Hey there – how’s your design portfolio looking these days?
Are you behind on updating it, like me? Excellent! I love not being the only one. Or maybe you’re new to the game and haven’t set one up yet. Either way you’re in luck, because I’ve assembled a little collection of inspirational design portfolios that take a range of approaches to doing their job well.
This collection spans the globe and crosses a wide variety of creative segments and aesthetics. Some make me laugh, some hypnotize me with their beauty and they all make me want to meet the people behind them.
That’s what makes a great design portfolio– it sells your work (and you) in a short amount of time. It’s a magic combination of images, language and attitude.
A great #design #portfolio sells your work (and you) in a short amount of time.
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Ask yourself the question – how will YOU portray yourself, showcase your work and display your design aesthetic in your design portfolio?
Let’s see how these sites take on the challenge…
20 Hand-picked design portfolios to inspire you
oddbee.com
This one is worth visiting just to experience the animated plane that you can fly up and down. Once you’ve had some fun with that, you immediately see the elevator speech. It draws you in with the fun, and then gets right down to business.
eduardonunes.me
This concise site encapsulates the work of this thoughtful Portuguese designer and speaker very well.
thegeekdesigner.com
First impressions are paramount, and this guy knocks it out of the park!
benhulse.com
The feel of the site is ultra-clean and minimal, yet the fun and brainy personalities of these two branding designers steal the show at first glance. (Along with a hint at the Canadian Olympic Team branding work they’ve done, which would be an insanely cool design task…)
melaniedaveid.com
Spooky and fabulous – the rich palette of watermelon red/black/white looks stunning with the photography and just the right amount of motion.
fishfriday.nl
A super-clean, friendly Dutch site that does a great job of driving you to their project planning form/call to action.
yeedor.com
Light type and understated design make Doris Yee’s UI/UX site a standout in a cluttered field. Check out her skills breakdown graph in the “About Me” section.
seanhalpin.io
This one features ultra-simple, almost childlike imagery backed up by solid and well-presented work samples.
thebeastisback.com
You are greeted by a funscape of colorful imagery created by this LA designer and illustrator. There are even a couple of bonus icons below the main tabs that extend your playful journey with Christopher Lee.
studioschurk.nl
Extreme fun in the Netherlands, with enough motion to bewitch you, but not nearly enough to cause motion sickness. For me, the latter is a deal breaker!
gardenstudio.com.br
The magical home page alone makes a stop here worthwhile, but stay and be charmed by the rest of this Brazilian site.
cleverbirds.com
Gorgeous and unusual yellow/gray color palette, clear delineations between online and offline work, and a nice mixture of professionalism and approachability.
castingmoscow.ru
Black and white severity (with generous sprinklings of red stars) mingles with lush photography and video clips of their casting work.
gravual.com
This crisp Belgian site even offers some lovely line icons that are downloadable for personal use in exchange for a Facebook like!
buildfilms.ca
Minimalist industrial cool set the stage for this team of adventurous filmmakers in Winnipeg. Their mind-bending logo earns extra style points.
Looking for some advice on building YOUR super design portfolio? Here’s a great article written by Mell Ravanel, the Chief Designer of Behance.
And speaking of Behance…
What I love about visiting Behance sites is seeing the different ways that designers/artists decide to use descriptions, stories and process to differentiate themselves and their design portfolios. From taciturn to verbose, you can approach it however you like – as long as you get your story across effectively.
I’ve picked out a few effective ones that run the gamut – have a look!
behance.net/bmddesign
Strong and silent – no descriptions accompany these extraordinary painted illustrations. I love how some of the photos show the works in process.
behance.net/nevercrew
In the exciting arena of “Fine Arts, Painting, Street Art,” this group’s project descriptions include a wonderful video under the Hamburg Dublin Cairo Belgrade Berlin Winterthur header.
behance.net/acre
Exquisite details abound in this design portfolio by a Singapore design house.
behance.net/loulouandtummie
Check out their Animation Showreel 2015. Come on now – you can’t look at this and not smile!
behance.net/TobiasHall
Do NOT miss the incredible work-in-progress glimpses of hand-lettered/hand-painted typography in this one!
Are you inspired yet? Share your design portfolio with us…
Post a comment to let us know how you get inspiration for the process…and to show off your amazing design portfolio!
PS: This is an updated version of a design portfolio roundup originally posted by April Greer in 2012. We hope you enjoy the new collection.