What Building My Portfolio Taught Me About UX

Building this portfolio made me realise how easy it is to overcomplicate design when you’re too close to it.

I started with a lot of ideas that sounded interesting in theory, but didn’t always make navigation or understanding easier. At some point I had to stop thinking about how to make the site “unique” and start thinking about how someone would actually experience it.

That changed the way I approached the project entirely. I still wanted personality and creativity, but I became much more aware that good UX is usually invisible. If someone has to work hard to understand where to click or what something means, the design probably isn’t doing its job properly.

Why Clear Documentation Matters More Than People Think

I used to think documentation was mostly just admin work. The more projects I worked on, the more I realised it’s one of the main things holding systems together.

A lot of problems don’t actually come from people lacking skills. They come from information being scattered, unclear, outdated, or existing only in someone’s head.

Good documentation reduces unnecessary decision-making. It gives people context, consistency, and something reliable to return to. It also makes collaboration smoother because people spend less time trying to figure out how things are “supposed” to work. It’s not the most glamorous part of a project, but it’s usually one of the most important.

What Poor Translation Taught Me About User Experience

Working in a multilingual environment made me realise how much people underestimate clarity. A lot of the translated hotel materials technically said the “correct” thing, but they still felt confusing, unnatural, or difficult to follow. The issue wasn’t grammar, it was usability.

Good UX and good translation actually have a lot in common. Both are about reducing friction. If someone has to stop and reinterpret what you meant, something in the system has already failed.

It also changed how I think about communication in general. Small inconsistencies add up quickly, especially when multiple people are interacting with the same information. What feels obvious to the creator often isn’t obvious to the user.

Learning to Balance Structure and Flexibility

I naturally like structure. Lists, systems, timelines, organisation just inherently make sense to me. But I’ve also learned that projects rarely go exactly the way you expect them to.

At some point, over-planning stops being helpful and starts making it harder to adapt. I think the best workflows are structured enough to create clarity, but flexible enough that people can still work naturally within them. Too much structure can slow things down just as much as too little. That balance is something I’m still learning, but it’s changed the way I approach planning and collaboration.

How Creative Thinking Influences My Product Approach

Even though I’ve moved into product management, my creative background still shapes the way I think. I tend to notice presentation, flow, usability, and how people emotionally respond to systems.

Creative work also taught me how to iterate without becoming too attached to a first idea. Most good outcomes come from refinement rather than getting everything perfect immediately. I think creativity in product work is less about making things look interesting, and more about being open to different ways of solving problems.