Portfolio Redesign
From Cookie-Cutter to Storytelling-Driven
Timeline October 2024
Role UX Designer and Web Designer
The Challenge
One thing that changed was when I had read an article in Medium called ‘Only 30 Seconds to Reject Your Portfolio?’” It’s called "Common Mistakes Designers Should Avoid to Make the First Cut in UX Hiring." Then, I read through it and something about my portfolio became clear: It wasn’t doing what I thought it was supposed to do. Instead it was a checklist of technical accomplishments with no interesting story behind my work.
When I read my own case studies, it was clear: Usually, what happens is I'd end up falling into the habit of summing up my process into a list of steps, and never get to the more interesting aspects of the 'why' along with the journey that led to those decisions. It felt uninspiring. I had been trying to demonstrate all of my technical abilities, but none of my design process, which is what hiring managers try to connect with.
Identifying the problem
After I realized this, I went back to my portfolio and re-evaluated each case study based on these factors. And, the common thread throughout: I was too technical, the tools I used, the steps I took, but I wasn't telling a story. In my portfolio, I did not have all of the narrative which would explain how I made decisions, or how I decided what those decisions would impact and when.
After all, I suspected this lack of storytelling was why hiring managers weren’t engaging with my portfolio. To validate this, I asked some trusted friends and colleagues what they thought of both the content and the design of my portfolio.
Gathering Peer’s Feedback
Visual Design & Readability:
It was too hard to read the text over the graphics.
It was too left heavy and the gutters were too much as such the composition seems unbalanced.
Typography Hierarchy:
My project title, “HerAlert”, was very high concept, but it did not seem to aligned with anything else, which left me with an off balanced feeling.
Headings like ‘Timeline’ and ‘Collaboration’, for example, were too bold – they get in the way of overshadowing the headings and title, not following the hierarchy.
Responsiveness & Flow:
For what seemed like no reason, my text containers weren’t responsive and overflowed on smaller screens.
I could not clearly flow one project to the following one, and therefore it was harder for users to browse further of my work.
Content Feedback:
The current case study content felt like a cookie-cutter checklist: “I just learned about the problem, interviewed, orgnaized personas, prototypes, etc.”
I wasn’t telling a story, I was actually listing technical steps, which made it more difficult to connect to all the reasons I chose to do things in a particular way.
Non designers weren’t drawn into the narrative of the game, as it seemed too mechanical.
Redefining Approach: Crafting a Story
I collected this feedback, and it was pretty clear that I had to scrap everything in terms of design and the story in my portfolio. I have decided to change my case studies from being a list of steps to being more about narrative storytelling, providing context on my design process.
I ripped up the content and spent days rewriting, taking the technical descriptions from my descriptions of the problem I was solving, the decisions I made in designing the solution, and the impact of those decisions and turning them into stories. I wanted anyone to be able to access my work, not just UX designers, and visit my portfolio.
A/B Testing My New Narrative
Then now with the content rewritten I wanted it to resonate with a larger audience. I conducted A/B testing with two versions of my portfolio: One is with the original, technical content, and the other is with the newly rewritten, narrative driven case studies.
The results were definitive: Most of the time the narrative version was preferred, especially by non-designers. It made them feel more connected to the story, and better understanding the why behind my decisions instead of just seeing a list of steps. The feedback also said that being able to follow along in the new narrative format made the case studies more digestible, since they could see how I thought things through.
Old
New
Implementing Design Feedback: Straight to the CMS
After getting the insights from my peers, I went in to redesign the visuals of my portfolio. Instead of starting with wireframes in Figma, I decided to go directly into Squarespace.
I focused on:
Typography Hierarchy: I revamped the typography so the titles, headings, and subheadings were more clearly separated, to keep proper visual flow.
Layout & Spacing: To balance the layout, I decreased the size of the large gutter space and made the visuals less “left heavy.”
Responsiveness: I corrected the issues on the text container so that the layout will be responsive then I adjusted the design to suit different screen sizes.
Navigation & Flow: For the navigation, I added interaction elements, such as “Next Project” button to help transit from one project to another.
A Portfolio That Tells My Story
Focusing on traditional narrative storytelling and implementing feedback, my portfolio went beyond a technical showcase. Now it tells a story of problem-solving, design thinking, and user impact. The narrative-driven content enabled me to connect together the technological parts of UX design and more general, non-designers.
All feedback on the redesigned portfolio was extremely positive. When my friends, colleagues and test users saw those new case studies, everyone commented on how easier it was for them to understand why I had made certain design decisions and how those decisions affected the end user.
Higher engagement: A 25% increase in user engagement with my portfolio as users found the story-driven case studies more engaging and easier to follow.
Better clarity: Non-designers felt they understood my process better, and they were able to follow along with the flow of my design decisions.
What I Learned: Storytelling is Key
I learned through this process that as important as having technical skill in design is having the ability to tell a story. A good story is really important, because it allows people to understand your process, connect to your work and see the human side of design. It’s not just about displaying technical skills — it’s about communicating the what and the why of the work, and how it ultimately helps users.