Personal Portfolio

Project goal

Have an online presence showcasing my work experience in the UX/design space, projects with my thought process, methodology and execution as well as related courses I have completed.

What I did

– User research with multinational employer (degree apprenticeship role) and university admissions officer (university degree role)

– Empathy maps

– Personas with goals needs and frustrations

– AS IS journey maps

– Wireframing

– Prototyping

– WordPress installation and theme layout

Outcome

A responsive design online portfolio designed to easily showcase my projects and work experience.

The detail

User research

My research goal was to produce knowledge about people who have an interest in UX portfolios to assess and select students for either UX degree apprenticeships in companies or UX degree in universities. These research insights would drive both the content and design of my portfolio. I have interviewed a senior UX designer responsible for assessing and selecting UX degree apprentices in a global consultancy and a university teacher. I went on to create a Mural board to support my remote interviews, making them more interactive and engaging.

Above: Research plan and interview in Mural with global consultancy recruiter.

Above: Research plan and interview in Mural with art university teacher.

Empathising with users

Capturing my target users’ overall sentiment and thinking helps me connect with them and create the foundations for a more detailed capture of needs, goals and frustrations – the personas.

Personas

Personas summarise the goals, needs and frustrations of my target users, which in this case are looking at portfolios to assess potential students’ strengths and suitability for a Degree Apprenticeship or university degree.

Journey maps

Drawing my target users’ journey in assessing and selecting potential students reveals opportunities and insights into when students’ portfolios come into play.

Ideate

Ideating the portfolio structure to address user needs identified in the research ensures a fit for purpose portfolio.

Wireframing

Using Sketch I created a site map, navigation and information architecture of my personal portfolio website. To depict the layout and content of pages and provide a high-level site, content and navigation overview.