My portfolio website

This case study is about how this portfolio website was built by me with a user-centric approach

Project Name & Duration

My portfolio website | 2 years (Yes!)

Introduction

- I didn't have many projects to show off as a beginning in UX because the most are under NDA. But I can't get the job I desire without a portfolio.

- Then I began my research and studied other portfolios. To my surprise, none of the portfolios actually described how they created their actual websites.

- Here was a project with a very real goal, something that was being used by a real person. So, I made one to show the recruiters how much I empathize with them and want to make a difference in their experience.

introduction

My Role

Designer

Researcher

Tester

Tools

Wix
figma
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

My Responsibilities

UI designing
Research
Information Architecture
wireframing
prototyping
analyzing user feedback

Project Background & Challenge

A portfolio website should show off more than just your abilities and skills; it should also reflect your professionalism, personality, and passions. My goal was to show how really user-centered my design process was.

Why wouldn't I want to capture all of this effort and present it to the recruiters when I had already done the research, ideation, and user testing? The key challenge is that it's easy to lose focus, get behind schedule, and want to try every imaginable design concept when there is no deadline and you are your own boss. A portfolio site must fit a plethora of info. Users, however, have less and less time and energy.

Goals & Solution

The objective is to create an user - centric experience while highlighting my skills as a UX designer, researcher, and individual. In an effort to help my target audience, recruiters, who slog through 100s of portfolios daily,

I needed to learn about their pain points. As job depends not only on a candidate's skills but also on personality, so knowing the candidate's personality alongside their portfolio would be extremely helpful for the recruiters to make a quicker decision.

User Research & Personas

research

Research Findings

In the initial research, one of the main drawbacks stated by recruiters was that young designers don't emphasize their creative process as much as the final outcome. It became evident as I began putting together my portfolio that I wanted to convey my thought process. However, This gets tricky, because recruiters want to see your creative process but are also pressed for time.

Empathy Mapping

Journey Mapping

Ideation

I wanted to Use the first fold to make an impression with a biography and my picture because obviously the recruiter wants to know who they are going to work with; and details about myself that pique the reader's interest.

For 2nd fold, I wanted to add testimonials to help the user know my how was my past employers' experience working with me which gives more confidence to the recruiter to hire me.

In project pages I decided to showcase the procedure, not simply the outcome. Made use of typography that makes skimming easier. I used a sticky main navigation bar to make sure it was always available so people could navigate the site with minimal effort.

solution

Solution

The Ideation Cycle rotated between sketching and wireframing in Figma. Building a portfolio website could be overwhelming. It must reflect your character as a designer while creating a usable product that users like engaging with.

But users don't want to read a research paper that just cut and pasted UX jargon. They desire to read something with subject and depth. Incorporating unique design components, such as this highlighted text, aids in the formation of a unique hierarchy that the user can quickly identify as more significant.

Implementation

UI Implementation

UI Theme

I love colours! I wanted my portfolio colours to reflect my personality : vibrance, cheerful, high-spirited! So i chose pop-art style theme

Outcomes

My Learnings

Now that the site is live, I will strive to enhance it further. My goal with this site has always been to represent myself. This project required a tremendous amount of self-motivation, self-discipline, and commitment. However, my determination to adhere to my goals is merely a reflection of how much I relish creating and learning about design.

On this website, I was obsessed with finding a palette that reflected who I was and spent too much time on it but couldn't conclude. I decided to forgo color and just start sketching the site. I took a break and started afresh then realized i focused too much on visual details than end goals. Thus, i ended up working in the right path and finished the project successfully!

Project Outcomes

It turned out that my strategy was efficient! I recently applied for several jobs, and most recruiters contacted me even if the position was full, or approached me for UI & UX roles even if I had no projects at the time as they enjoyed the storytelling of my website and were convinced that I could add value to their projects.