platform to connect with other industry professionals.
Cost: Coroflot is free to use; however, you must make it into the design clique first, and there's no guarantee of that!
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; users can share, like, and comment on images, 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 peeks and work in progress.
Why it's popular: Dribbble is excellent for UX inspiration and allows the option to convey your creativity and passion further. 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 present your portfolio quickly and effectively. Adobe portfolio is used by various designers; (graphics, typography, illustration, photography etc.) as well as 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 professional coding skills, so it saves time but still looks slick.
Cost: If you are a Creative Cloud member, your Adobe portfolio is free as part of your subscription (You don't have to purchase the complete Creative Cloud bundle to receive the free usage of adobe portfolio).
Squarespace
Squarespace is similar to WordPress in that you can create your 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, minimalistic, and heavily graphics/image-orientated space- 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 creating some of the best 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 have to pay to utilise the site, you can get a free trial to explore the platform's capabilities before making any financial commitments.
Although having a solid UX portfolio and presenting it in its best light is essential to your UX job search, it will not magically land you a job. It's only the start of your journey. Finding the jobs to apply for, learning more about the company and being able to sell yourself and the value of your skills are the next steps you need to know!
If you need more help finding a suitable role and want guidance and support in finding a new UX job, contact us – we have multiple UX and UI jobs throughout the UK, US and Europe, all needing top talent like you!
Consortia is a specialist UI UX Recruitment Agency with over 10 years' of experience. We have a dedicated team of UI UX recruiters who understand the UX design space's job market and love to make connections between candidates and clients!
Are you looking for User Experience Jobs to make your next move or step up? Get in touch. Alternatively, contact our expert User Experience consultants to send us a brief.