How to make the best UX designer portfolio (25 examples)

Every designer needs a portfolio, especially when submitting a proposal template or a quotation template. Besides needing a product portfolio for individual projects, a UX portfolio website helps potential clients understand your process while sharing details that are more easily explained through visuals than through conversation. 

It’s a place that allows you to shine and set yourself apart from your competition.

That is, if you know to do it right.

In this article, we highlight the best UX design portfolios, including information on what makes them the best, so you can incorporate these winning ideas into your own UX designer portfolio today. 

25 best UX design portfolios and your takeaways

A UX portfolio is your studio to have fun in while following strategies that create an irresistible appeal to potential clients. 

You’ll see that some of the best UX portfolios allow the designer’s personality to shine through while keeping their work center-stage. 

Here’s our list of 25 best UX design portfolios and what makes each one truly great. 

1. Karolis Kosas

Karolis is a product designer at Stripe who currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. We love his UX portfolio website because it’s:

• Well-designed and great to look at
• Offers project detail
• Clean layout
• Great UX  research for each project
• Smart+Slick = Successful‍

2. Kurt Winter 

What stands out to us with Kurt Winter’s portfolio is that it doesn’t feel like a UX portfolio. Kurt’s portfolio is a winner because it focuses on:

• Visual engagement without going overboard with the research content
• Icons
• Digestible text that encourages the reader to continue
  

3. Rahul Jain

Rahul is a product designer based in Los Angles who designs software at Google. His UX portfolio presentation is great because:

• It has detailed, easy-to-follow case studies
• The layout provides visuals such as charts and graphics to get to the heart of the message (some UX portfolio projects delve too deeply into text)
• It enhances readability

When it comes to freelance design work and presentation, there’s a lot of valuable information that falls through the cracks. Bonsai is designed to help you get the tools and guides you need to succeed as a UX freelancer. 

4. Isa Pinheiro

Isa is on our best UX portfolio website list because she:

• Offers explanations on how her work affects the user.
• Embeds interactive prototypes to allow readers to experience the final product themselves. 
• Displays her finished polished products beautifully. 

5. Johny Vino

Johny Vino’s UX designer portfolio brings usability and minimalism at the front and center. We also admire how he:

• Includes multiple shots every year (constantly updated).
• Includes shorts from different practice projects which all feature minimalist interfaces. 
  

6. Alex Lakas

Illustrator-turned UX designer Alex Lakas, does a great job at describing his UX portfolio projects in a professional, transparent and easy-to-comprehend manner. We also love how he:

• Includes project problems and design constraints 
• Offers tangible solutions for these issues
• Describes the techniques he used for the UX portfolio examples

This is essentially what helped Alex seal some pretty exciting contracts. Once you get to this point, head to Bonsai’s contracts to access professional freelance contracts yourself.  

7. Oykun Yilmaz

Oykun’s UX portfolio presentation is a must-see as it:

• Provides short and sweet project summaries (focusing on the heart of the project instead)
• Introduces the client in each project description
• Includes results with hard numbers – providing concrete information on how the work made a real impact. 

8. Jason Wu

Jason keeps things simple while highlighting his range of artistic abilities. He does this by:

• Offering shots of projects that range in texture, style, color schemes, and interfaces.
• Provides a practical look at his work, how it’s usable in real-world projects.
• Offers true quality interface design, which is magnified through his use of simplistic design.

9. Naim Sheriff

What makes this UX designer portfolio great is how it makes potentially complicated topics seem real and easy to comprehend for readers. Naim does this by:

• Providing a tangible outline of how he approaches each project.
• Posing questions he asks himself throughout the project such as, “How does the customer know how much paint to buy for their space?”
• Sharing solutions he arrived at following his process. 
  

10. Simon Pan

Simon has one of the best UX portfolios as he brings visitors through his unique design process in a thoughtful manner. He does this by outlining:

• Details about each case study
• Each step he took to get to the end result or to come to a solution
• How he went above and beyond for the specific client (for instance, for his London By Bike app, he describes how he went out for a ride himself so that he could “ride a mile in the user’s shoes.”

11. Sebastián Martínez

We think Sebastián’s single-page portfolio stands out for a number of reasons:

• It focuses on visuals to do the explaining (while man UX designers heavily rely on text-based descriptions, Sebastián approaches visuals professionally)
• He shares how he feels about his final products in each case study
• Large, stunning photos that capture readers’ attention

By including this type of UX portfolio template with your list of freelance work for your resume will help you stay ahead of the competition.

