How to Build Your Personal Brand and Boost Your Web Presence

Build a personal brand that showcases the type of work you want to do. Your personal brand is a way for you to stand out from the crowd. Your personal brand helps match you with companies that share your values. This is important because it helps companies understand how you could fit as a member of their organization. When you think about your personal brand, it’s useful to come up with a list of your talents and values. Bring your self-perception and public perception closer together. Your brand should be consistent everywhere you have a presence online. A strong personal brand should be widely-recognized and consistent.

Figuring out your personal brand

• What am I naturally good at?
• What have I learned to do well?
• What do I enjoy?
• What do I value?
• How do other people describe me and my talents?
• What do I want people to recognize me for?

The big picture: brand yourself consistently

Being consistent in how you present yourself personally and professionally communicates authenticity and builds trust among people in the design community.

Building a successful personal brand means that each time someone thinks of you, a few of the same ideas and keywords immediately come to mind.

As a UX designer, you want to associate yourself and your work with certain words, like “clean” or “modern” or “abstract” to leave a strong, lasting impression. It’s also helpful for employers to get a sense of your UX design style through your personal brand. If your style matches their needs, it’s a win-win for everybody! make sure that it’s specific, clear, and above all, consistent in all of your work.

Your uniqueness is your greatest strength! Your perspective is different from everyone else’s and will help you stand out from other UX designers. who you are as a designer and why your work is special.

Start by thinking of a few words and core values that you feel accurately sum up you and your work.

Tips to develop your personal brand

• Create a personal logo: A logo that speaks to you and your work is a great way to provide a quick visual of what you’re all about. it helps you leave a lasting impression and makes your personal brand easily recognizable. Your logo could build upon your initials or a symbol that represents your personality.
• Make the most of fonts and colours: Fonts and colors strongly influence a user’s experience with any product. Fonts and colors can be polarizing, and chances are, certain fonts or colors make you feel a certain way! use the same fonts and colors on your portfolio website, personal logo, resume and online profiles, in order to maintain consistency in your personal brand. Fonts and colors affect the look and feel of your portfolio website and have a strong influence on your user’s experience.
• Choose fonts and colors that are aligned with your personal brand.
• Stick with no more than two fonts.
• Select a small set of colors. To start, choose one or two primary colors and a couple of accent colors. Make sure you apply the same color scheme and fonts to all of your online profiles and your resume in addition to your portfolio. This will help you maintain consistency in your personal brand.
• Keep your voice consistent: The written content that appears in your portfolio website and across your online profiles should have a similar voice. Your writing might be a bit more professional on your LinkedIn profile, but you want it to sound like the same person who’s writing in your portfolio.
• Use graphic, animations, and photography: Imagery is another great way to cultivate your personal brand. You can make your own graphics and animations to add personality to your online profiles and highlight important information. You can also showcase your personal brand through photography, by using a consistent style or editing photos in a similar way.
• Be yourself: Being authentic to who you are means you are less likely to do and say things that are “off-brand,” which can confuse your audience. Center your brand around who you truly are and portray an image that is the real you. Post what feels natural to you and aligns with your interests, without thinking too hard about appearing a certain way.

Your personal brand is the way in which your personality, unique skills, and values as a designer intersect with your public persona. An effective way to present your brand is in the form of a personal statement — a one or two-sentence phrase that describes what you do and what you stand for.

How do I see myself?

• What is an activity or idea I am passionate about? How does this passion motivate me as a designer?
• List two or three things I value. How do I express these values in my everyday life?
• What are my biggest strengths? What are the things I am naturally good at or have learned to do well?
• What do I want people to recognize me for?

How do others see me? (Ask three or more people (e.g., friend, co-worker, manager, family member)

• “What is an activity or idea you think I am passionate about?”
• “What are some things you think I value?”
• “What strengths do you think I have?”
• “What makes me stand out from other people you know or work with?”

Ideally, how you see yourself will be similar to how others describe you. When crafting your brand, think about how you can bring your self-perception and public perception closer together. A well-crafted personal statement gives you a consistent and efficient way to present your brand.

Our personal statement should be 1–2 sentences that reflect what you do best (your strengths and values) and how you do it uniquely (your qualities that make you stand out).

Think of your personal statement as your tagline or slogan and keep it one or two sentences in length. Your personal statement communicates your brand and can be an important element in your portfolio.

