portfolios matter: building the portfolio to win the job
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BUILDING the PORTFOLIO TO WIN the JOB
PORTFOLIOS MATTER
LYNN TEO Chief Experience Officer
McCann Erickson | @Lynn_Teo
ABOUT ME 15+ years in Experience Design
• User centered design (UCD) • Technology • Communications design • Information design
• Emotion + Function • UX in Ideation • Experiences: Ecommerce
+ Content + Communities
Hybrid Thinking
• Technology-enabled innovation • Global/large scale solutions • Collaborative & process-driven • Transformation of company from
consulting to agency
Transform Business
• Engineering-led • Cross-disciplinary team • Rapid Prototyping &
Usability
Product & Process
Creative Excellence
• Legacy of storytelling • Creating consumer value in
brand relationships • Integrated marketing
Brand Stewardship Design Education
• College of Creative Studies (Detroit)
• MFA Thesis Advisor • Research-based product
development
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1000+ Number of Resumes and Portfolios Reviewed
Portfolios Why do they matter?
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Demonstrate THINKING
Showcase SKILLS
Convey benchmark QUALITY OF WORK
Reveal your WORK STYLE
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Tells me what makes you, YOU
Credits: uxstorytellers.blogspot.com/2009/01/ux-storytellers-connecting-dots.html
10 THINGS to remember when building your portfolio
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Audience
Order of Work
Frame the Problem
Process/Steps
Value of Artifact/Activity
Behind-The-Scenes
What You Did
Quality not Quantity
Design System vs. Instance
Walkthrough Showmanship
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Audience 1 Audience
“I never design a building before I’ve seen the site and met the people who will
be using it.”
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− Frank Lloyd Wright
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A Audience
What are they looking for?
What type of company is it?
Assess their UX footprint & project types
Who are you presenting t?
Who are you presenting to?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting to?
Who are you presenting t?
Who are you presenting to?
UX Lead Project Manager
Front-end Developer
Creative Director
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A Audience
Who are you presenting to?
Who are you presenting t?
What are they looking for?
• UX Methods • Independence • Team player • Work quality
• Process • On-time? • On-budget? • Communication
skills
• Prototyping skills • Iterative design • Agile
• Conceptual Thought • Problem statement • Effectiveness of
solution
UX Lead Project Manager
Front-end Developer
Creative Director
A Audience
Who are you presenting to?
Who are you presenting t?
What type of company is it?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess their UX Footprint
CS Content Strategy
UR User Research
UX User Experience
IxD Interaction
Design
VD Visual Design
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess their UX Footprint
CS Content Strategy
UR User Research
UX User Experience
IxD Interaction
Design
VD Visual Design
THE REALITY: Sub-disciplines aren’t always defined the same way in different organizations/agencies. How does the interviewer view your role? What is considered “the norm” in their organization?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess their UX Footprint
CS Content Strategy
UR User Research
UX User Experience
IxD Interaction
Design
VD Visual Design
THE REALITY: Roles are rarely so clearly segmented. Hybrid roles are the norm. What hybrid combination exists in the organization?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess their UX Footprint
CS Content Strategy
UR User Research
UX User Experience
IxD Interaction
Design
VD Visual Design
MY RECOMMENDATION: Best way to understand what your reviewer is looking for is to clarify skills/activities for the discipline expertise you bring to the table
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Sub-disciplines by skillsets & activities
CS Content Strategy
UR User Research
UX User Experience
IxD Interaction
Design
VD Visual Design
• Taxonomy • CMS Systems • IA • Content
Governance
• Ethnography • Findings Analysis • Personas • Trends • Opportunity
Landscape • Usability Testing
• Customer Journey
Mapping • Task Flows &
Needs Analysis • Feature and
functionality • Interface Design
• Prototyping • Mobile and Web
Specializations • Emerging
technologies • Touchscreen/
kiosks/augmented reality/NUI
• Digital design • Storyboards &
narratives • Visual concepting
A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess Types of Projects
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Assess Types of Projects
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Order of Work 2 Order of Work
“The proper order of things is often a mystery to me. You, too?”