12. Niya Watkins

Niya, another Washington-based UX designer, has a winning UX designer portfolio for a few reasons: 

• She provides the background of each project including the research process
• The process for card sort, personas, information architecture, interaction design, sitemap, prototypes, and user testing are shared
• She includes an InVision prototype for readers to visit. 
  

13. Husam Elfaki’s 

Husam created his portfolio with the readers in mind. He did this by:

• Leading with full paragraphs as opposed to using the “photo dump” approach assuming your reader will decipher what they mean
• Breaking down each piece
• Writing captions and short summaries to describe each project from beginning to end

Understanding your readers – and therefore your potential clients – is one of the most important aspects of maintaining a successful freelance career. Bonsai serves as the bridge between you and your clientele, ensuring every step you take is one towards success - sign up for your free trial today,

14. Pendar Yousefi

We love Pendar’s UX design portfolio because he provides:

• Great detail about the UX design process including challenges and solutions
• Juicy case studies
• Easy to navigate layout that makes for an interesting and educational read
  

15. Kali and Karina 

This duo provides a unique approach to UX portfolios:

• They rarely mention UX/UI, the focus is on the projects themselves
• The case studies provide beautifully designed user journeys
• They share their projects as a story
  

Becoming a UX design freelancer doesn’t have to be difficult – especially when you have the right directions and tools. Head over to Bonsai for the leg-up you need. 

16. Elliot Owen 

Elliot Owen’s portfolio high-quality layout as it captures the reader’s attention as uniquely as possible. He does this by: 

• Using large type font that calls-out the reader
• Bringing attention to certain gestures, experiences, and interactions that led him to success.
• Providing GIFS in the perfect places that accompany his UX designs. 
  

17. Ales Nesetril

Ales’ portfolio is simple, but does a couple of things very well:

• Is open about his daily work-life
• Shows how powerful a portfolio can be when paired with social media

While many of these portfolios may seem like they take a lot of time to complete, the best way to keep efficiency at its peak is to track yourself with a professional tool like Bonsai’s time tracker.

18. Veda Dsiljak’s 

Veda sells his work well. He does this by:

• Making his case studies feel like product marketing pages
• Adding personalized headlines
• Creating intrigue with his language 
  

19. Susan Lin

Susan is a lead product designer who has a stand-out portfolio with one downfall:

• It’s unique – the video game layout with a character cursor is creative and interactive
• Using a single page portfolio makes it easy and fun to navigate
• Downfall: Difficult to find case study examples
  

20. Ed Chao

Ed is a designer at Dropbox who has a winning portfolio with one downfall:

• Shows his personality by linking to social media
• Provides clean, digestible case studies that share the story
• Downfall: no about page
  

21. Aleksi Tappura

This UI/UX designer specializes in prototyping. We think his case studies are:

• Easily readable (slick typography)
• Simple, easy to digest
• Good use of mixed turns
  

22. Ivo Mynttinen

This UX designer portfolio template focuses on:

• Great use of big type and screen real-estate
• Good use of storytelling imagery
• Downfall: Less in-depth than others
  

23. Jason Yuan 

We love Jason’s portfolio because of its ability to:

• Allow readers to visualize the experience through video
• Guide users through his projects the way it’s supposed to be used in real-life

If you’re finding it a challenge to create your portfolio while juggling other projects, check out the top project management tools for freelancers.

24. Tom Parkes

Tom’s portfolio masters simplicity. He does this by:

• Choosing a clean layout that highlights his case studies
• Keeping the personality to the about page – without overdoing anything. 

25. Andrew Couldwell

Andrew’s portfolio does a great job of:

• Bringing out his personality through the “California-feel”
• Showing his professionalism through his personality (he knows his stuff!)

Your main UX designer portfolio takeaways

These UX portfolio examples can be used as sources of inspiration or guidance for your own portfolio layout. To rein in success from your efforts, remember these four golden takeaways:

• Remember to keep it reader-friendly and easy to comprehend
• Visuals are key – not too much text
• Show how you Keep up with the UX/UI trends
• Bring out your personality, but allow your projects to lead

By understanding how to professionally and effectively showcase your UX work through a portfolio that captures, educates and inspires, you’ll be able to grow your UX design freelance career a smoothly as possible - sign up for your free trial today.