What should be prepared for an excellent interactive design portfolio?

Spell (Chinese design Director): I think the first thing to understand is why it is necessary to find interactive design, or other design work needs to be a portfolio. From my experience of interviewing various designers, the portfolio is actually a reflection of one's design style and thinking process. So based on this view, let's talk about how to use the portfolio to convey this information.

This article is mainly based on the Silicon Valley industry standards, if there is not exactly the same place in the country and welcome to discuss with me ~

　　1, you solved the problem.

The most common collection I've ever seen, and the most common one I would choose not to do this candidate, usually has a fixed format: come up and say "my process". UX is a science, I would like to ask you in addition to do user research to do wireframe prototype to do the test to do iterations, but also to play me what tricks? I don't need you to repeat that, what I really want to see is how you solved a specific problem with your design.

Maybe you will say that I do is the product manager of the demand, I do is a student project is just a big job, but in fact same, you design a product or product in a function, always to solve a problem. Even if it is a very small example, you have been a friend punctuate design, the design exists also have his reasons, how did you think you got your final solution? That's what I care about.

Here's a chestnut.

I very much like the designer of the firm Metalab was designed by the famous slack | Crunchbase, a firm that financed more than 300 million dollars and valued 2.8 billion a year ago. How did they show their design for the slack?

Yes, you're not mistaken, there's only so much short content. You might say that it's because their reputation doesn't need to be a very advanced portfolio show. Then you are wrong, before doing the slack, Metalab in the Silicon Valley many old-style firm inside, just obscure small firm one, no portfolio, where to customers.

Pull it back. The reason they are a good chestnut is not because they did the design of unicorn startup, but how they showed their own design solution: "How we got people talking." Throughout the layout, they simply show the different trends in their design, do not need them to say too much, and you can feel their thinking in designing products and putting them into the product.

Of course, this chestnut is just to help you realize how to establish a good problem statement. Let others know what you have done at the first sight.

(The back of the portfolio will be more grounding gas, but can not help to see this very good portfolio)

　　2, how do you think and solve the problem

Design is not purely subjective, and interaction design is not. Interactive design emphasizes functionality and emphasizes problem solving. As a person who goes through a lot of work every day, I value your thinking and how you solve the problem.

Grounding gas Point said, is your "process." You may be very puzzled, just the first one is not said that if you come up on the flow I will immediately pass. Well, this process is not more than flow, if you do in this step or list of things you do, tell me I did the user research, and then did a wireframe, and then did a high-fidelity blah blah, so sorry, you still out. Most of the time, what we need is not someone who simply repeats a process, but a person who can say why they need to use the process in a particular scenario, which is the "why" behind the story.

This may sound simple, but I think it is the hardest step in the practice of the portfolio. Because you have no traces of the problem that you solve, the way you use it into the process of describing how you solve the problem.

Here are some tips:

1. Tell a person who is not in the industry what you have done, what methods have been used to solve the problem, and see where they have questions. This is where your story doesn't speak well.

For example, you made an app to help users find a good tea shop nearby (this is a fictional project please don't be too serious why milk tea is not coffee and so on), you interviewed 10 people who love to drink milk tea, then you do a flowchart, and then you do a wireframe, you put the wireframe to the engineers to see, they made some suggestions, You make improvements and then you do high fidelity. Now you're going to put this project in your portfolio.

Get someone to talk about this process, what you do every step of the way. You may be asked: Why do you want to find 10 people who love to drink milk tea, why not a person who does not like to drink? Why do you have to do flowcharts and stuff like that? Then you can make improvements.

So the improved version may be: In order to know who our users are, what pain points they have, we interviewed 10 people. We hope that our app can bring value to those who like to drink tea, so we are interviewing all the fans of milk tea ... (Please open the hole in the back of your mind.)

The point is that you know who your audience is and why you are making decisions about each step.