Your brand should be consistent everywhere you have a professional presence. For example, on your social media accounts, profiles on professional networking communities, your resume, and your business cards. In fact, one advantage of a good personal statement is that it usually can fit on a business card!

Your personal statement often captures only a part of the story behind your brand which is why another important element of your portfolio website will be your About Me page. After all, your brand is about you.

When writing your “About Me” page:

• Consider your audience: What do you think your potential employers and recruiters want to know about you?
• What are you hoping for them to learn about you?
• What kind of work do you do?
• What you’re passionate about, or things you value
• What kind of work culture are you seeking?
• Where do you work currently, and if your job is in a related field?
• What types of teams have you worked on in the past? (remote, in-person, freelance)
• Your credentials, like certificates and any additional education
• Any notable projects, clients, or awards
• Your contact information, including your email address, links to your profiles on professional networking sites
• A picture or two of yourself that captures and communicates your personal brand

A personal statement is a one- or two-sentence phrase that describes what you do and what you stand for. The best personal statements are memorable and catchy. Consider including a version of your personal statement on the About Me page of your portfolio website and your social media or your resume. It’s helpful to repeat words that you use to describe yourself in order to reinforce the key elements of your brand. whatever your personal statement communicates should also be reflected in your work.

Your photo should be consistent across platforms. When selecting a photo of yourself to use, you should express your unique style, culture, and interests. Using the same photo of yourself everywhere can help recruiters identify you across platforms. Posting photos consistent across platforms helps to build a cohesive professional presence online.

Make sure your color scheme, logo, font, and other design elements are consistent across platforms.

Social media can be a great way to connect with potential employers, learn about new concepts and ideas, and network with other UX designers.

Get started with LinkedIn

• Connect with people you know. connect with people you’ve worked with. (remind them how you know them and explain why you’re reaching out.)
• Make connections with people you want to work with. Connect with recruiters in the UX design industry. (When you are actively seeking a job, send them connection requests and add a note that says you’d like to learn more about their company and any job openings.)
• Connect with employees at the company you’d like to work for. (If you want to work at a specific company. It’s important to be polite, honest, and direct with them.)
• A good way to reach out to those people is to browse the LinkedIn profiles of people associated with the company. Check out if you know anyone who currently works at the company or has worked there in the past. If so, don’t be afraid to send them a personalized message to create a point of contact.
• If you don’t have connections to anyone at the company, that’s okay too. Send a personalized message to someone at the company whose work impresses you. You can ask if they’d be willing to have a 15-minute conversation about the day-to-day tasks at their job and how they like working at the company.
• Take advantage of LinkedIn’s networking features
• Join a LinkedIn Group.
• Connect with people
• Use LinkedIn’s newsfeed to keep up-to-date with professional news: LinkedIn also lets you follow specific companies and hashtags.
• Connect your LinkedIn profile to your website

Template for connecting with someone you know on LinkedIn

Hi [connection’s name],

It’s good to see you on LinkedIn. [It’s a good idea to then explain your relationship to the person here — whether you went to middle school together, are part of the same religious community, or know each other in another way.]

I’m starting my career as a UX designer, and I really like your company’s work. [It’s a good idea to reference specific projects the company’s done that you like, and why.]

I want to learn more about your role at [company name], and I was wondering if I could talk with you at some point?

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Template for connecting with someone you don’t know on LinkedIn

Hi [connection’s name],

My name is [your name.] I’m a UX designer in training, and I really like your company’s work. [It’s a good idea to reference specific projects the company’s done that you like, and why.]

I want to learn more about your role at [company name], and I was wondering if I could talk with you at some point?

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Include the following information in your LinkedIn profile

• Your location
• Links to your portfolio and resume
• Your qualifications, including past work experience and certificates
• Outstanding achievements (e.g., employee of the month, awards, special recognitions)

LinkedIn is built for business and networking purposes, so your profile will have space to talk about your work experience, goals, and achievements.

Get started with Twitter

• Follow industry insiders
• Like and retweet their posts
• Reply to tweets
• Tag industry professionals in your own tweets

Twitter profiles have limited space, so keep your information short and sweet! Even with limited text, you can still talk about your goals and what you do professionally. Twitter is more of a glimpse into your personality, personal brand, and interests.

