Five years ago, I created my UX/UI portfolio. Back then, I was still learning and made a few mistakes, so I wasn’t fully happy with how it turned out. That's why I decided to revise my work and start over again from scratch. While my portfolio re-invention I realized that there were problems on my old portfolio projects that I was not aware of:

1. The projects did not align with my target industries or preferences.

2. Even if the mockups presented were good, they did not take into consideration fully the users' and industry's needs.

So that's were I need to work on now.

My purpose of building more meaningful projects for my portfolio leans on the fact that I want to communicate my ability to create meaningful products for my clients. The better your work you share, the better people will perceive your knowledge and skills (this is something I learned from Austin Kleon's books).

Where do I start?

Though question… so many things to do in so many places. Let's try to focus first on building your projects' main process. Write on a piece of paper what are the main phases you want to make for your project and document, make sure to always document everything.

For example I came with 3 main phases: research, prototype, and portfolio preparation. Let's focus on the first one for now (yeah, I'm tying to follow James Clear's Atomic Habits approach by focusing on a task at a time).

- Ok, we get it, one day at a time. Now let's pick a topic and create a high fidelity mockup and show the world we can use Figma, right?

Not so fast cowboy. Let's make sure the project you want to create (or already have) follow some requirements. Try to ask these questions to evaluate every existing project or idea of project that you have:

1. Does this project reflect your current skills and experience?

2. Are you happy with the result of this project?

3. Is this project within your desired industries?

If any of those questions is answered with a no, give your project a warm goodbye and archive it. If your existing projects survived this round of questions, keep them on your portfolio.

1. Choosing the Correct Topics

Let's do some self analysis and find the topic made for you. Get a piece of paper and write the following data:

Please remember to make this exercise in a brainstorming way, don't overthink what you write on the lists.

1. Primary Skills: Try to find what are the 2 or 3 top skills (no more please). For example, I wrote "UI Design" and "Front End Development" as I studied a mix between computer science and UI/UI Design.

2. Sub Skills: Write down a list of sub-skills that you have, they can be child topics of your primary skills or not. Just write down things that you are good at. For example: Photography, Communication, Web Dev, Prototyping (Figma, Adobe XD), Visual Design, Research.

3. Personality: Try to describe your as if you were a character, mention in a list behaviors, inspiration items and Values. In my case I have "Innovation, Transparency, Disney, Coffee, Travel, Cartoon, Cats and Dogs, Amusement Parks and Cinema".

4. Dream Clients: Now take a moment to think on your dream clients or companies, the sky is the limit. Do not think if you are ready or not for them. In my case I wrote "Apple, Airbnb, Revolut, Cartoon Network, Disney"

5. Markets: Base on your dream clients and your work experience, add the markets you would like to work on or feel comfortable working with. In my case I added "Travel, Entertainment, Finance and Food".

B. Brainstorm Project Ideas

Alright. Now lets mix all the ingredients together!

It is time to make a list of possible projects where are you can work on. Let's start by mixing the information written on the previous step by following the next formula:

Powers (Skill and/or Sub Skill) + Character (Personality, Behaviors, Inspiration and Values) + Conquest (Dream Clients and/or Markets) = Project Idea.

Here are some examples:

• Powers: Prototyping, UX/UI
  Character: Innovative
  Conquest: Travel Industry
  Result: Traveling landing pages
  
  

• Powers: UX/UI, Web Dev
  Character: Playful (I got this from what Cartoons' vibe I get)
  Conquest: TV Industry
  Result: Playful website mockups that showcase interactive features
  
  

• Powers: Research, Prototyping
  Character: Innovative
  Conquest: Finance Industry
  Result: Finance Status Tracking System for Young Professionals
  
  

• Powers: UI Design
  Character: Creative, Magical (this is from Disney)
  Conquest: Travel Industry
  Result: A digital place for magical (non-conventional) places to visit
  
  

• Powers: Prototyping, Research
  Character: Innovative
  Conquest: Travel Industry
  Result: App for local food findings
  
  

• Powers: UX/UI, Research
  Character: Transparency and Innovation
  Conquest: Finance and Travel Industries (yeah, you can add multiple)
  Result: An app for finance tracking while traveling (with currency conversion, budgets and more)
  
  

• Powers: UX
  Character: Innovation
  Conquest: Entertainment
  Result: App for series tracking

C. Pick the winner

Ok, now with your ideas in mind, pick the ones you liked the most (at least 3) and rank from 1 to 10 them using the following criteria:

• Overall Excitement

• Marketability

• Skill-Building

• Portfolio Boosting

• Achievability

For example here is my top 3:

Finance Status Tracking System for Young Professionals

• Overall Excitement: 6

• Marketability: 5

• Skill-Building: 5

• Portfolio Boosting: 6

• Achievability: 7

Total: 29

An app for finance tracking while traveling

• Overall Excitement: 8

• Marketability: 7

• Skill-Building: 6

• Portfolio Boosting: 8

• Achievability: 9

Total: 38

App for local food findings

• Overall Excitement: 7

• Marketability: 5

• Skill-Building: 3

• Portfolio Boosting: 6

• Achievability:9

Total: 30

And the winner is…. An app for finance tracking while traveling!

Next Steps

Now lets get the hands dirty and start creating the project. The idea is to focus on one single project at a time. Here are some things you can do to get started:

1. Research: Deep dive into the target market, user personas, and industry needs. Gather insights and validate your idea.

2. Prototyping: Create wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and an interactive prototype using tools like Figma or Adobe XD.

3. Portfolio Preparation: Document the entire process, showcasing your thought process, challenges, and solutions in a visually engaging way. Highlight your key takeaways and learnings.

Keep in mind that building a UX/UI portfolio can be a challenging but rewarding journey. By focusing on meaningful projects aligned with your skills, values, and target industries, you’ll not only showcase your expertise but also attract the clients and opportunities you truly desire. Remember, it’s all about taking it one step at a time, documenting your process, and always striving for improvement. Good luck!

Bonus

Here are some blank templates if you want to use them!

Choosing the correct topics:

Brainstorm Project Ideas:

Pick the winner: