Choosing the right platform for your portfolio web page design is crucial for showcasing your work effectively. Wix offers a drag-and-drop editor that's ideal for beginners.
Wix has a wide range of templates and design tools to help you create a visually appealing portfolio. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a more minimalist approach with a focus on clean design.
Squarespace's grid-based layout is perfect for showcasing multiple projects at once. WordPress is another popular option, with a vast library of customizable themes and plugins.
WordPress's flexibility allows you to create a unique design that reflects your personal style.
Portfolio Web Page Design Inspiration
A well-crafted web design portfolio is a necessity for any web designer. It's the professional identity that showcases your skills to potential clients.
A good portfolio page design should tell a story, walking your audience through your creative process. Each project presentation should show your problem-solving skills, creativity, and ability to turn ideas into visually captivating experiences.
A collection of 14 web design portfolios provides inspiration for creating a great portfolio.
Studio Feixen
Studio Feixen is a Switzerland-based design studio that packs a lot of fun and character into its work. Their portfolio is a great example of how to showcase a mix of different styles and projects in a cohesive way.
The studio's portfolio page features a range of different sized shapes framing its examples, but somehow it all still looks cohesive. This is a great lesson in not feeling like you need to follow a "less-is-more" approach.
Studio Feixen's vibrant work is definitely worth checking out, and its portfolio is a great place to start.
14 Inspirations
Studio Feixen is a Switzerland-based design studio that packs a punch with its fun and characterful work. Their portfolio is a mix-match of different styles, shapes, and sizes, yet still looks cohesive.
A great web design portfolio serves as a narrative, walking your audience through your creative process. Each project presentation should tell a story – from the initial concept to the final results.
Studio Thomas in East London creates visual communication for both physical and digital worlds. Their portfolio is a superb example of Brutalist web design with neat touches, showcasing their explorative and experimental attitude.
A well-crafted web design portfolio showcases your problem-solving skills, creativity, and ability to turn ideas into visually captivating experiences. It's a chance to tell a story and showcase your skills.
Buzzworthy Studio in Brooklyn boasts a dazzling web design portfolio that grabs your attention with bold typography and animation. Their strong eye for aesthetics ensures that viewers stick around to explore all of their projects.
Here are some key takeaways from the examples we've seen so far:
Pudding Studio's portfolio is a deep dive into their work on TextNow's product, showcasing the journey from sketching wireframes to polished screens. Their homepage features a cute animated guide on making pudding.
Content Crusher's portfolio is a great example of an edgy, cyberpunk-inspired design. Animator and Motion designer Jack Jaesche pulls off this aesthetic to great effect, showing commitment to an idea and delivering a cohesive user experience.
A good portfolio should be a reflection of your personality and skills as a designer. Take inspiration from the examples we've seen and make your portfolio stand out.
Dribbble
Dribbble is a great platform to showcase your design work, especially for UX/UI designers. It allows you to share small screenshots of your designing processes, design drafts, interactive prototypes, app design concepts, and more.
Many designers use Dribbble in tandem with Behance to feature more design case details.
Portfolio Web Page Design Platforms
Weebly is a great option for building a portfolio website, powering over 50 million websites worldwide. This online portfolio builder offers a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create a great-looking website.
Similar to Wix, Weebly also offers a wide range of helpful tools that make website creation a breeze.
Active Theory
Active Theory's website is a masterclass in creating a cohesive visual identity. It employs a moody, almost cyberpunk aesthetic throughout.
The studio's use of atmospheric animations is a standout feature, with the homepage animation featuring mouse-activated glitch effects. This adds a level of interactivity and visual interest to the site.
Each project page is clean and easy to navigate, with a full-screen animation overlaid with a short blurb and relevant links. This provides a clear and concise way to showcase the studio's work and provide further information.
Active Theory also hosts detailed case studies on Medium, which is a great way to provide additional context and insights into the studio's projects.
Cattus and App
Cattus and App is a web and app design portfolio website that showcases their projects with a dash of fun. They feature a techy website design with a pale background adorned with geometric cat shapes and background titles.
Their navigation is a fixed sidebar style that functions like a single-page application, ensuring smooth transitions to related content without loading the entire page. This approach makes it easy for users to navigate through the projects.
The project screen features a sizable slider where users can peruse different projects. Interestingly, Cattus opts for a unique approach – there are no dedicated case study pages. Instead, clicking on a project thumbnail redirects users straight to the live website or app, allowing them to see the result for themselves.
