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Portfolios are a staple for creative and artistic professionals. Design portfolios are important professional tools that display real, visual evidence of your skillset as opposed to a simple resume that only lists out your qualifications and experience. Creating your own portfolio website enables you to share your portfolio with a simple link instead of having to separately send out your work samples, resume and other materials to clients and employers.
Gone are the days when creatives had to carry bulky physical copies of their resume everywhere. Be it a graphic design portfolio, a web design portfolio, a UX design portfolio or something else,creating, hosting and sharing your work is simple with a website builder platform like Pixpa. Check out these stunning graphic design sites examples and get inspired!
Looking for some inspiration? Check out beautiful online design portfolio websites by top designers in all fields, built on Pixpa.
Pixpa’s all-in-one portfolio website builder empowers professionals and freelance graphic designers, artists and creators to showcase, share and sell their work online, easily without any coding knowledge.
Top 25 reasons to choose Pixpa to build your design portfolio website
Start with professionally designed online design portfolio website templates that fit your site & style. Make it your own with our simple & powerful visual style editor. Customize further with HTML editing and CSS overrides.
Follow these 4 steps to create your online design portfolio website.
Pick your design portfolio website template
Choose from professional, responsive design portfolio website templates tailored to meet your requirements. Customise all visual elements easily to create your unique style.
Add your content
Add pages to your design portfolio website menu using Pixpa’s drag-and-drop website builder. No coding required.
Add the features you need
Expand your online portfolio website’s capabilities. Add an online store, start a photography blog, use eCommerce galleries, and do much more.
Promote your design portfolio website
Use Pixpa’s built-in SEO, marketing and social tools to grow your traffic and convert visitors to clients and customers.
Creating your own online design portfolio website doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, you don’t need to hire a developer or touch a line of code. Pixpa’s intuitive drag and drop builder makes it easy to build your professional graphic design portfolio.
Here are 10 expert tips to guide you on how to build your photography portfolio website.
TIP 1
When you think about how to make a design portfolio website, the first thing you should do is visualize it. Having a clear set of goals in mind helps this process. What do you want your website to look like and what are the functions that you want it to serve? What do you want your visitors and potential employers to see when they land on your website?
At the end of the day, building your website is like any other design project. Take the time to think and do your research. Have a clear picture in your mind of what you want your design portfolio website to be
Understanding your specific niche within the industry can be helpful. A graphic design portfolio website will look and work differently from a UX design portfolio or a web design portfolio. Do research the best design portfolio examples for inspiration before you start building your own. Here are some top design blogs to inspire you.
TIP 2
You must have heard the phrase ‘Dress for the job you want’. Well, in the same vein, you need to design a website for the audience you want.
You want to create a design portfolio website that reaches the right people. But more than attracting a lot of site visitors to your freelance graphic designer website, you need to attract the right kind of site visitors: the kind of people who can hire you or help you get hired or grow your creative career.
What kind of an audience are you looking to work with? If you have given some serious consideration to the vision you have for your website, this question shouldn’t be too hard to answer. Knowing your audience is an essential component of website building. Here are some tips and techniques you can use for customer retention as a designer.
TIP 3
As a designer, you should be quite familiar with the wisdom of a less is more approach. Nowhere is this more true than when it comes to website design. Overcrowded pages are not just clumsy to look at and difficult to navigate, they also load slowly. Slow loading websites tend to rank poorly in search engine results which could eventually harm your overall reach.
Think about your website as a whole. Keep all the different sections and pages of your website consistent in terms of color, design, theme etc. Don’t overcrowd your design portfolio website, instead use white space to create balance. A clean website is easier to navigate and more user-friendly. Always remember that your portfolio website is a reflection of your personal design sensibilities and the last thing you want to do is mess up first impressions. Check out this step by step guide on how to design your own website.
TIP 4
Look for clean, easy to navigate and fast-loading website templates to ensure the best user experience. Mobile accessibility is also a major factor to keep in mind when selecting a freelance graphic designer portfolio template. The majority of web traffic on the internet today comes from mobile devices.It is important to make sure that your website is accessible across all devices.