2. When you can use the diagram to tell the story, use the picture more

You read so many words I wrote so far, I guess I'm going to cry, hahaha. Think I see you portfolio when you are full of words my mood ~! to let me give you a chestnut bar.

Tingyu Li | The feast catering is one of the works of the Dear Meng students listening to rain children, which is also a classroom project. She did some very interesting observation, and then in the portfolio, it was smart to show these processes in images. For example, during her interview with the user, found that the user said to order a napkin will be a long time, she is the image of this part to do out, so that you can feel empathy, but also in-depth said the problem is because the customer is not always in time and the attendant exchange. I think that most of the questions you have about your portfolio may be: What do I do with research? What do I do that doesn't look big? You can feel the way you hear the rain here. (So the student program can also be very interesting and well packaged)

3. Can show the result, must show the result

As just said, the interactive design is not purely subjective, a design has not played his original role, can be measured. For example, a dating site, you do so that users to other users point praise function, the purpose is to enhance communication between users, strengthen the user stickiness, then there is no way to do this thing, can be measured.

I guess you like to see more grounded chestnuts, so I'll use the example of a student. Xuan students have been in the school for the students to do an app, in the process of accumulating a lot of users, so in her portfolio, she clearly wrote the results of their own. I suggest that when you have such a result, you must show it.

4. No one doesn't like surprises.

This is not too much to explain, every time you see the applicant's portfolio inside there are very imaginative little eggs, it will certainly be a bonus sub-item.

To a good friend of my portfolio Amway, this is a very good collection of works, eggs please find themselves. Shuang ' s Portfolio

　　3, what kind of designer are you?

In fact, I look at your portfolio, the most want to know is what kind of designer are you? There is no style of their own to analyze the problem of how to deal with the problem.

You might say that as an interactive designer I don't want to limit myself, my style is what the project is and what style I am. So you may have misunderstood the style I'm talking about, and the style I'm referring to is your style of thinking as a designer.

This time, first, a chestnut.

I Am | Ying Wang Sunny is the Bay Area very formidable designer one, is also I very like a sister, before in Google, recently just went to the Airbnb. She has done projects, whether freelance or in the company to do the project, the span is very large, style can not help but the same, but her portfolio display, but is a very complete with their own system of designers. After you saw her portfolio, it was like seeing her as a person. (yes, she is so Meng)

Another example of Melanie Daveid is a completely different style, but you can feel directly from her work what kind of designer she is.

To do this, in fact, is difficult, because different periods of the project, different periods of time, you will have different thinking and work flow, then how should do? Here are a few tips.

1. Use the stock image more

2. First determine the overall portfolio style, and then adjust the project one by one

3. Do not use too many fonts throughout your portfolio, whether it's a picture you've wrapped or a piece of your work. And don't use too many colors.

4. Do not innovate in the layout, I can smoothly browse your portfolio is the most important, do not make any navigation in the lower left-hand corner of this anti-human design.

Finally say a few words when you talk about portfolio often ask me questions:

　　1. How many projects are most suitable?

My portfolio only six items, of which uxoffer that project is only a link, there is a suspicion of sucks. I personally think that 3-8 are all right, not too much.

　　2. What do you do before you have nothing to do with ux/interaction design?

This is a little different, but the first step you need to make is to start accumulating more projects. But it is more important not to waste your previous experience, because every part of your experience will be helpful to your life and growth. I've interviewed people who have turned to interactive design from data scientists, architects, Japanese translators and so on, and I find these people very interesting. When the project is not enough, you can think about how to tell the story of your previous experience on your website.

　　3. I am not very good at visual design, how to package their own projects?

A few suggestions: the stock image Dafa is good. Don't be mean to leave white. Choose a font.

Author Introduction: Spell, advanced product design @salesforce. Has helped Microsoft, Amazon, Htc,citrix and a number of start-up companies in product design. The immediate fun is to deliver UX knowledge to more people and create uxoffer-focus on helping Chinese students get the best hci/interactive design education opportunity.

Personal site: http://hangyu.me/