UX/UI Designer Resume Guide: Portfolio & Examples (2025)

Here's the hack: your resume isn't your portfolio. Your portfolio showcases your design skills. Your resume demonstrates your strategic thinking and business impact.

I've tested this across 50+ UX/UI job applications in 3 continents. The resumes that land interviews don't just list design tools—they quantify how design decisions drove measurable business outcomes.

"Designed mobile app interface" gets ignored. "Redesigned mobile checkout flow, increasing conversion from 2.1% to 4.3% and generating $800K additional annual revenue" gets you the interview.

This guide will show you exactly how to build a UX/UI designer resume that combines design sensibility with business impact, passes ATS systems, and gets you interviews at top tech companies. For comprehensive strategies on optimizing your resume language, our professional impact dictionary covers the exact verbs and metrics for UX/UI design roles.

What Makes a UX/UI Designer Resume Different

UX/UI designer resumes walk a fine line: they need to demonstrate design thinking while remaining ATS-friendly and business-focused.

Here's what separates strong designer resumes from weak ones:

✅Prominent portfolio link in the header (your #1 credential)

✅Quantifiable business impact, not just design activities

✅Clear articulation of design process and methodology

✅Specific design tools and technical skills

✅Evidence of user research and data-driven design decisions

✅Balance between visual polish and ATS compatibility

The biggest mistake? Treating your resume like a portfolio piece. I've seen beautifully designed resumes with custom layouts, infographics, and creative typography that get rejected by ATS systems before a human ever sees them.

Your resume should be clean, professional, and ATS-friendly. Save the creativity for your portfolio. For the complete list of ATS-optimized keywords for design roles, see our UX designer resume keywords guide. For comprehensive guidance on ATS optimization, focus on standard formatting with subtle design touches.

Essential Skills for UX/UI Designer Resumes

UX/UI designers need a blend of design expertise, technical skills, and business acumen.

Design Tools & Software

These are the technical skills that ATS systems scan for:

🎨UI Design: <a href="https://www.figma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figma</a>, Sketch, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator

🎨Prototyping: Principle, Framer, ProtoPie, InVision

🎨Collaboration: Miro, FigJam, Whimsical, Notion

🎨Design Systems: Storybook, Zeroheight, component libraries

🎨User Research: Maze, UserTesting, Optimal Workshop, Lookback

🎨Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Hotjar

🎨Development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (basic to advanced)

🎨Version Control: Git, Abstract, Figma branching

UX Design Competencies

These demonstrate your user-centered design approach:

🔍User research and interview techniques

🔍Persona development and user journey mapping

🔍Information architecture and site mapping

🔍Wireframing and low-fidelity prototyping

🔍Usability testing and A/B testing

🔍Accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1, Section 508)

🔍Design thinking and problem framing

🔍Heuristic evaluation and competitive analysis

UI Design & Visual Skills

These show your ability to create polished interfaces:

✨Visual design and typography

✨Color theory and design systems

✨Interaction design and micro-interactions

✨Responsive and adaptive design

✨Mobile-first design principles

✨Design system creation and maintenance

✨Icon design and illustration

✨Motion design and animation

For more on structuring your skills section effectively, check out our ultimate resume guide.

How to Structure Your UX/UI Designer Resume

Header: Make Your Portfolio Prominent

Your header should immediately establish your design credentials and provide easy access to your portfolio.

Strong Example:

Sarah Martinez | UX/UI Designer
San Francisco, CA | (555) 234-5678 | sarah.martinez@email.com
Portfolio: sarahmartinez.design | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahmartinez

Weak Example:

Sarah Martinez
123 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
sarah.martinez@email.com

The strong example makes the portfolio link prominent and uses clean, professional formatting.

Professional Summary: Show Business Impact

Your summary should highlight your design specialization, experience, and measurable impact.

Strong Example:

"UX/UI Designer with 5+ years of experience creating user-centered digital products for SaaS and e-commerce companies. Expert in user research, interaction design, and design systems. Redesigned checkout experiences that increased conversion rates by 35% and generated $2M in additional revenue. Proficient in Figma, Sketch, Principle, and front-end development (HTML/CSS/JavaScript)."

Weak Example:

"Creative UX/UI designer passionate about creating beautiful, user-friendly interfaces. Seeking a role where I can grow my skills and contribute to innovative projects."

The strong example quantifies impact, names specific tools, and demonstrates business value.

