Career Services in Coda! [Katie Rivard]

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Career Services in Coda! [Katie Rivard]

Networking & Social Media

Lesson: Which Social Networks to Use and How

10 minute read

There are heaps of social media tools available. It can be tricky knowing which platforms to focus on, and which are the best options for showcasing your work as a designer. Let’s take some time to review them, and evaluate the pros and cons of different tools.

Designers’ Favorite Tools

Twitter

Twitter and Dribbble are, at the time of writing, the social media tools that designers use the most. Twitter can help you to create a public persona as a design professional, and allows you to take part in conversations related to design, culture, and current happenings in the industry. It’s also great for keeping up-to-date with the perspectives of industry leaders.

Dribbble

Dribbble provides designers with the opportunity to showcase both work-in-progress and polished portfolio pieces. It also can act as a resource for finding inspiration and connecting with other designers. In order to share your work or comment on others’ work, you’ll first need an invitation first from an existing member—or what Dribbble calls being “drafted”.

Behance

Behance, much like Dribbble, provides designers with a platform to show off their work. By convention, each project showcased on Behance includes an extensive case study to give readers insight into the project process. Unlike Dribbble, Behance is open, and it’s free to participate—no invite required.

While Dribbble and Behance have similarities, their intentions are slightly different. Behance’s platform is more for sharing and showcasing work, while Dribbble focuses on social interactions (and, more recently, getting designers hired too).

It may not be the ideal platform for sharing your work or interacting with other designers, but Pinterest is an abundant source of inspiration. It’s essentially a social bookmarking site that allows you to create curated “boards” of images (think moodboards). You can also look at boards that other people have put together.

Instagram

The mobile photo-sharing platform Instagram can help you showcase your work and build a following. Geotagging locations and using industry-relevant hashtags in your posts will help you to get the attention of fellow designers, potential employers, and prospective clients.

To build a quality profile to follow, it’s important to keep in mind some best practices. Try to create a characteristic, recognizable style for your posts. Aim for consistency in things like color schemes, backgrounds, typography, scale, and the types of posts you create. Include a link to your portfolio within your profile. Finally, follow a range of designers you admire to help build your network.

LinkedIn is a very powerful tool for cultivating a network of contacts. It’s also an attractive venue for job hunting, especially as over 90% of recruiters use it to find prospective candidates for job openings.

You can build credibility by gathering recommendations from your existing network, and testimonials from current or former colleagues. In addition to these benefits, LinkedIn gives you the ability to post and share projects to your network.

Medium

Storytelling is an important skill for UX designers, especially when it comes to articulating your process and design thinking. It also helps you to participate well in discussions around UX design topics.

Medium is a blogging platform that can help you to build credibility as a designer, and contribute resources to the wider design community. You could use it to showcase project stories, write about the lessons you’ve learned in your career so far, or share your personal design tips and tricks!

Connecting with Designers you Admire

Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, lend themselves much more readily than email to initiating contact with someone. Email feels more formal, and—not to put too fine a point on it—it’s easier for people not to reply to you.

While social media platforms provide the ability to share your work, they also offer the chance to follow other designers and companies that you love and hope to work for. Take advantage of these opportunities to begin conversations with designers you admire. It could be as simple as leaving a thoughtful comment on something they’ve posted to their Instagram.

When reaching out to someone, be sure to mention you are new to UX design and that you’d love to learn more about their role and how they got to where they are. Most people are happy to talk about their path and offer advice—and everyone loves feeling like the expert. If you have the chance to meet in person, show up prepared, ask great questions, and mention that you’re looking for new roles.

These meetings can help you build a network of friends and mentors as you enter the field. It can also sort out opportunities not yet available, but which might come open later on. Those designers you meet up with might also refer you to other positions or contacts that are open to speaking with you.

* * *

Social media platforms offer a bevy of opportunities to share your work, connect with designers you admire, and build relationships that could lead to jobs. It’s essential that you research each of them, learn how to use them effectively, and create a social media presence you can feel great about sharing with the design community.

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