− Cheshire Cat
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Vary the pace and complexity
Leave a lasting parting impression
Who are you presenting t?
Impress then win over
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Impress then win over
• Start with your strongest work • Pick 2-3 anchor visuals • Walk through “lifecycle” of the
project w/ supporting artifacts • Spend ¼ of your time on first piece
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Engage and sell, sell, sell
W | B | W | W | W | P | W | R
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Engage and sell, sell, sell
W | B | W | W | W | P | W | R
Work (Best)
Background (Lifecycle)
Process (Artifacts)
Work + Result (Success Metrics,
Recent Work)
Work (Variety, Breadth,
Challenges)
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Engage and sell, sell, sell
W | B | W | W | W | P | W | R
Sandwich Effect
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Engage and sell, sell, sell
W | B | W | W | W | P | W | R
Flexible Middle
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Vary the pace and complexity
• In the “flexible middle”, aim for
breadth to convey your versatility • Use this section to encourage
dialogue with the reviewer • Deep dive selectively
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Who are you presenting t?
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A Audience
Engage and sell, sell, sell
Who are you presenting t?
Leave a lasting parting impression
• Seal the deal with your most recent
work that best aligns with your role at the organization
• Underscore why the project was a success (stats, business metrics, client / industry reviews)
• Reinforce your role in achieving it
http://www.repeattimerapp.com/how/
http://www.repeattimerapp.com/how/
http://www.repeattimerapp.com/how/
Frame the Problem
3 Frame Problem
“He who asks a question may be a fool for five minutes, but he who never asks a
question remains a fool forever.”
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− Tim Connelly
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A Audience
Who are you presenting to?
Who are you presenting t?
Demonstrate your “special powers”
Analytical Skills
Business Savvy
User Advocate
Results Oriented
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http://www.nathanbilbao.com/
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Who are you presenting t? http://dicksonfong.com/portfolio.html
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Who are you presenting t? User Modes as Basis of Feature Sets
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Who are you presenting t? Demonstrate understanding of user needs & behaviors
Process/Steps 4 Process/Steps
“A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best
way to get there.”
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− H. Stanley Judd
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A Audience
Highlight partners and deliverables
Identify activities, artifacts, teams
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Create your version of a process map
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Research
UX
Content
Visual Des
Site Dev/Tech
Content Recommendation
Process Flows Checkpoint use cases with development Team
Page and Module Template Definition
Design Exploration Design Page Comps for key screens
Discovery High Level Design Detailed Design Development
Interaction Design
Content Assessment
Scenarios & Tasks
QA/ Testing Tech Assessment Checkpoint use cases and technologies (Ajax, Flash, etc.) with creative team
Interactive Prototype
Paper prototype testing
Style Guide Prototype Checkpoint
Wireframes
Personas
Screen Sketches
Documentation
Value of Artifact/Activity
5 Artifact
“Everyone hears only what he understands.”
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− Johann Wolfgang van Goethe
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
Show how UX artifacts & activities led to informed design decisions
UX Artifacts that influence design • Content audit • Ethnography or in-context studies • Personas • Journey Maps • Wireframes • Testing/Iterative Design
http://www.affectivedesign.org/archives/948
Round 1 Testing -- “How To” page Round 2 Testing -- “How To” page
Materials and Tools became a tab in the final design
Users preferred to see substeps in list format at the top of the page
“I need” became a Materials and Tools section in the final version
Right rail used predominantly to surface related projects
Credit: Elaine Shultz
http://adaptivepath.com/ideas/the-anatomy-of-an-experience-map
http://adaptivepath.com/ideas/the-anatomy-of-an-experience-map
http://adaptivepath.com/ideas/the-anatomy-of-an-experience-map
Behind the Scenes
6 Behind Scenes
“The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
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− Arthur Ashe
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A Audience
Include sketches, photos, prior versions
Capture the environment
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
1-2 page collage max
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Ethnography
Credit: Luci Laffitte
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Ethnography
http://simondoggett.com/#a38/custom_plain
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Finding points to INNOVATE & DELIGHT Help people lead better LIVES
http://simondoggett.com/#a38/custom_plain
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Finding points to INNOVATE & DELIGHT Help people lead better LIVES
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Help people lead better LIVES
What You Did 7 What You Did
“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other
people.”