Multiple gallery options, forms, blogging tools, SEO manager tools etc are all important for your growth as a designer. Comprehensive integration features for third-party apps like social media widgets, chat features etc add extra functionality and make for a more complete website.
Review the features offered by your website template to ensure that you are getting everything you need for your design portfolio website. Your website should be a comprehensive tool for you to showcase your talent and grow professionally.
Check out our extensive design portfolio website templates to find one that is best for you.
TIP 5
To make the best possible impression and to maximize your chances of getting new clients and jobs, curation is key.To make the best possible impression and to maximize your chances of getting new clients and jobs, curation is key.
The work that you choose to upload on your website will essentially be your pitch. A pitch is a short introduction to you and your work that tells a potential employer what you bring to the table. Therefore, only upload your best curated work. If you are a designer who works in different categories, you should have separate curated galleries for each different category. Your web design portfolio, UX design portfolio, graphic design portfolio etc can all fit into the same portfolio website. But you must make sure that you only pick your best work.
Select pieces that best showcase your expertise as a designer. The projects you choose to showcase should properly display the length and breadth of your skillset and your range. You need to show your adaptability and versatility as a designer when it comes to different genres, themes and mediums.
TIP 6
Your personal brand is a curated professional identity based on your design philosophy and style as well as your personal and professional goals.Your brand helps you stand out from the crowd and distinguish yourself from other designers. You can use your unique design style and sensibility as well as personal charisma to create a brand identity. Branding gives incredible leverage to your career.
A highly personalized, custom website is in and of itself a step forward towards creating your own brand. But you can do more than that.
A custom domain name and a personalized brand logo makes your art portfolio website look more established and legitimate for only a few dollars a year. Having your own personalized logo is also helpful because it is a visual representation of your brand. It is memorable and makes you instantly recognizable.
TIP 7
Don’t just talk through your work, show the person behind the designs as well. It's all about branding and marketing and work that has a face behind it sells better.
Adding an 'About' page and a blog gives you the opportunity to make your website personal and reveal the human. It is important to strike the right balance between the professional and the personal here so that your website visitors can connect and appreciate you and not just your designs.
Add forms so that potential clients can contact you directly. This can also be a great opportunity to include a call-to-action. Invite your visitors to email you directly to follow you on your social media channels. Break that fourth wall down and interact directly with people through your design portfolio website itself.
TIP 8
Social media undeniably has an extensive reach and it can help you get ‘discovered’. But social networking platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr etc have limited options when it comes to personalization and business optimization. This makes them a great place for networking and outreach but lacking in exclusivity, personalization and professionalism.
Fortunately there is a way of bridging this gap. Integrate your social media channels with your design portfolio website. This gives your website added functionality and reach while still maintaining your personal touch.
Integrating your social media profiles with your design portfolio website gives you the best of both worlds. You can make full use of the reach and ubiquity offered by social media without having to sacrifice the customizability, added functionality and security of having your own website.
TIP 9
Marketing is an essential component of growing your business and it is a component that takes constant and active effort. In order to be able to use your online portfolio website as an efficient marketing tool, you need to spread the word about your design portfolio website. Link it on your social media channels, put it on your business cards, tell people about it and send out links. This way you can get visitors and traffic to your website so that you can actually showcase your design portfolio.
Apart from this, make sure you have good marketing tools attached to your website as well. Marketing pop ups, announcement bars, newsletter services and SEO tools help you turn your design portfolio website into a comprehensive tool for selling your services and products.
TIP 10
Search engine optimization is an incredibly easy and cost-effective way of ensuring your design portfolio website receives more internet traffic which in turn expands your organic reach. What SEO basically does is boost your website so that it can rank higher in search engine results pages. So, when someone searches a keyword related to design, graphic design, or designers etc. they will be directed to your design portfolio website through the search engine results page.
Search engine optimization can be as easy as ensuring your design portfolio website is well coded and loads fast. This is because fast loading websites are favoured by search engines.
