Before you send your portfolio to a recruiter, check these.

Your UX portfolio is more than a collection of screens.

It should help someone quickly understand who you are, what you contributed, why you made your design decisions, and what changed because of your work. 

This week’s Free Resource Wednesday is a practical UX Portfolio Checklist designed to help you review your portfolio before your next application.

What does the checklist cover?

01 — Homepage

Can someone understand who you are in 5 seconds?

Is your UX/Product Design role clear?

Is there a clear CTA to view your work?

Is your contact information easy to find? 

UX Portfolio Checklist.pdf

02 — Case Studies

Your case studies should clearly communicate:

Problem → Context → Your Role → Users → Research → Insights → Exploration → Decisions → Iterations → Final Design → Impact. 

03 — Show Your Thinking

Don’t only show:

Wireframe → Final UI

Show:

Problem → Evidence → Thinking → Decision → Outcome

Recruiters want to understand:

“Why did you design it this way?” 

04 — Make Your Role Obvious

Instead of:

“We redesigned the app.”

Explain what you did, who you collaborated with, the decisions you influenced, and the constraints you worked with. 

05 — Show Impact

Don’t stop at:

“The final design looked better.”

Look for conversion, completion rate, task success, engagement, retention, user satisfaction, business impact or qualitative feedback. 

06 — Remove the Noise

Remove unnecessary screens, repetitive mockups, giant paragraphs and irrelevant process steps.

Your portfolio is a case study, not a Figma file dump. 

07 — Final UX Check

Check mobile responsiveness, loading speed, links, images, typography, navigation, broken sections, case-study readability and contact/resume links. 

The 5-Second Test

Ask someone who doesn’t know your project:

Can they tell you:

• What problem you solved?
• What you contributed?
• Why you made your key decisions?
• What changed because of your work?

If they can’t, your portfolio needs another iteration. 

Download the free UX Portfolio Checklist and save it before your next application.

The strongest UX portfolio doesn’t just display your screens. It makes your design thinking impossible to miss. 

UX Crumbs: Practical, bite-sized UX learning for designers who want to keep learning and growing.