Seven seconds. That’s how long your portfolio gets before someone moves on. Brutal, right? But here’s what nobody tells you: the design industry just got flooded with people who can make things look pretty using AI. Your portfolio can’t just showcase polished screens anymore. Hiring managers now skip past visual fluff to find designers who actually understand users, business constraints, and measurable impact. Problem is, most portfolios still read like student projects with all the theoretical redesigns, made-up metrics, zero real-world mess. The creators below have built portfolios that got them hired at eBay, Google, and Meta. They’ve helped thousands of designers do the same. They know the difference between portfolios that get interviews and ones that get ignored.
Best UX/UI Design Portfolio Tips
Aliena Cai – Former eBay Senior Designer
Aliena quit her six-figure eBay job to teach portfolio building full-time. She’d spent years reviewing portfolios as a hiring manager and noticed something wild: talented designers kept getting rejected for fixable mistakes. Her YouTube channel (139K subscribers) tears apart common errors she spotted in hundreds of Google UX Certificate grad portfolios. She’s blunt. Single primary CTA only per page. Alignment issues that scream amateur. Lorem ipsum text in high-fidelity mockups. She shows you her own eBay portfolio that landed the senior role, explaining exactly which details convinced hiring managers she could handle $17M+ revenue products. Her course Fast Track UX covers portfolio homepage design, those crucial project banners that decide if anyone reads further. Forbes recognized her approach because it works. Students land roles at startups and big tech within months of rebuilding based on her feedback.
Mizko – Agency Owner Turned Founder
Michael Wong built Mizko Media into a 10-person agency generating $10M+ revenue before winding it down in 2021. He worked with 80+ companies that collectively raised $450M+ in venture capital. His portfolio advice comes from someone who’s seen both sides, designer chasing clients and founder evaluating candidates. Here’s his thing: most designers obsess over button roundness while ignoring the bottom line. His Designership platform (14,000+ students from Google, Meta, Microsoft) teaches portfolio framing around business outcomes. He shows you how to write case studies that demonstrate ROI instead of just describing your process. His Ultimate Figma Masterclass isn’t about features, it’s about building portfolio pieces that prove you understand real-world constraints. At 16, he built Facebook apps generating $300K. Now with 400K+ followers across platforms, he’s teaching designers to position themselves as business partners who happen to design, not pixel-pushers who happen to care about money.
DesignerUp – Elizabeth Alli
Elizabeth noticed a specific gap. Designers learned tools but couldn’t articulate their thinking in writing. Her courses at DesignerUp fix that exact problem. She teaches portfolio case study writing that recruiters actually read instead of skim. Why this matters: your portfolio gets reviewed by non-designers first. Recruiters, not design leads, do the initial filtering. Her approach strips jargon and focuses on clarity. She explains portfolio architecture, how many projects you need, which order to present them, what details strengthen versus weaken your story. Her 82,500 YouTube subscribers learn frameworks they can apply to their own work immediately. Not vague inspiration. Concrete structures for communicating design decisions to people who don’t speak designer.
Flux – Ran Segall
Ran sold his company, then documented building the next one on camera. His million subscribers watch him because he shares hiring decisions in real-time. He explains why one designer got picked over another despite similar portfolios. As someone who’s hired dozens of designers, he cuts straight to what matters. His videos show portfolio mistakes that automatically disqualify candidates, information most mentors won’t share because they want to be nice. He’s not trying to be nice. He’s trying to help you not waste time. His recent content tackles AI’s impact on portfolios. Now that tools democratized visual design, what should you emphasize instead? His answer: problem-solving process, business context, user research depth. Stuff AI can’t fake.
NNgroup – Evidence-Based Research
Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman literally shaped modern UX. Their research firm publishes studies about portfolio effectiveness based on eye-tracking and hiring data. Not opinions. Systematic analysis. Their YouTube channel (206K subscribers) shares which portfolio elements recruiters notice first, how long they spend on each section, what triggers immediate rejection. They’ve tested this across thousands of portfolios. Their guidance carries weight because it comes from research, not individual experience. Recent content addresses portfolio adaptation as AI reshapes what companies value in design candidates. They measure actual hiring outcomes to validate their recommendations.
Rachel How – Freelance Success
Rachel documents her entire freelance career online, finances and all. Most designers hide their struggle. She shares it. Her portfolio advice optimizes for client acquisition, not job interviews, a different beast entirely. She teaches designers to showcase business impact through metrics clients actually care about: conversion rates, user retention, revenue increase. Her 268,000 subscribers appreciate radical transparency about pricing, difficult client conversations, and which portfolio pieces generate the most leads. She recently restructured her portfolio after AI tools changed client expectations about turnaround time. Now she emphasizes strategy and research, harder to commoditize than execution speed.
Saptarshi Prakash – Career Switcher
Saptarshi went from engineering to design lead at major Indian startups in six years. No design degree. His 159,000 subscribers follow his journey because he proves what’s possible without traditional credentials. He shares the exact portfolio that got him interviews at companies requiring design backgrounds. His advice focuses on compensating for lack of formal training through portfolio depth. He demonstrates how to communicate self-directed learning in ways that impress rather than concern employers. His case studies show thinking depth that matters more than pedigree. Recent videos tackle mid-career switching, when you need to prove competence fast without the luxury of junior roles to build experience.
Punit Chawla – Step-by-Step Tutorials
Punit creates portfolio tutorials you follow like recipes. Not concepts. Actual builds from blank canvas to finished case study. His 174,000 subscribers learn by doing. He covers portfolio website design in Figma and Adobe XD with downloadable files you customize. His videos show real-time design decisions as he works, explaining trade-offs and alternatives. Why this choice over that one. Recent series tackles portfolio presentation for remote interviews, when you can’t rely on in-person chemistry to carry you through.
Malewicz – 23 Years Experience
Michal Malewicz built interfaces for major companies across 23 years. His portfolio critique videos ruthlessly highlight mistakes with zero sugarcoating. He explains why certain choices signal junior thinking regardless of how polished your visuals look. His 187,000 subscribers tune in for unfiltered feedback they can’t get elsewhere. He spots patterns across thousands of portfolios, the specific tells separating actually senior designers from those who just look experienced. Recent content addresses how AI generation changed portfolio expectations. What human skills to emphasize now that anyone can create polished visuals with prompts.
DesignCourse – Gary Simon
Gary teaches full-stack design, meaning his portfolio advice accounts for technical constraints other mentors ignore. He shows you how to present work that developers respect and can actually build. His 1.2 million subscribers learn to create portfolios demonstrating both visual polish and technical understanding. He builds portfolio sites from scratch on camera, explaining every layout and interaction decision. Recent focus covers portfolio optimization for AI search like how to structure your work so AI assistants recommend you to people searching for designers.
Find Your Portfolio Breakthrough
These mentors share something crucial. They all emphasize process over polish, thinking over tools, outcomes over aesthetics. The job market shifted hard. Companies stopped hiring designers just to make things pretty. They need people who understand business constraints, user psychology, and measurable impact.
Build your portfolio around that reality. For hundreds more design education resources covering portfolio building to career transitions, check FeedSpot’s directory of top UX design YouTube channels and UI/UX design forums. Your breakthrough might be waiting in the next conversation you start.