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− Virginia Woolf
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A Audience
What were your deliverables?
What decisions did you drive?
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Be specific about your role
What (new) role would be appealing?
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A Audience
What were your deliverables?
Who are you presenting t?
Be specific about your role
• What were you responsible for? • Who were your partners and how did
you collaborate with them? • Which documents were joint efforts?
UX Team
Full Team
You You + (?)
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A Audience
What were your deliverables?
Who are you presenting t?
What were your deliverables?
• Are there different levels of effort
for each deliverable? • What tools did you use? • How were your deliverables shared
with the client?
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A Audience
What were your deliverables?
Who are you presenting t?
What decisions did you drive?
• How were you an advocate for the
user? Did you participate in any user research activities “first-hand”?
• How did you help solve a design impasse?
• Did you demonstrate your role championing iterative design?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
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A Audience
Who are you presenting t?
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A Audience
What were your deliverables?
Who are you presenting t?
What new role would be appealing?
• Emphasize competency and
demonstrate readiness for step-up • The last piece of work you share
should build a case for expanded responsibilities
Quality not Quantity
8 Quality
“Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be
counted counts.”
− Einstein
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A Audience
Nix mediocre work
Eliminate “similar” work samples
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Refrain from trying to show too much
Pay attention to details
Design System vs. Instance
9 Design System
“It is impossible, in principle, to explain any pattern by invoking a single
quantity”
− Gregory Bateson
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A Audience
Use real text whenever possible
Show templates & reusable components
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Show the design system
Pay attention to details
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Show points of collaboration
presenting t?
Pay attention to details
http://unify.eightshapes.com/uploads/documents/EightShapesUnifySample.DesignSpecification.pdf
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Show points of collaboration
presenting t?
Pay attention to details
http://unify.eightshapes.com/uploads/documents/EightShapesUnifySample.DesignSpecification.pdf
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Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Pay attention to details
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/
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Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Pay attention to details
http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2007/01/12/free-css-layouts-and-templates/
Walkthrough Showmanship
10 Design System
“When someone walks on stage for a performance and has charisma,
everyone is convinced that he has personality.”
− Lukas Foss
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A Audience
Rehearse your pitch
Aim for polish & aesthetic appeal
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Portfolio is a narrative of your skills
Pay attention to details Include at least one prototype
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A Audience
Rehearse your pitch
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Portfolio is a narrative of your skills
Pay attention to details Include at least one prototype
• Determine which projects showcase
specific UX skills • Write brief summaries to describe
each project so the artifact communicates without voiceover
• For online portfolios, make sure your site is easy to navigate (!)
Who are you presenting t? http://www.helloerik.com/ux-portfolio-user-experience-examples
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A Audience
Rehearse your pitch
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Rehearse your pitch
Pay attention to details Include at least one prototype
• You can never be too prepared • Role-play with a friend • Strike a balance between a
conversation and an interview • The portfolio review is perfect for
selling your personality and communication skills
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Who are you presenting t?
Adopt a collaborative stance during portfolio review. Ask if you can sit next to him/her during the walkthrough to go over the work together
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A Audience
Rehearse your pitch
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Aim for polish & aesthetic appeal
Pay attention to details Include at least one prototype
• No careless typos • Adopt the posture of an expert • A beautifully-designed portfolio will
never hurt
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Who are you presenting t?
http://www.nettamarshall.com/#portfolio
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A Audience
Rehearse your pitch
Show points of collaboration
Who are you presenting t?
Include at least one prototype
Pay attention to details Include at least one prototype
• Can’t replicate interactions on paper • Brings your work to life • If you have a client presentation
video, credit the team for the effort and use it to demonstrate your contribution
Go get that dream job :-)
LYNN TEO Chief Experience Officer
McCann New York lynn.teo@mccann.com
@Lynn_Teo
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