LinkedIn and Twitter have different tones. You might be more professional and focused on LinkedIn, but more open and conversational on Twitter. It gives recruiters and other designers the opportunity to see different sides of your personality. anything you post on social media is public-facing. Even private messages with other users can be copied and shared widely, so be smart about what you post and like. You should also be smart about sharing photos or posts that don’t align with the personal brand you’re developing as a UX designer.

Make sure that all of your professional social media profiles are filled out completely and include the following information:

• Your name
• Your education
• Your work experience or interests
• Your skills (e.g., problem solving, collaborating, tools like Figma and Adobe XD, and more)
• A professional photo of yourself
• Include your resume. You can create a separate page of your website that includes your resume, or include a link to a PDF version of your resume.
• Add links to social media profiles
• Make contact information easy to find

Medium, Dribbble, and Behance are great places to talk to other designers, get feedback on your design work, and look for jobs. Medium is a blogging website, where you can post opinion pieces on different design-related subjects. Dribbble and Behance are sites where you can share snippets of your work to show your design skills to other designers and employers. Make sure that your profiles all reflect positively on your personal brand.

How to make your online profiles the best they can be during your job search:

• Do a Google Search on your name, and review the results. You can see exactly what a recruiter will find if they look up your name. If there’s anything unprofessional or inappropriate, take note and do what you can to get rid of it.
• Make all profile pictures professional. You want to have work-appropriate photos on your online profiles. This does not have to be a professional portrait, but you should choose a clear photo of yourself with minimal distracting elements.
• Make personal profiles and/or albums private. It can be helpful to separate your personal online profiles from your professional ones. Try to keep the amount of personal information that a recruiter can view to a minimum.
• Carefully review your content. Be on the lookout for any of your posts that might be inappropriate or controversial, and consider removing them from your online profiles.

Each online profile gives you the opportunity to showcase a different aspect of your design skills, network, and get feedback from other designers. Getting involved in online UX design communities signals to employers that you are enthusiastic about UX design and can help you grow as a designer, too.

Recruiters check personal social media profiles to see if you’d be a good fit for the company. They also use professional networking sites to confirm your work and educational background and to learn about your interests outside of work.

Liking and commenting on projects by other UX designers is a great way to connect with UX designers outside of your network. You can also post your designs and receive feedback from other experienced professionals.

Social media can be a great way to connect with potential employers, learn about new concepts and ideas, and network with other UX designers.

Best practises to create your profile on LinkedIn:

• Add a headshot: Using a professional profile picture is the best way to seem credible and serious. Your headshot should:
• Be a high-resolution photo
• Be shot in portrait orientation, rather than landscape orientation
• Have a non-distracting background
• Be framed from the chest-up
• Be well-lit
• Feature you positioned directly at the camera, with your face as the photo’s focus
• Write a clear and concise headline: It should be a clear and concise description of who you are and your skillset in UX.
• Fill out your job history: ist your job history or other professional experiences, along with descriptions of your role at each organization.

LinkedIn Group. These are groups of people in a particular industry, or who share a specific interest. (LinkedIn is effectively your digital resume)

Dribbble: The designs that people share on Dribbble are usually not full case studies. Instead, they are small snapshots of work that highlight a particular skill or interest like branding, product design, or typography.

• Check out designers with the most followers in order to understand popular kinds of designs and get ideas about how to present yourself effectively.
• You can follow teams on Dribbble. These might include companies like Google or independent design groups that have their own pages.
• Liking and commenting on projects is a great way to start conversations with other designers and make connections in the UX design.
• It is a great community to join if you’re looking for a job. Dribbble has a robust job search forum, including a job board and a freelance marketplace.

Behance: you can discover designs from around the world and follow specific designers. Behance also has a job board that features full time jobs, freelance roles, and internships.

• Designers frequently live stream from Behance to demonstrate their skills in real time.

Medium: It’s a popular blogging platform featuring articles on all kinds of topics. In Medium your designs are not the main attraction. Instead, the Medium community focuses on long-form writing about UX design, sometimes including visuals.

