A designer’s portfolio

This an often debated topic: should designers have a portfolio of work online? Or should they have an online profile, with included links to work, instead? ~ Not all job application processes these days will ask for a link to the portfolio and this might be a sign of the times. However, showcasing our work online will often be a good approach to getting involved in exciting projects, collaborating with creative teams and to winning the bids to those wonderful freelance projects we might fancy being involved in. It’s an easy way to show our work ~ as it is for the web, why would we not present it online?

Career advice or application guidance often recommends to tailor the application, the CV and the listed work to the job in hand. The same goes for a portfolio ~ and it would serve us well to showcase our work accordingly. We might have different sections for our site, to present the different focal points of the projects we worked on. Or we might really only be interested in design work which then leads to a foregone conclusion of what kind of projects to include.

There is no clear right or wrong way to create a portfolio ~ and in this post, I hope to give you some pointers to consider, some approaches to ponder.

Include a good ‘about’ page.

A portfolio site is an introduction to who you are within your chosen field of work. You do not need to be very personal (unless you’d like to be). Your private life does not have to be included here – you can chose to remain focused purely on your professional life. However, an introduction to who you are within your work is a vital part of a successful site. It‘s poor practice to remain in the shadows by being vague or by omitting your professional self entirely ~ this would be weak self-promotion.

A brief introduction would suffice and the most important aspect will be to give people an idea of who you are at work. You could state your education, or your background in terms of experience. Consider whether the work you like to do will involve expectations of certification, or not, and include any details you feel will matter. Most importantly, write about yourself and your approach to your work. This is the place to highlight that you love working remotely (or not). To say how much you‘d love to work for a huge company (or a small studio instead). To speak about your love of team work and collaboration. And to express your stance on doing sustainable, ethical work, for example.
Or you can simply stick to a very short outline of the work you enjoy doing and explain your methods, up to you entirely.

Example: Michelle Barker

One excellent example is Michelle’s introduction. Her site opens with a friendly, interactive greeting and one simple sentence: “I make websites.” The about text follows this section and in three paragraphs, she describes who she is and what she does. Just lovely ツ

The splash of colour and the interaction with cursor movement are a nice and effective touch to make this beautifully simple and minimal page stand out. Her personality clearly shines through.

Focus on the work you’d like to get.

The best advice I ever received was that my portfolio should only include past projects from within the field of work I‘d like to get in future. When I started out as freelancer, relying on my site to showcase my work, I assumed it was mainly important to show recent work of completed projects. It had not occurred to me that this might likely result in similar kinds of work coming my way.

As I transitioned from graphic design for print to web design, my early digital design work involved lots of design for print, like stationary design, brochures, handbooks, reports and such. But as I’d discovered my love for web, and for working with artists to showcase their work (music/fine art/sculpture), I realised I needed to focus my portfolio purely on those topics in order to attract similar work. And sure enough, it worked wonders ~ word-of-mouth meant more traffic to my site, the presented pieces did the rest to promote my work and I ended up with amazing projects. The print aspects then included album covers and venue posters instead of stationary, and the website design was exciting as it allowed me to put my clients’ artistic vision online ツ

These days, I love working on publicising outputs of academic research as well as promoting small businesses and my studio’s site now reflects these types of sites. Again, the showcased work does the promotion for us and we are lucky to get a lot of projects purely on the strength of the case studies of these websites.

Example: Heydon Pickering

Take a look at Heydon’s site ~ the menu already clearly points towards his skills. The work included in the project section shows where his expertise lies and which projects he’ll likely be interested in.

While the project list does not include case studies, note that each project is very succinctly summarised in a description with clear links to the website. This makes this page easy to scan and gives an excellent overview of the work presented.

State your skills clearly.

One of the core purposes of your portfolio will be to promote your skills ~ the format of this will depend on your desired outcome and who will read it. Importantly, be clear in how you describe your expertise and show examples of skills in action. You might include a page on the site to outline your experience and give links to examples, or you might rely on case studies to elaborate on this. Or you might include this as a tagline alongside a short intro on the homepage. Importantly, make sure that those viewing your site can easily and quickly understand what you do.

Example: Simon Collison

Simon has a wide range of skills with years of experience and his site is a great testament of this. While you might be less seasoned in your skills, you could still use his approach as inspiration for how to present your skills. The work page is a great introduction to his work.

