You’re putting too much detail on your portfolio case studies. Here’s the proof:
I put a “button to nowhere” on my portfolio
The age old argument
The level of detail to include in one’s case studies is certainly a contentious issue. Some say to carefully document every minute detail, post a picture of every post-it note, and immortalize every wireframe sketch by placing it front and center on your case study. People on the other side of the fence insist that superfluous details only distract from your case study, and to focus on the problem statement and solution only. I’ve seen these conversations go back and forth for years over heated Linkedin comment threads, and who could blame them? For a designer, your portfolio is absolutely essential to finding work. It’s what puts food on the table. It is your product. You need it to perform at its highest efficiency.
I encountered this same problem when creating a case study update for my portfolio. Including every detail of the initial testing would’ve made the already verbose case study start to feel like a self indulgent memoir in the life of a UX Designer. My previous company was in the highly esoteric field of module level power electronics, and while presenting some of the technical details during previous job interviews I could feel the interviewer’s eyes glaze over as they wondered how much time they had until lunch. I dared not make the same mistake with my latest case study, but at the same time I wanted to show off the detailed research I had performed. I found myself wrapped up in the age old case study detail argument.
I always found it interesting that for a field that touts the importance of data-driven approaches to design solutions, that no one seems to apply these approaches to their own portfolios.
I decided to apply a Lean UX technique known as the “Button to nowhere”, which is a great hack for exactly this kind of problem. This technique was first developed at Paypal as an easy way to measure user demand for new features without wasting the developer’s time of building out something that no one will use. It’s perfect for the lazy and time conscious designer who only has time to update their portfolio on lonely Sunday afternoons.
The beauty is in the simplicity, put a short summary of information on your portfolio, then include a link that leads to more details if the user requires them. If the user should choose to click on the link, it will take them to a page which explains the new feature and lets them know it’s “coming soon”. Think of it as progressive disclosure without the disclosure. Of course I carefully measured the time spent on each page, as well as click tracking for the button itself.
But wait! Isn’t it cruel or even a “dark pattern” to lure users with the promise of something and then not delivering?
Not at all. I want to deliver the best portfolio possible for users and fully utilized the page to collect more information. On this “Feature coming soon” page I put a brief explanation of the Button to Nowhere concept and why it’s useful for situations such as this. I also included a survey which asks about the user’s job title, and exactly what information they would like to see on a case study. Armed with this information, I could theoretically build the ultimate UX Design portfolio!
Feeling satisfied, I sat back and waited for the analytics results and survey responses to come pouring through.
3 months later: The results
Drum roll…..
Out of 282 users, 272 new users, and 338 sessions my Button to Nowhere has gotten….5 clicks. At least 2–3 of those were from me. 1 was from a person I sent the page to for testing. ZERO survey responses. To that one person who did click on my button to nowhere: thank you. This also includes a period of time when I was job hunting, and many people were visiting my portfolio.
So we’re looking at a 1.48% conversion rate. Is it worth crafting a long details page for each case study on my portfolio for that 1 or 2 people out of 338 sessions? Consider the opportunity costs as well. With those hours you spend playing around with Webflow you could spend learning new skills, baking a cake, or writing a new medium article (which will most likely have a similar click rate).
Obviously this experiment has some limitations. I’m not Amazon. I don’t get millions of users in foot traffic everyday and can’t run detailed multi-variate testing.
On a side note, my “About” remains to be my most visited page, and the page users visit immediately after arriving on my site. You may want to take the chance to beef up your About page to give your users the best impression before venturing on to your case studies, or closing your page and going back to Youtube.
In the end it’s up to you how much detail you put on your portfolio. Particularly for junior designers, it may be better to document a bit more of your process.
Good luck with your portfolios. When in doubt and short on time, the Button to Nowhere can be a very useful arrow in your quiver.
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