Here are some key features of Cattus and App:
- Feline-inspired agency name reflects their love for cats and independent spirit
- Techy website design with geometric cat shapes and background titles
- Fixed sidebar navigation with a single-page application feel
- Links styled in a terminal font with curly braces, hinting at development services
- The project screen features a slider for browsing, with direct links to live websites or apps.
By focusing on simplicity and clarity, Cattus and App creates a design that guides visitors with ease. This is a great lesson for designers to keep in mind when creating their own portfolios.
Wix
Wix offers over 500 website templates to help get you started. These templates are of high quality, according to a respected Web Designer, and comparable to what a professional could produce.
The platform has gained popularity and now has over 200 million users worldwide.
Free
Having a free portfolio website can be a great way to showcase your work without breaking the bank. Most free portfolio platforms allow you to create a really great-looking website.
You can use more than one free portfolio site to increase your self-promotion. This can help hiring managers see your work and increase your chances of getting the best opportunities.
Some free portfolio platforms offer an upgraded service for a fee, which includes enhanced design tools and removes any advertising for the site-builder tool.
Bookmark Favorites
Bookmarking your favorite portfolio websites is a great way to stay inspired and learn from others. I personally use Evernote to save bookmarks of not only portfolio websites I love but websites in general that are great examples of web design.
You can also reference the video where Ran shares his thoughts on two different portfolio sites to get a better understanding of what makes a good portfolio website. Analyzing what works and what doesn't about a website is an essential skill to develop.
Saving a library of portfolio websites you love will come in handy when you're looking for inspiration to create your own website. Don't forget to categorize them with tags, like I do with my "web design" tag in Evernote, so you can easily find them when you need them.
Getting Started with Portfolio Web Page Design
A web design portfolio should be a curation of your best work, but it's also about communicating your personality and what you'd be like to work with.
The format you choose to display your work is crucial, so think about how to provide more detail on your background, process, and how you think. This will help visitors get a sense of who you are and what you're capable of.
Your portfolio should offer a user experience that communicates your personality, not just showcase your visuals. To achieve this, consider adding copy to provide more context about your work.
Vev offers a visual no-code designer that comes loaded with drag-and-drop design components, elements, and animations to create a stunning portfolio. This tool can save you time and effort in designing your portfolio.
You can choose to code your own custom components if you want more control, but Vev's inbuilt React editor and CLI can help you achieve this.
Portfolio Web Page Design Examples and Formats
A well-designed portfolio web page is essential for showcasing your work and attracting potential clients. It's not uncommon to see super minimal one-page designs with big visuals that put designers' talents on full display.
Minimal landing pages can be an effective way to present your work, providing the shortest distance in getting people to see and appreciate what you do. This format is ideal for designers who want to keep things simple and focus on their portfolio.
Microsites can be a better fit for your portfolio if you have more to showcase. Having individual sections dedicated to an "about me", featured projects, as well as skills/software, can provide visitors a more in-depth look into who you are as a creative.
Résonance Web Design Agency's portfolio is a great example of a microsite. Their website features a cool dark look, with big, bold writing and a striking mask over a background video. The layout is snazzy, with a jumbled zig-zag of projects with image previews and details.
Dark-themed design with a logo mask overlay and background video can create a striking first impression, as seen in Résonance Web Design Agency's portfolio. Expansive typography and top-notch navigation features can also enhance the user experience.
Parallax effects, scrolling animations, and micro-interactions can add a captivating touch to your portfolio, making it more engaging and interactive. This is evident in Chris K.'s portfolio, which features a digital party of effects, including parallax jazz, hover tricks, and playful string-pulling.
Here are some key features to consider when designing your portfolio web page:
- Dark-themed design with a logo mask overlay and background video
- Expansive typography and top-notch navigation features
- Parallax effects, scrolling animations, and micro-interactions for a captivating user experience
- “Cool sites” project page with a broken zig-zag grid layout and lazy scrolling
- Projects have a search functionality by type of service.
- Each project has a dedicated navigation where users can read about the client, project purpose, tools used, and the final result.
Individual project pages can be designed to showcase the details of each project, with features such as a carousel of selected projects, high-res images with hover effects, and a split-screen presentation of project details and a scrollable gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do web designers need a portfolio?
Yes, a portfolio is essential for web designers to showcase their skills and attract potential clients. Having a strong portfolio can help you stand out in a competitive market and land your next project.
How to present a web design portfolio?
Showcase your best work by selecting a few high-quality projects that demonstrate your design skills and abilities, rather than overwhelming with a large number of examples
Featured Images: pexels.com