Four Tips for Creating Professional Design Portfolios

If you are trying to get a design portfolio ready, there is both an advantage and a disadvantage to crafting your portfolio online in order to best represent who you are and what you are capable of designing. The advantage here is that you can create a very professional and interesting layout, and you have a lot of tools available for doing so. The disadvantage is that competition is tougher than ever, so to stand out, you really have to step up to the plate. Here are some tips for creating professional and appealing design portfolios.

First, it is important that your site is easy to navigate in a way that is intuitive. This does not mean you cannot get creative with layout! Just make sure you take it on test runs with other users first. People should not have to click all over the page, or chase shifting images, in order to find out basic information about you and your body of work. Navigation applies to ease of using mobile devices, as well. Make sure your formatting is compatible with phone screens and the way people access information that way.

Second, great graphic design portfolios understand and incorporate modern trends in design. Minimalism, as you probably know, is big. This means that white backgrounds are in, images without borders are in, presentation of only a few images or blurbs at a time, is in. You can play around with this, of course, or even break the rules so long as you understand what they are and why they exist. Just keep in mind as you play around with layout that less is often better, and more appealing to the eye. It should also go without saying that you will keep elements of modern web design in mind. This means no flashing images, clip art, comic sans font, et cetera.

Third, when it comes to your design portfolio examples, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Obviously, you want to display your best work, especially work you have done for clients who are happy with what you did. You also want to arrange your work around a central theme. If you bill yourself as a multimedia design artist, for example, you need to have more than photographs even if they are your best work. If you want to sell yourself as a great digital animator, your inclusion of acrylic painting work should be few and far between.

Fourth, good web design portfolios, at the end of the day, are eye catching. Find a concept that really clicks with you and what you represent, and go for it.