Should UX Researchers have a portfolio?

Why and how to showcase your skills and tell your story.

At its heart, a portfolio is a collection of work presented in a way that summarizes what you can do. These days it is often in the format of a slide deck that can be presented to a room (think PowerPoint, Keynote, or Slides).

There has been debate about whether or not UX researchers should have portfolios — they are after all an artifact common in design and other fields where the work product can often be assessed (at least in part) visually, and research is less about what you see than about what it means.

It’s fine for a researcher to stand by the position that a portfolio isn’t necessary to highlight their experience and ability, but I also think it’s fine for a hiring manager to prefer a candidate who has one.

Why? Because your ability to communicate what you’ve done and what you’ve learned in an impactful and effective format is a valid thing for that manager to want to assess.

If you get a job doing UX research, chances are high you’ll need to make a deck at some point. Even when I worked for a consultancy and had visual designers assigned to help me with deliverables on most projects, I occasionally had to produce something visual(ish) myself. Your portfolio demonstrates, aside from the processes and outcomes you’ll be presenting in it, that you can formulate an engaging story. Don’t panic. Your research portfolio doesn’t have to be visually stimulating. Go for clean and uncluttered slides, even if it’s almost all text, and you’ll be fine. How do you get started?

Choosing Content

Your portfolio needs content, first and foremost. Pick 2 to 5 projects to share; class projects if that’s what you have. Be selective. Your portfolio isn’t the place for listing all the things you’ve ever done. Two is totally adequate if they are strong examples, or honestly, if that’s all you have.

Ideally, the projects you pick should use different methods. If you’ve only ever used one method then pick projects that are different in some other way — they were with different populations or had different stakeholder challenges, for example. The point here is to highlight your range. You’re not a one-trick-pony, you’re someone who can adapt and apply the skills needed to solve the problem you’re given.

On that note, it’s nice to have a short section about yourself. Include your education and/or work history by noting the names of the institutions you attended or were employed by. You don’t need dates here. Decide if you are comfortable sharing a little tidbit like where you grew up or what you like to do in your spare time.

Breaking Down Each Story

You will want to be able to walk people through each project in a predictable way — this is especially helpful if you have more than three projects and not enough time to go through them all and end up skipping or jumping between them in your deck. I recommend a simple 3-slide per project format. Feel free to deviate, especially if you have some complex, multi-stage work to show. This is just a great place to start.

An important note: Before you include anything in your slides make sure it is not violating anyone’s personal privacy or breaking confidentiality agreements. You may need to blur images or speak abstractly about certain facets of the work. As a researcher this is hopefully something you already knew.

• Slide 1: Introduce the project. Name the essential problem, or state the request of the client or stakeholders. Include the number of people who helped you on this project and the role you played. You don’t have to name your teammates, but you can if you want to. There is some argument to be made that they are potential competition for the same job though, so while you shouldn’t take credit for something other people did, you certainly don’t have to provide names and contact details.
• Slide 2: Briefly explain the method/s used and the rational behind choosing them. Any challenges you overcame (like a difficult recruit) could go here as well. Use the presenter notes section to capture any details that don't easily fit on the slide. You don’t need to fill the space with information. This is often the hardest thing for researchers — but please hold back. You’ll be in the room so can answer any questions or fill in any blanks in person. Your ability to reduce large amounts of content down to the salient points will be appreciated.
• Slide 3: Brag about the outcomes. Really hit the highpoints of what came of this work. Not just what was discovered, but what it meant to discover it. For junior roles it may be enough to show that you shed new light on an under-appreciated topic, but for higher level roles you need to explain how the thing you learned then allowed for some important change.

Repeat this for each project. Don’t forget that in front of all this you need a couple “About Me” slides and, importantly, a title slide with your name in nice big font and a way to contact you (probably email).

Presenting with Confidence

Practice presenting your portfolio. Outloud. I can’t break that down any more simply.

Updating your Portfolio

Once you’ve landed that great new job, don’t forget about your portfolio. Keep notes about the work you’re doing and what impact it’s making. Honestly, you probably won’t really touch your portfolio slides as long as you have a gig, but keeping notes in whatever way you like to keep notes for yourself will be extremely useful when you find yourself opening up that Slides file again.

Good luck! Ask any questions in the comments and I (or other helpful people) will try to address them.