Storytelling can be a challenge, especially when we try to talk about our own work. It’s hard to have an objective view because we’re too close to it and know the story so well that it can make us lose perspective. In these situations, it helps to get insights from others to give us inspiration.

Here are some free or inexpensive resources that I’ve created or curated for my clients who want to improve the storytelling in their portfolio case studies, presentations, or interviews. I’m always working to improve this list, so feel free to email me with questions or suggestions of things to add!

My Storytelling Resources:

• Free Storytelling Checklist: a general guide for portfolios/presentations/interviews
• Portfolio Storytelling Workbook: a step-by-step guide for telling your portfolio story clearly
• Portfolio Storytelling Checklists (Notion template): three checklists to use when anaylizing your portfolio content

Portfolio Storytelling Examples:

• See my Case Study Videos for examples of designers who use storytelling well
• Try searching for something like “best UX portfolios 2023”

Presentations/Interviewing:

• My Presentation/Interview Checklist: to use with self-evaluation
• The STAR method
• Tell Me About Yourself tips
• General interview questions to practice
• Behavioral questions to practice
• Whiteboard questions to practice

Storytelling Frameworks:

• PREP: good for meetings/answering questions
• Three storytelling frameworks that are good for case studies/talks
• Story Spine: good for case studies/talks

Resumes:

• UX Design resume examples
• Teal (free AI resume builder)

Writing:

• Grammarly: a great tool to check your grammar and spelling

Recommended Reading: I’m happy to discuss these as well!

• All Marketers Tell Stories by Seth Godin
• Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever
  
• Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller
• Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

LinkedIn:

• Follow me on LinkedIn to learn more about storytelling
• How to use storytelling in your LI profile summary
• The Robinhood Course for creating great LI content

Pronunciation:

• Rachel’s English

Building Confidence:

• Sheryl Lee Ralph’s TED talk