You can also make your website more search engine friendly through clean URLs, automatic sitemap, image alt tags, 256-bit SSL certificates, and built-in SEO tools. Adding a blog to your design portfolio website can be an excellent way of improving your search engine rankings. Through your blog you can incorporate various long-form keywords that can help you rank better on search engines.
It is not enough to simply have a design portfolio website, you must keep it up to date as well. It is important to let people know that you are active and growing. Keep up a steady stream of new and unique projects and, more importantly, keep posting them on your online design portfolio.
Keep updating your galleries and add newer projects as you go on. If you are not currently working on a project, you can add blog post content to your website instead. Blogs are a helpful tool for bringing more site visitors. Also, keep sharing content from your design portfolio website on your social media channels. Don’t stagnate or let your website be forgotten!
What are the necessary elements that any design portfolio covers? How does one create the perfect design portfolio website that stands out from the crowd? It may all seem very challenging but it is really not. Here are some things you should consider including in your design portfolio website.
What do you want someone to see when they click on your design portfolio website for the very first time? Your website’s landing page is the very first look you give people of your design sensibilities and taste. A beautiful, modern landing page is absolutely essential when you are looking to make a good first impression.
This is your opportunity to add a much needed personal touch to your design portfolio website.The ‘About’ page is the one section of your website where you have the full and complete opportunity to introduce and market yourself. The designer and not just the designs. A good headshot, a short but authentic biographical note as well as a statement on your design philosophy and creative process are excellent additions to this page.
A personal brand helps you stand out from the crowd when it comes to attracting clients and employers and getting more projects. And what every brand needs most is a story. Talk about the philosophy behind your work, your inspirations, your themes and why you do what you do. Your brand story lets you talk about your unique talents and aesthetic.
Remember to put your best foot forward by featuring your best curated work in featured galleries. You can also have dedicated sections for specific projects that you want to show off in particular as case studies. Make sure to select recent work or at the very least work that fits your current style and accurately represents the kind of work you are doing now.
Talking about your clients gives you more credibility as a designer. Other clients are more likely to hire you if you have previous experience working with other similar clients. Also include client testimonials to show proof of the quality of your work and your ability to cultivate good working relationships.
Make sure you have a contact form on your design portfolio website so that potential clients can contact you directly for enquiries and bookings. After all, your website is supposed to be an easy one-stop shop for you to grow your business. A contact form is an effective and efficient way of providing a direct line of contact to you without having to reveal sensitive information like emails or phone numbers.
A design portfolio is a curated collection of a designer’s work intended to showcase their unique style or method of work. Your design portfolio is an important tool that lets you share your work samples and resume with potential clients and employers and show them your skills, methods, style and expertise. Earlier it was common to carry big, bulky, physical copies of your portfolio. However, these days hosting your portfolio on your own custom website is easier and enables you to reach a wider audience.
The easiest and most cost-efficient way of promoting your website is through search engine optimization (SEO). Through Pixpa’s built-in SEO manager you can make your website rank higher on Google search results and gain more organic traffic.You can also use social media integration features to share content from your portfolio website directly through social media channels.
Your design portfolio website should include your best curated work. Showcase high-quality images of your designs and collections, digital drawings and sketches, concepts etc. You can also include a list of your clients and their testimonials for added credibility. An about page, a brand story or design philosophy etc are also useful additions
Yes! With website builder platforms like Pixpa you can create your very own custom design portfolio website without touching even a single line of code. Pixpa’s intuitive drag and drop visual editor and powerful web design tools enable you to customize each and every aspect of your website at the drop of a hat. All you need to do is pick out a template, add pages, galleries etc and customize your website to your exact preferences and requirements. No coding required!
Creating your own design portfolio website is more affordable than you think. You can start building your design portfolio website with Pixpa’s 15-day full featured trial for free. No credit card required for sign up. Pixpa’s all-inclusive subscription plans start from as little as $7/month with no hidden costs. All plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee and offer unlimited bandwidth, SSL certificates and 24/7 support.
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