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How to present a UX portfolio, 1 case study at a time
Your slides are ready. Now rehearse the story you will tell around them. This 30 min plan helps you explain your decisions, your ownership, and the evidence behind your impact.
You need your deck, a timer, and somewhere to take notes. Speak out loud if you can. Recording yourself is optional; keep confidential work private. This is a self-guided rehearsal, not an automated critique. Desnn’s interactive Panel is not available yet.
A 30 min plan for tonight
Pick 1 case study rather than racing through your whole deck. This exercise uses a 10 min walkthrough, not a recommended length for every interview. Ask the recruiter how much presentation time you have, and whether questions happen during or after it.
0–3 min Set the story
Write 1 sentence each for the problem, your role, the decision, and the outcome. Name the team and the constraint that made the work difficult. Mark the slides where these points belong. If your role appears only at the end, move that explanation earlier.
3–13 min Present without restarting
Set a 10 min timer. Spend about 2 min on the problem and role, 5 min on decisions, and 3 min on outcomes and reflection. Show your slides while speaking. Note the time when you change sections. If you stumble, continue; do not polish the opening repeatedly.
13–18 min Find the unclear claims
Look at your notes or listen back. Where did you say “we” without explaining your contribution? Where did you describe a screen without explaining a decision? Underline 1 impact claim that needs evidence or a limitation. Cut process detail that does not explain a choice.
18–25 min Answer 3 follow-ups
Pick 3 prompts below and attach each to an actual slide number. Allow about 2 min per answer and 1 min to note what was missing. Start with a direct answer, add evidence, and explain the trade-off. Stop rather than filling the silence.
25–30 min Rehearse 1 repair
Choose the least clear answer. Write a shorter version using your real evidence. Say it again while looking at the relevant slide. Finish by noting 1 change for your next walkthrough, such as “explain my role before showing the solution”.
Make ownership and impact clear
Separate what you did, what the team did, and what you can actually support. A limitation explained clearly is more useful than an impressive claim you cannot defend.
Illustrative example · Fictional project, not a customer result
Ownership: “What was your part?”
Unclear: “We redesigned onboarding and made it easier.”
Rehearsal answer: “I planned the usability sessions, mapped the confusing steps, and designed the revised sequence. The researcher reviewed the study plan. Engineering owned implementation, and the product manager set the release scope. I recommended deferring optional profile questions because participants could not explain why we needed them before setup.”
Replace every detail with your own work. If you supported a decision rather than led it, say that. Credit collaborators without hiding your contribution.
Illustrative example · Fictional project, not a measured Desnn outcome
Impact: “How do you know it helped?”
Unclear: “The new onboarding improved conversion.”
Rehearsal answer: “In our follow-up usability sessions, participants completed setup without help at the step we changed. That supports a usability improvement, not a conversion claim. We did not have a controlled production comparison before I left. I would measure setup completion and support requests after launch, alongside traffic and acquisition changes.”
If you have a real metric, name its source, baseline, comparison period, and definition. Explain other changes that might account for it. Do not invent a percentage when the evidence is qualitative.
Ask questions about your actual slides
These are rehearsal prompts, not predictions of your interview. Write the slide number next to each question so your answer points to evidence instead of becoming a generic design speech.
- Problem slide
- “You name this user problem. What showed it mattered, and what would have changed your interpretation?”
- Role or team slide
- “Which decision did you own? Where did a collaborator change your recommendation?”
- Research slide
- “Which observation changed the design? Who was missing from the research, and what risk does that leave?”
- Alternatives or iteration slide
- “Why this option rather than the alternative shown here? What did you give up?”
- Final design slide
- “Walk through the decision behind this interaction. How does it behave for an error or an accessibility need?”
- Outcome slide
- “What does this evidence establish, and what does it not? What would you measure next?”
- Reflection slide
- “What would you change with the same constraints? What did this project teach you to do differently?”
If you cannot answer, write the missing evidence beside the slide. Find it if you can. Otherwise, practise stating the uncertainty and how you would investigate it. You do not need to pretend every project had a clean outcome.
Leave with 1 clear next step
Before you close the deck, complete this sentence: “Next time, on slide ___, I will explain ___ using ___.” Keep the change small enough to rehearse tomorrow. On your next run, check whether that point is clearer before changing anything else.
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