My portfolio website: www.arlenexu.design
I build my first portfolio website recently, design and code by self-learning.
Does anyone can give me some feedbacks about this website to help me improve it? I want to improve my design skills and to find a job, so please please!
Congratulations on building and, especially, coding your own website.
You’re describing yourself as a UX designer, but what kind of experience are your website users meant to have? What is the purpose of your website, and how does its current layout and design help further those goals?
If it’s mostly a learning project, that’s great. We all need to learn and practice. However, you’re also calling it a portfolio site, and your resume is there. I’m assuming, the site is also meant to help you get work. Is that correct?
Personally, I’d be hesitant to combine a practice website with a job-seeking website. Doing so places one’s inexperience on full display, which seems to be at odds with looking for work.
You might also concentrate on the UI a bit more. There’s lots of empty space and gaps. It’s great that much of your site is dedicated to explaining your UX processes, but you might consider doing so a little more tightly and in a more engaging, narrative kind of way with a little more personality both in the writing and the UI design.
As someone who is not only a designer, but has also hired other designers when I got overloaded, I can assure you that if you are trying to get work, you will have a difficult time getting work as long as your portfolio contains grammatical errors—and you have a number of them on your sample.
Thank you so much for point that! I should put more attention on user experience of this website. I will keep working to update it.
Yes, I want it to help me get a job.
Thank you for those suggestions, they are useful! I realize that my mind still narrative, like only follow the templates of some online design courses teach about how to make portfolio. Thanks so much for these great suggestions! I appreciate them!
Thanks for point that! I will correct them asap and it reminds me that as a non-native English speaker I really should have a grammatical tool to check my spelling before publishing.
Thank you for the suggestion! I appreciate it!
Ideally have it proof-read by a mother-tongue English speaker.
Yesterday, I wrote a long response to your original post, but ended up deleting it before posting. I said, largely, what @Just-B and @PopsD said, but I was considerably more direct and specific, which is why I didn’t post it. It would probably have come across as harsh and deflating, which no one wants at such an early stage in their career. It was, however, intended to be helpful.
The gist of it was, that I feel you really need to learn about design before setting yourself up as a designer.
Your knowledge of typography is fairly non-existent and I am afraid your website demonstrates little evidence of any sort of understanding of design and layout – and those graduated tints are painful! Just because you know how to code them, doesn’t mean you should.
As a potential UX/UI designer, your own website needs to be your very best work. It’s your showcase. Your portfolio. I am afraid your website appears to belie a lack of understanding about the career you wish to pursue.
As mentioned, I am not saying any of this to be cruel or hurtful, but there is no point sugar-coating things. As it stands, I think you may well be sending off a lot of job applications and receiving a lot of rejection letters in return.
My suggestion would be to get a good, accredited design education before thinking about a job in this field. The completion is tough and there are some very good people out there. Learn from the best. You need to be one of them.
The other route is an internship, or an entry-level job and work your way up. However, if at all possible, I think an education route would be better.
We all start have to start somewhere, but I think it is wise to have realistic expectations. Personally, I think, you are some way off getting job in this field. There’s nothing wrong with that. We’ve all been there, but is important to know what you need to learn. That way your efforts are constructive and productive and you won’t waste your time coming up against the same brick walls.
Your resume states that you already have a Masters from Birmingham (UK rather than Alabama, I assume?). Out of interest, what did you study? Also, if you have a Masters, you will have done a BA or BSc before it. Oddly, this is not mentioned in your CV? Why the move away from areas you originally studied towards design?
First, I must say thank you so much! I have been locking in my own world trying to do design things a period time but find hard to make a progress. Your suggestions are direct and specific, I must say I feel moving when I see them. Thank you for giving me those precious suggestions.
I agree it. I was wondering my recent learning methods may need to change but I don’t know how. Now I mostly learnt from internet, like viewing others 'works in Dribbble, watching Coursera online courses, taking some side projects to practice (but I always feel lack of feedbacks when I am doing these side projects). Always I feel confused about what I should learn next step. It feeling that I am sailing in the sea, and the direction is not clear.
I would say so much thank you for giving these two suggestions. They are useful and clear! It might be more possible for me to go the second route now because finance reason
I love the sentence you say " is important to know what you need to learn. That way your efforts are constructive and productive and you won’t waste your time coming up against the same brick walls."
That sentence really, I think point out my issue now: I do not have a clear vision about what I should learn to be a real designer. I have decided to change my career about half year ago, because I find my passion on UX design. I want to make more convenient product for users include myself to use. About 7 months ago, I started to learn Figma, and I look others’ work and imitated some of them in Figma. I took “Google UX Design” certificate in Coursera, which let me know more about what UX designers do and the process of doing it. But I am always distressed about how to make a brilliant design. I feel my design mind narrative. Are there some useful resources or learning method you think could be help in improve design knowledge? Thanks in advance.
I major in Financial Management in UOB, but after I took a work on it, I found my passion not on it. And I am happy that when I can solve some problems and make the process be more convenient for others. So, I change my career about half year ago. Lack of systematic school education of design is painful for me to build my knowledge of design. Because of finance issue, I don’t have ability to take a school education recently. I try to find more efficient way of self-learning, if that not to bother you, could I ask about what you usually do to improve your design thinking and skills consistently? Thank you again in advance.
I have to say thank you of your time to give me these really great suggestions! Thank you!
Glad it was useful. I seem to have a habit of responding to quite a few posts with somewhat harsh criticism. Each time expect a barrage of abuse in return (thankfully rarity get it). It is always nice when someone takes it the way it is intended.
Hope you can open new pathways to learning. I do understand that education is ridiculously expensive and a suggestion to follow that path is easily said coming from someone like me, who benefitted from free higher education (as it should be now, to my mind). However, it is still the best way to learn. Not just because of the actual learning process, but you will get a lot of experienced (lecturers) and peer (fellow students) critiques, which, is the best way to grow. Like mine, not always what you want to hear, but taken the right way, incredibly useful – if not essential – to growing as a designer.
I have never met anyone who is a serious designer with a long-term career who was educated via YouTube videos (et al). They are great for learning specifics (how to change the colour of an object in After Effects / Premiere Pro, etc, for example), but for learning how to be a designer, they are very unlikely to get you where you want to be. You need teachers, mentors, peers, access to industry, history, theory, practical experience with print, etc, etc. Only a hands-on actual bricks and mortar university can provide, in a considered, managed, environment – in my opinion.
Plus, the beer’s always cheaper too!!
Yes, it is really useful. I made my new learning plan last 3 days. Thank you so much! Hope I can make improvements more efficiently in the future.
Thank you and wish you all the great!
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