Quick wins to make your design portfolio stand out

Some of you might be applying to design jobs right now. There are LOTS of companies hiring right now... but also lots of designers and competition!
Here, I’ll share some tips to make your portfolio stand out.
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//LINKS
Looking for 1:1 mentorship or feedback on your portfolio? Book a session with me on Superpeer: superpeer.com/femke
Looking for a new design job? Browse my job board of fresh product design roles: pallet.xyz/list/femkedesign-j...
Try Webflow: webflow.grsm.io/1125819
Portfolio links mentioned:
www.abbigailrose.com/
ibukunnofiu.com/ui-ux-portfolio/
www.justinfarrugia.com/about
eileensantiago.com/
www.jaimewrightdesign.com/about
kylefiedler.com/values
prizigner.webflow.io/
//TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
2:05 - Have a well designed portfolio
5:57 - Position yourself for the job you want
8:06 - Anything outside of your design projects you can highlight?
9:58 - List your design values or principles
11:16 - Include testimonials or feedback
12:29 - Outro
// MORE
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Website: www.femke.design
Podcast: www.designlife.fm/
Twitter: / femkesvs
Instagram: / femkedotdesign
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Videos are edited by Molen Audiovisual: / molen.audiovisual
Thumbnails are designed by Flo Wong: www.flowong.com/
//GET STARTED IN UX
Visit this link for a list of curated UX Design resources and tools: www.femke.design/resources

[@prizigner]

Thanks for including my portfolio Femke! Quite a surprise for me haha! Amazing quick bits of wins. Will surely try to make good use of these.

[@femkedesign]

Priyank!!! Yes I was really impressed :)

[@lengl1125]

Great idea adding the testimonials Priyank!

[@FreakinRedVines]

Currently working on my portfolio and found this to be super helpful. Thanks!

[@user-oj3ny2ds1d]

I’m an undergraduate student in product design and currently working on my portfolio... Your tutorials are superb! Thank you for sharing your insights🥰 And stay healthy🌱🌱

[@femkedesign]

Best of luck!

[@you_are_welcome97]

Super helpful, you provided us with many insightful tips Thanks!!

[@AhmetEfeoglu]

I really like the testimonials approach especially for building social proof. I listed the icons of the brands I worked with in the past but a written testimonial with the message CTA so people would know it is real might increase credibility. Great video I appreciate it👍

[@femkedesign]

Awesome! I love that approach :)

[@ibukun_nofiu]

Hey Femke, Thanks for including my portfolio, an aspiring mentee just sent it to me. Your videos are really nice to watch 👍🏾

[@femkedesign]

Hey Ibukun! Thank you!

[@ASnowWhiteElephant]

Fantastic video! I’ve been freelancing since graduating in 2019 but am looking to revamp my portfolio and start applying mid-year. I’ve definitely overlooked the value of including testimonials on my site! I have so much experience working with such a variety of clients ( from non profits to global corporations) and I should really showcase their feedback!

[@femkedesign]

Yes absolutely!

[@rakibkowshar7876]

Awesome Femke

[@felipebastos4060]

You've been sooo helpfull! Im really apreciate your skills.Thanks, thanks, thanks! Regards from Brazil ;)

[@femkedesign]

Happy to help!

[@rosselli1986]

Thank you for the tips, I just subscribed to your channel! Also, going to revisit my portfolio now :)

[@mariaconcepcionsantiago1945]

Thank you.

[@amberswartz3876]

Thank you Femke! Do you have any recommendations for showcasing larger, or rougher parts of the work. Things like journey mapping, service blueprints, or even annotated flows of a larger experience? As nice as the mobile frame looks, even with work I have done specifically for mobile, it tends to make the focus all about UI, which I can do, but it's not what I enjoy most. Do you have any recommendations for tying together the fidelity of the UI in its end state while not taking focus away from the full process or a larger mapping of the work done? 😃

[@femkedesign]

Hey Amber! Yeah I think you can totally go into showcasing these kinds of visuals in your case study. These visuals are often complex so I do encourage either zooming in/pulling out interesting parts or making the image enlargeable for the visitor to be able to see more detail. I also think you can show some of the final UI at the start and end of a case study, and have the inbetween visuals be more process oriented as you walk through your process.

[@Sehri58]

I am just starting to get into UX/UI Design and this video was amazing but also gave me so much anxiety lol If the field is saturated, is it not worth studying for it now? I really do love it and enjoy the work, but I have to make a lot of life changes to move into it, and so im supperrr scared and very conflicted now.

[@femkedesign]

It's hot right now, but that doesn't mean it will stay this way forever. If anything I see it as a sign that design is valued at companies as there are more design jobs than ever!

[@kenishajojo7725]

Can you provide us with internships worldwide for beginners? thank you so much for your contributions to design.

[@femkedesign]

I'm not in a position to hire interns myself, but I try to add internships to my job board when i see them! femkedesign-jobs.pallet.xyz/jobs

[@andresdavidsilva]

Hi, Can you recommend us with further formal study (master or so) for a UX designer please? Thank u so much.

[@femkedesign]

Unfortunately not! I have not done this sort of study myself so cannot recommend something - besides, this is very specific to your location and access to schools near you.

[@kunalbelamkar]

Is it necessary to make a about page or an about section is enough?

[@femkedesign]

About section could work!

[@ajeesh3485]

How to get these testimonials? Does she ask for it and what they post it on linkedin?

[@femkedesign]

You totally can ask :) Once your project or engagement has ended, it's very common to ask for a short testimonial.

[@ajeesh3485]

So this is tough now, i didn't even started

[@femkedesign]

Take it as inspiration! You don't need to do all of these things.

[@johnapple3471]

next intro should be "Sup Bros"

[@femkedesign]

very tempting haha

[@phantomvox951]

Ive seen accountants jumping on UX hype. Easy money

[@femkedesign]

But hard work :)

[@olia9485]

How do we go about when a job post is ask for our portfolio in a PDF form? Do we transfer the whole website in pdf? 😂 just a case study? I see a few jop posts that ask for that and I dont know what to do.

[@femkedesign]

I'm guessing they're asking for a portfolio presentation which would be a couple of case studies presented in a deck - the same as what you would present in an interview when walking through your work. If you don't have this I wouldn't let this hold you back from applying. A quick hack would be to make a one-pager PDF with a little bit about you and a link to your web portfolio for them to see your work.

[@lucielewis6438]

I like your channel a lot but this video has some weird message. At the beginning, you say that the industry became saturated with designers and that junior designers should make good portfolios. But then as an example you show amazing portfolios of mature designers. I couldn’t watch the video till the end. I got very anxious because I clearly can’t present anything like this now.

[@femkedesign]

Hey Lucie! So sorry that this made you feel anxious, that wasn't my intention. Not all of the designers featured in this video are senior. My goal with this is to show good examples as inspiration from junior - senior portfolios. You don't have to do everything mentioned in this video - in fact none of the portfolios I showed had everything I mentioned. You could totally just take one of these eg. High quality thumbnails and apply that to your portfolio to make it stand out. Hope that helps!