Work Experience: Connect Design to Business Outcomes

For each role, show how your design work drove measurable results. Use this formula:

Design Challenge + Your Solution + Quantifiable Impact

🎯Redesigned mobile app onboarding flow based on user research with 50 participants, reducing drop-off rate from 45% to 18% and increasing Day 1 retention by 60%

🎯Created comprehensive design system for 15-person product team, reducing design-to-development handoff time by 40% and improving UI consistency across 8 products

🎯Conducted usability testing with 30 users, identifying 12 critical pain points in checkout flow and implementing fixes that increased conversion from 2.8% to 4.2%

🎯Led end-to-end redesign of enterprise dashboard, improving task completion rate from 65% to 92% and increasing user satisfaction (NPS) from 32 to 68

🎯Designed and prototyped new feature in Figma, collaborating with engineering team to ship in 6 weeks and achieving 78% adoption rate within first month

Each bullet demonstrates design thinking, user research, and measurable business impact.

Portfolio Integration

Reference specific portfolio case studies in your work experience:

"Redesigned SaaS dashboard for 10K+ users (see case study: Dashboard Redesign in portfolio), improving task completion rate by 45% and reducing support tickets by 30%"

This connects your resume to your portfolio and encourages hiring managers to view your detailed work.

UX/UI Designer Resume Template

Here's a proven structure for UX/UI designer resumes:

Header

Alex Kim | Product Designer
Seattle, WA | (555) 876-5432 | alex.kim@email.com
Portfolio: alexkim.design | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexkimdesign

Professional Summary

Product Designer with 6+ years of experience creating user-centered digital products for B2B SaaS and consumer tech companies. Expert in user research, interaction design, prototyping, and design systems. Led redesigns that increased conversion rates by 40%, improved user satisfaction (NPS) by 35 points, and generated $3M in additional revenue. Proficient in Figma, Sketch, Principle, Maze, and front-end development (HTML/CSS/React basics).

Work Experience

Senior Product Designer
CloudTech Solutions, Seattle, WA
March 2021 - Present

🚀Lead UX/UI design for enterprise SaaS platform serving 50K+ users, collaborating with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders on product strategy and roadmap

🚀Redesigned core dashboard based on research with 40 enterprise users, improving task completion rate from 68% to 94% and reducing time-on-task by 35%

🚀Created comprehensive design system in Figma with 120+ components, reducing design-to-development time by 50% and ensuring consistency across 6 product teams

🚀Conducted quarterly usability testing with 20-30 users per session, identifying pain points and validating design solutions before development

🚀Improved mobile app onboarding flow through A/B testing, increasing Day 1 retention from 52% to 71% and reducing drop-off by 40%

🚀Mentored 2 junior designers on user research methods, prototyping best practices, and design system usage

UX/UI Designer
StartupCo, San Francisco, CA
June 2018 - February 2021

🎨Designed end-to-end user experiences for consumer mobile app (iOS/Android) with 100K+ downloads, from user research to final UI and handoff to engineering

🎨Led redesign of checkout flow based on user testing with 50 participants, increasing conversion from 2.3% to 4.1% and generating $500K additional annual revenue

🎨Created interactive prototypes in Principle and Framer for user testing and stakeholder presentations, accelerating design validation and reducing development rework by 30%

🎨Collaborated with engineering team on front-end implementation, providing HTML/CSS and ensuring pixel-perfect execution of designs

🎨Established user research practice, conducting 15+ user interviews and 8 usability testing sessions to inform product decisions

Skills

Design Tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop
Prototyping: Principle, Framer, ProtoPie, InVision, Figma prototyping
Research & Testing: Maze, UserTesting, Optimal Workshop, Lookback, UsabilityHub
Collaboration: Miro, FigJam, Notion, Slack, Jira, Linear
Development: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (basic), React (basic), Git
Analytics: Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Hotjar

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI
Graduated: May 2018

Certifications

Google UX Design Professional Certificate (2023)
Nielsen Norman Group UX Certification (2022)

Key Competencies by Designer Level

Junior UX/UI Designers (0-2 years)

Focus on foundational skills and portfolio projects:

🌱UI design and visual design fundamentals

🌱Wireframing and prototyping

🌱Basic user research and usability testing

🌱Design tool proficiency (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD)

🌱Collaboration with developers and product managers

🌱Portfolio projects or bootcamp case studies

Mid-Level UX/UI Designers (2-5 years)

Emphasize end-to-end ownership and business impact:

🚀End-to-end product design from research to launch

🚀User research and usability testing leadership

🚀Design system creation and maintenance

🚀Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management

🚀Quantifiable impact on conversion, retention, or satisfaction

🚀Mentoring junior designers

Senior UX/UI Designers / Design Leads (5+ years)

Highlight strategic leadership and team impact:

👔Product strategy and design vision

👔Design team leadership and mentorship

👔Stakeholder management and executive communication

👔Design operations and process improvement

👔Cross-product design system governance

👔Hiring and team building

Common Mistakes on UX/UI Designer Resumes

After reviewing hundreds of designer resumes, here are the mistakes that cost candidates interviews:

1. Overly Creative Formatting

Your resume isn't a portfolio piece. Avoid custom layouts, infographics, or creative typography that breaks ATS parsing. Keep it clean and professional—this is why you should stop using 2-column resumes.