• Medium is a great place to discover the processes of top designers and learn about industry trends.
• Communicate with other designers by responding to articles in the comment section and giving claps.
• Follow designers who inspire you and sign up for their newsletters.
• Publish your own Medium post

Behance profile best practises

• Put your best work front-and-center: It’s a good idea to put your best work front-and-center, so it’s the first thing people take away when they go to your profile.
• Make sure your bio offers a clear way to contact you: Behance offers messaging within its platform, making communication quick and easy. But it’s still a good idea to link to all your other professional online profiles (e.g., your professional website, Instagram Business Account, and LinkedIn) so you can grow your follower base and strengthen your connections.
• Keep your gallery clean: People scan websites instead of reading them. Because of this, it’s a good idea to keep your Behance page clean and simple. The best way to give people a clear picture of your work is to only showcase a few projects.
• Keep your bio short: A Behance bio is a professional introduction. Keep it short and only include information that you think a professional connection should know.

Start your online presence on Behance

• Follow artists whose work you like
• Like and appreciate other people’s work
• Make connections with people you know and don’t know (send a message)
• Reserve these requests for when you are actively engaged in your job search.
• Be respectful of the employee’s time by coming prepared with specific discussion topics and questions you’d like to ask.
• Resist the urge to ask for a job. This conversation should be informational in nature.
• Link your website to your Behance profile
• Share your work far and wide

Template for reaching out to someone you know on Behance:

(remind them of how you know them and explain why you’re reaching out)

Hi [connection’s name],

It’s nice to connect with you on Behance. [It’s a good idea to then explain your relationship to the person here — whether you went to middle school together, are part of the same religious community, or know each other in another way.]

I’m starting a career as a UX designer, and I really like your work. [It’s a good idea to reference specific projects they’ve done that you like, and why.]

I want to learn more about your role at [company name], and I was wondering if I could discuss with you at some point?

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Template for reaching out to someone you don’t know on Behance:

(it’s important to be polite, honest, and direct with them.)

Hi [connection’s name],

My name is [your name.] I’ve just started my career as a UX designer, and I really like your company’s work. [It’s a good idea to reference specific projects the company’s done that you like, and why.]

I want to learn more about your role at [company name], and I was wondering if I could discuss with you at some point?

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

The main goal for writing your portfolio is to structure the information clearly and concisely. Focus on highlighting the most important parts of your story and keep your writing succinct and easy to skim.

The most important information is on the top part of the front page, before you unfold it or flip it over. The same concept applies to websites. (Above the fold is the content on a website that doesn’t require scrolling down)

The introduction should be clear and to the point: your name and what you do. You might also include something that establishes your personal brand.

About Me page is a professional page about you:

• What kind of work you do
• What you’re passionate about or things you value
• Where you work currently
• Your credentials, like certificates and any additional education
• Any notable projects, clients, or awards
• Your contact information, including your email address, links to your profiles on professional networking sites, and where you currently live.

Include descriptions of your work in your portfolio: Within the case study for each project, such as your role in the project, your process, and the final design.

Throughout your portfolio, let your designs tell the story and provide evidence of your talent.

Keep your writing concise and articulate:

• Use as few words as possible to make your point.
• Avoid complicated language: One specific word is better than three adjectives. The words you choose should be clear descriptors, not buzzwords.
• Avoid jargon. Jargon are industry terms that people who don’t work in UX design may not know. should be easy to understand and approachable.
• Include keywords that might be in a job description or concepts that every UX designer should know like, the user journey or design sprint. To increase your site’s discoverability on search engines.
• Inject personality, be conversational. Your website should accurately reflect you, your work, and your brand you’ve established.
• Find a trusted editor: to check your writing for spelling and grammatical errors, or to point out any places where the writing is distracting from the projects you’re trying to highlight.
• The best way to edit a draft for style is to read it aloud. Your voice will catch awkward phrasings and will naturally rework them to flow better

Ask yourself:

1. Did you use as few words as possible?
2. Did you avoid complicated language?
3. Did you avoid jargon?
4. Did you include keywords?
5. Did you inject personality?
6. Did you edit carefully?
7. Did you read your writing out loud?
8. Did you structure the information clearly and concisely, highlighting the most important part of the author’s story?

One great way to practice writing concisely is to edit and rewrite someone else’s work.

• What aspects of this UX designer’s work would be good to highlight for potential hiring managers?
• What’s the primary point this UX designer should make in their personal statement?

The answers to these questions should be visible to your website visitors without them having to scroll down.