Note how his introduction states clearly what his work involves. The numerous in-page links in the closing sentence leads people to a few select projects and a summary of skills ~ a great way to showcase his many talents.

Write up case studies.

Nothing will be better than a write-up about the featured project than a case study which will explain the brief, elaborate on the work done and showcase the final result. This will give the insights that will portray you and your work best ~ this is what will allow those who are considering hiring you for the work in hand a glimpse of how you approach your projects.

How you choose to do this is up to you entirely. If you are developer and your work involved primarily coding and the build, then the presentation itself can be simple and minimal. You can focus on the work itself, explain what you were given in terms of the designs to be built and how you approached the coding involved. If you are a designer, then this should be reflected in the presentation of the case study. Designers are communicators and are expected to be able to present any given content well: clear and engaging layout, perfectly fitting typesetting and a beautiful colour scheme to boost.

Example: Top Lip Kit

This is part 1 of a case study for the brand, product and web design I worked on for Top Lip Kit (a Ladies Facial Hair Removal Kit, a beauty product by Sugarflick). Note how we present the different parts of the work involved in the launch. The case study lists the work that was completed in the two phases of the project, includes testimonials from the client and presents visuals to show details of the design work for the logo.

The inclusion of early visual concepts as proposed by the client, the following iterations alongside notes as well as the fine-tuning for the final design all serve to give insights into how we work. Showing work in progress as well as dismmissed ideas tells the story of the evolution of the logo, clearly indicating the time and iterative work involved. This gives potential clients an insight into how we present design drafts and proposals and shows in detail how this project’s work was completed.

Be your true self & express it.

Another aspect of a good portfolio will be the personality. No one wants to see yet another predictable, boring and soul-less presentation of work. Don’t hold back, thinking you have to play it safe and be formal and presentable (unless this suits your own personality). Whether it is the hiring manager, or someone looking to commission a freelancer, keep in mind how large the number of applications or options might be that they are viewing in an effort to find the right person for the job. Your portfolio should leave an impression, should stand out from the crowd, be memorable and have a strong visual identity.

Example: Cassie Evans

Cassie clearly loves code and having fun ~ her site expresses this immediately. The intro is playful and once the cursor hits certain words, bursts of animation appear to create a friendly and whimsical introduction to her work.

The site’s design is colourful and has a clear visual identity. She shows off her skills nicely, a theme switcher allows interaction and the contact form features a little self portrait illustrations which has eyes that follow your cursor. These lovely touches are just asking for a little play and will surely be memorable ツ

Do / don’t.

Your portfolio should be a showcase of your best work. You can include a download link for your CV, links to other work presented online, or profile on other platforms. Importantly, your site should be a window into how you work, your process and your final pieces. Here are a few more points to consider.

Get it done.

Most designers will tell you that they find it easier to work for a client than to put their own portfolio online. It’s always harder to please yourself and to try and execute a design that you are happy with. One way to tackle this challenge is to treat it like any other project, with set goals and importantly, set deadlines! Otherwise, it might never get done :D

Start by making notes on your aims and dreams and jot down how you will go about getting the work you are hoping for. No one ever needs to see these scribbles but it will help you to hone in on the shape of your portfolio site. Set yourself a schedule ~ a simple to-do list would do, or a spreadsheet, if you prefer. Setting some milestones will help you progress the work involved. Again, this is for your eyes only and you can update this if life throws a spanner into the works ツ

Next up, consider your personal likes and follow your intuition to what kind of visual ID your portfolio design should present. You could opt for a design style that is representative of the work you have done, or the work you are aiming to get ~ or you could let the case studies make that point and create something that suits your own preferences. As with any site, the content of the portfolio and how well you present your work will matter more than the specific visual style you adopt.

Hopefully this will help you get on with the work – and once the portfolio site is done, make sure to draw a line under it, don’t fret or hesitate too much. Test it thoroughly, review it for accessibility and then go ahead and just publish it online and link to it. Remember, if this is a new domain/site – hardly anyone will see it until you promote it and share the link. Also, updates can wait. New additions can be added later. All other changes can be done in due course ~ it’s more important to have your lovely work online and ready to be seen ツ