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

8 Min Read

Diana Myers

Diana Myers is a Candian copywriter, content expert and CBO of her content agency, Quill and Craft. Consumed by the art of storytelling, Diana is on a mission to humanize brands through humor, heart, and CSR practices. When she’s not glued to her laptop, you’ll find her studying ecological restoration, mapping out hikes less-traveled or brewing herbal potions for her apprehensive partner.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

What Defines a Verbal Contract?

A verbal contract (formally called an oral contract) refers to an agreement between two parties that's made —you guessed it— verbally.

Formal contracts, like those between an employee and an employer, are typically written down. However, some professional transactions take place based on verbally agreed terms.

Freelancers are a good example of this. Often, freelancers will take on projects having agreed on the terms and payment via the phone, or an email. Unfortunately, sometimes clients don't pull through on their agreements, and hardworking freelancers can find themselves out of pocket and wondering whether a legal battle is worth all the hassle.

The main differences between written and oral contracts are that the former is signed and documented, whereas the latter is solely attributed to verbal communication.

Verbal contracts are a bit of a gray area for most people unfamiliar with contract law —which is most of us, right?— due to the fact that there's no physical evidence to support the claims made by the implemented parties.

When is a Verbal Agreement Legally Binding?

For any contract (written or verbal) to be binding, there are four major elements which need to be in place. The crucial elements of a contract are as follows:

Offer and acceptance: An offer is made and accepted by another party involved in the agreement;
Consideration: The involved parties must exchange something of value (money, a service, time, etc), this is known as consideration;
Intention and certainty: All parties must fully understand the terms of the contract and intend to make a legally binding agreement freely; and
Capacity: The parties must have the capacity to legally enter into the contract; they're above age and of a stable mindset.

Therefore, an oral agreement has legal validity if all of these elements are present. However, verbal contracts can be difficult to enforce in a court of law. In the next section, we take a look at how oral agreements hold up in court.

How strong is a verbal agreement in court?

Most business professionals are wary of entering into contracts orally because they can difficult to enforce in the face of the law.

If an oral contract is brought in front of a court of law, there is increased risk of one party (or both!) lying about the initial terms of the agreement. This is problematic for the court, as there's no unbiased way to conclude the case; often, this will result in the case being disregarded. Moreover, it can be difficult to outline contract defects if it's not in writing.

That being said, there are plenty of situations where enforceable contracts do not need to be written or spoken, they're simply implied. For instance, when you buy milk from a store, you give something in exchange for something else and enter into an implied contract, in this case - money is exchanged for goods.

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When are verbal agreements not enforceable?

There are some types of contracts which must be in writing.

The Statute of Frauds is a legal statute which states that certain kinds of contracts must be executed in writing and signed by the parties involved. The Statute of Frauds has been adopted in almost all U.S states, and requires a written contract for the following purposes:

The sale of real estate or vehicles
Real estate leases lasting longer than one year.
Property transfer following the death of the owner.
The case of a party agreeing to pay debt for someone else.
Any contract that requires more than a year to fulfil.
A contract involving and exceeding a specified amount of money (which varies by state).

Typically, a court of law won't enforce an oral agreement in any of these circumstances under the statute. Instead, a written document is required to make the contract enforceable.

Contract law is generally doesn't favor contracts agreed upon verbally. A verbal agreement is difficult to prove, and can be used by those intent on committing fraud. For that reason, it's always best to put any agreements in writing and ensure all parties have fully understood and consented to signing.

How are Verbal Contracts Enforced?

Verbal agreements can be proven with actions in the absence of physical documentation. Any oral promise to provide the sale of goods or perform a service that you agreed to counts as a valid contract. So, when facing a court of law, what evidence can you provide to enforce a verbal agreement?

How can you prove an oral contract?

Unfortunately, without solid proof, it may be difficult to convince a court of the legality of an oral contract. Without witnesses to testify to the oral agreement taking place or other forms of evidence, oral contracts won't stand up in court. Instead, it becomes a matter of "he-said-she-said" - which legal professionals definitely don't have time for!

If you were to enter into a verbal contract, it's recommended to follow up with an email or a letter confirming the offer, the terms of the agreement , and payment conditions. The more you can document the elements of a contract, the better your chances of legally enforcing a oral contract.

Another option is to make a recording of the conversation where the agreement is verbalized. This can be used to support your claims in the absence of a written agreement. However, it's always best to gain the permission of the other involved parties before hitting record.

Written vs Verbal Contracts: What's the Verdict?

Fundamentally, most verbal agreements are legally valid as long as they meet all the requirements for a contract. However, if you were to go to court over one party not fulfilling the terms of the contract, proving that the interaction took place can be extremely taxing.

So, ultimately, the question is: written or verbal agreements?

Any good lawyer, contract law firm, or legal professional would advise you to make sure you formalize any professional agreement with a written agreement. Written contracts provide a secure testament to the conditions that were agreed and signed by the two parties involved. If it comes to it, a physical contract is much easier to eviden in legal circumstances.

Freelancers, in particular, should be aware of the extra security that digital contracts may provide. Many people choose to stick to executing contracts verbally because they're not sure how to write a contract, or they think writing out the contract terms is too complicated or requires expensive legal advice. However, this is no longer the case.

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Motion design / animation

Say hello to digital contracts

Today, we have a world of resources available at our fingertips. The internet is a treasure trove of invaluable information, platforms, and software that simplifies our lives. Creating, signing, and sending contracts has never been easier. What's more, you don't have to rely on a hiring a lawyer to explain all that legal jargon anymore.

There are plenty of tools available online for freelancers to use for guidance when drafting digital contracts. Tools like Bonsai provide a range of customizable, vetted contract templates for all kinds of freelance professionals. No matter what industry you're operating in, Bonsai has a professional template to offer.

Benefits of written contracts

A written contract makes the agreement much easier to prove the terms of the agreement in case something were to go awry. The two parties involved can rest assured that they're legal rights are protected, and the terms of the contract are sufficiently documented. Plus, it provides both parties with peace of mind to focus on the tasks at hand.

Create Professional Contracts with Bonsai

Bonsai's product suite for freelancers allows users to make contracts from scratch, or using professional templates, and sign them using an online signature maker.

With Bonsai, you can streamline and automate all of the boring back-office tasks that come with being a freelancer. From creating proposals that clients can't say no to, to sealing the deal with a professional contract - Bonsai will revolutionize the way you do business as a freelancer.

Why not secure your business today and sign up for a free trial?