2. Missing Portfolio Link

Your portfolio is your #1 credential. If it's not prominently displayed in your header, you're making hiring managers work too hard.

3. No Quantifiable Impact

"Designed mobile app" tells me nothing. "Designed mobile app that achieved 4.8-star rating and 100K downloads in first 6 months" shows impact.

4. Listing Every Tool You've Ever Used

Focus on industry-standard tools and your strongest skills. Don't list "Microsoft Paint" or tools you used once in a tutorial.

5. Ignoring User Research

UX design is about solving user problems, not just making things pretty. Highlight your research methods, user testing, and data-driven decisions. Also understand hard vs soft skills placement.

How to Tailor Your UX/UI Designer Resume

Step 1: Identify the Role Focus

Is this UX-focused (research, IA, usability), UI-focused (visual design, interaction), or product design (both)? Adjust your emphasis accordingly.

Step 2: Match Their Design Tools

If they use Figma and you're a Figma expert, make that prominent. If they mention specific research tools, highlight your experience with those tools.

Step 3: Reorder Your Bullets

Put your most relevant projects first. If they emphasize mobile design, lead with your mobile work.

Step 4: Use Their Language

If they say "design systems," use "design systems" instead of "component libraries." Match their terminology. Avoid weak phrases that hurt your resume.

Step 5: Customize Your Summary

Adjust your professional summary to address their specific needs, industry, and product type (B2B SaaS, consumer mobile, e-commerce, etc.).

Portfolio Best Practices

Your portfolio is more important than your resume. Here's how to make it work for you:

📁Include 3-5 case studies showing your design process, not just final designs

📁Start each case study with the problem, your approach, and the measurable outcome

📁Show wireframes, user research insights, and iterations—not just polished UI

📁Include metrics: conversion improvements, user satisfaction gains, or business impact

📁Make it easy to navigate with clear project titles and descriptions

📁Ensure your portfolio loads fast and works on mobile devices

📁Include a brief bio and contact information on every page

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I include freelance or side projects on my resume?

Yes, especially if they demonstrate relevant skills or fill employment gaps. Treat them like professional work: describe the problem, your solution, and the impact.

How do I show career progression as a designer?

Highlight increasing responsibility: junior designer → designer → senior designer → lead designer. Show expanding scope: individual contributor → mentoring others → leading design initiatives. Some viral creative resumes might seem impressive, but steady career progression matters more.

What if I'm transitioning from graphic design to UX/UI?

Emphasize transferable skills: visual design, user empathy, problem-solving, collaboration. Take UX courses or certifications (Google UX Design Certificate, Nielsen Norman Group) and build UX case studies for your portfolio.

Do I need coding skills to be a UX/UI designer?

Not required, but increasingly valuable. Basic HTML/CSS knowledge helps you communicate with developers and understand technical constraints. List any coding skills you have.

Should I include design awards or competitions?

Yes, if they're relevant and recent. Include them in an Awards or Recognition section. Dribbble features, Awwwards, or design competition wins demonstrate peer recognition.

How do I handle NDA-protected work?

Create anonymized case studies that show your process without revealing confidential information. Focus on your methodology, problem-solving approach, and outcomes rather than specific company details.

Next Steps: Build Your UX/UI Designer Resume

You now have the framework for a UX/UI designer resume that demonstrates both design thinking and business impact. Here's your action plan:

Create a clean header with portfolio link: Make your portfolio URL prominent
Write an impact-focused summary: Highlight specialization, tools, and measurable results
Structure work experience with metrics: Use the challenge + solution + impact formula
Organize your skills: Categorize by design tools, research methods, and development skills
Reference portfolio case studies: Connect resume bullets to detailed portfolio work
Tailor for each application: Match keywords, reorder bullets, customize summary
Optimize for ATS: Standard formatting, exact keyword matches, clean structure
Proofread thoroughly: Typos are especially damaging for designers

Create Your ATS-Optimized UX/UI Designer Resume Today

Your resume opens the door. Your portfolio closes the deal. Make sure both tell a compelling story of user-centered design that drives measurable business results.

Related Guides

Looking for more specialized resume advice? Check out these related guides:

Product Manager Resume Guide — For designers transitioning to product roles
Graphic Designer Resume Guide — For visual design-focused positions
Software Engineer Resume Guide — For designers with coding skills
Marketing Manager Resume Guide — For design roles in marketing teams

UX/UI Designer Resume: Portfolio, Skills & Examples