If you’re a graphic designer, chances are you’ve been told to have a portfolio website. But what does that mean? What do you need to include in your portfolio so that it’s effective and engaging? And how do you go about creating one? We’ll answer these questions and more as we walk through the process of building out your design site.
How to make a portfolio as a graphic designer
The first step to making your portfolio is to know what you’re good at. If you have a specialty, such as graphic design or photography, then that’s the focus of your portfolio. For example, if you’re an architect who wants to show off some of your sketches and renderings, then those will take up most of the space in your portfolio. But if all they do is look at models’ faces and dress styles (which can be done by anyone), then it may not be effective or even worth showing them off since they won’t see anything unique about themselves! This means that when creating a new one (or editing an existing one), make sure everything reflects how awesomely talented and skilled this person is instead of just being general enough so that any client would be happy with it regardless of whether they knew anything about what exactly went into making it happen beforehand.”
Why Graphic Designers Need Portfolio Websites
- Showcase your work
- Showcase your skills
- Showcase your personality
- Showcase your brand, including the logo and branding style you have used for projects in the past. This will give potential clients an idea of what to expect from you, as well as how you want them to be treated when working with you.
- Display examples of past projects that show off a variety of different styles and approaches while also showing off some industry-specific knowledge or insight into the field that would be helpful for future clients. For example: If someone is looking at an ad campaign proposal from a designer who specializes in designing ads for restaurants, they should see examples of their previous work (i.e., logos) displayed on the screen so they can get an idea of what kind of style she’s known for producing work like this before hiring her!
Platforms For Hosting Your Design Portfolio:
There are several platforms you can use to host your design portfolio. The best ones have the following features:
- Easy-to-understand navigation and page layout
- A search bar so that you can easily find images, graphics, or text you need in your portfolio
- A way for people who view your site to leave comments on specific pages (this is especially useful if you’re using WordPress)
The ability to add more pages and images as your design portfolio grows A way to update your site with new work or changes in your design portfolio
Types Of Graphic Design Portfolios
A graphic design portfolio is a collection of your best work. It can be used to show off your skills, but it also serves as an opportunity for you to showcase your personality and style.
A well-designed portfolio website should reflect who you are as a designer, what kind of projects you work on, and how much time and effort goes into each project.
There are many different types of portfolios out there—from simple websites that just contain links to some samples of your work (and maybe some text), all the way up to fully-featured interactive sites with animations and images that make it easy for visitors to explore through the site’s content.
Include your Bio
- Include your name and email address on the back of your portfolio.
- Include a brief description of yourself in the bio section, along with a link to your website and/or social media accounts (if applicable).
- Include the name of your school, graduation date, and any other relevant information about yourself.
- List all companies where you’ve worked as part of a team or individually—this will help show potential employers what sort of projects you have done in the past.
Step 1: Know Your Style
The first step to creating a portfolio is knowing your style. What do you want to achieve? Who is your target audience and how can this help you? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your work, and what can be improved upon in future projects?
Once you have an idea of where you’re going with this project, it’s time to start building out all of the pieces that will go into making sure everything looks cohesive as one piece.
Step 2: Create a Template
You’ll want to choose a template that is mobile-friendly, clean, and easy to navigate. You also want to make sure the template has good call-to-action buttons on it so you can easily add links or images to help people connect with your work.
Step 3: Design Your Portfolio
Your portfolio should be easy to navigate and mobile responsive. Use images and videos to showcase your work, as well as a grid layout for your portfolio. Don’t use too many colors or patterns—you’re not trying to catch the attention of someone at Starbucks!
Your design should be clean and simple, so that it looks like an actual document when viewed on screen, instead of just another bunch of pixels on a computer screen (or even worse—a desktop background).
Step 4: Add a Touch of Personality
In the fourth step of your portfolio, you will want to add a touch of personality. This can be done in several ways:
- Add your style and branding by using colors that are unique to you or by incorporating elements from other designs into yours.
- Create an image that reflects who you are as a person and what drives you every day.
- Include some work samples that demonstrate your creativity and ability to think outside the box (or even inside).
Step 5: Design an Effective Cover Page
The cover page is the first thing that people see when they visit your portfolio. Make sure you have one that is eye-catching and easy to read.
- Include a logo and/or tagline on the cover design as well as in links throughout your portfolio.
- Make sure that all elements are consistent with each other; if there are two different ways of expressing yourself, choose one over another (for example: use italics for titles vs regular text).
If you use fonts or colors frequently in your work—and these choices will be reflected in how you present them—then it’s important not only that these look good but also feel right within their context. For example, if I were designing something for a coffee shop chain where every item on their menu was red-colored or orange-colored because those were two colors used frequently throughout promotional materials like brochures etcetera…it might make sense for me at this point because we already know what kind of brand image they want us designing around – but maybe later down the line when someone else comes along who wants us doing something different entirely (like maybe designing an album cover), then we’d need some way other than just copying everything over again:
Step 6: Add Eye-Catching Content
- Use a variety of media.
- Use a variety of content.
- Showcase your best work and skills, but also include testimonials from clients or peers who know you well enough to speak about what makes you great.
- Include a link to your website or social media profile (if applicable) at the bottom of each page, because people will want to know where they can find more information about who designed this project!
- If there’s an option for contact forms on any pages in the portfolio, make sure they’re easy to find and easy to use; if possible, provide instructions on how visitors should fill them out beforehand so that things run smoothly later on down the line when someone decides they’d like more info about working with YOU 🙂
Step 7: Make Sure It’s Mobile Responsive
It’s important to make sure your portfolio is mobile-responsive. Mobile-first design refers to the way that a website or app appears and behaves on a smartphone and other small-screen devices, like tablets. Responsive web design (RWD) is the practice of creating websites and apps that work well across all devices—including desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and even TVs. A common misconception is that RWD means creating separate versions of each page for every device; this isn’t true because you can create one master version of your site with HTML5 specifications written into it so it will display properly across all devices regardless of their size or resolution.
Another thing you should consider when designing your portfolio is making sure it’s fast—this means loading quickly without having any lag time between when someone clicks something on their screen and when they see what they wanted to appear before them!
Learn how to create a portfolio as a graphic designer.
Learning how to create a portfolio as a graphic designer is an important step in your career.
Creating a portfolio will help you stand out from other candidates and gain more clients. In this article, we’ll cover the steps you should take when creating one for yourself or your company:
- Designing Your Portfolio: The first thing you should do when designing your portfolio is getting some inspiration from other designers’ work. You can find examples online or through books such as Adobe Creative Portfolio Templates and Web Designer’s Kit for Photoshop CS5 by Christian Schwartz.* Making Sure It Looks Nice: Once everything is done and ready, check it over again before sending it off with anyone else; otherwise they might think that something was missed during editing (which could result in delays). This step also ensures that nothing goes wrong with what looks good now—and if something does go wrong down the line then there won’t be any surprises later on down the line when someone asks why their file wasn’t saved correctly!
Conclusion
We hope that we’ve helped you understand how to create a portfolio as a graphic designer. It’s not always easy, but the rewards are well worth it. By following our tips and creating your unique style, you can make sure that everyone who sees your work remembers who they are looking at when they look through your portfolio!