Nowadays, it is essential to have a graphic and web design portfolio if you want to dedicate yourself to it, whether working for a studio, in a company department, or as a freelancer.
We’re not going to tell you to forget about CVs, but the reality is that the portfolio is your designer CV, your business card, and what will have the most influence when it comes to convincing (or not) the other person to hire you as an employee or freelancer.
This is because the most important thing to convince is to demonstrate that you are good and much better than the rest.
That’s why having a portfolio is not enough. What’s worth it, as a basic starting point, is having an excellent graphic and web design portfolio, one that makes the client nod in satisfaction as they click.
Without that, we have nothing because although graphic and web design have many job opportunities, it is also true that these opportunities are competitive and that many candidates try to apply for the same positions.
The design portfolio is the way to stand out in the middle of all that crowd.
So here we are going to see how to make yours shine with its own light.
The Design Portfolio says much more about you than it seems
Before we get into the practical stuff, it’s important to keep a few key things in mind, the main one being that your portfolio will say much more about you than you think.
A design portfolio is not just about what you have done but also about who you have done it for and how you have done it.
Your portfolio will speak of your attention to detail and professionalism, whether or not you have all those intangibles that help you get hired, and whether you can stand out from the rest and have a creative side.
A link to a page that cannot be found, a small element out of place, a blurry image, a poor choice of portfolio elements, or even a bad order of those elements, even if they are good, will transmit a series of sensations to the viewer that go far beyond the mere work of graphic or web design.
That is why it is essential that it be polished and perfected as if it were our best work because it has to be since the portfolio is the work that will allow us to create other works.
If you put up anything, whoever sees it will also think you are anything and will have no incentive to choose or hire you.
First impressions count for much more than you might think, and there are no second chances to make good first impressions.
With this in mind, let’s get practical.
1. Look for Inspiration on the Internet
Picasso once said it: “True artists steal.” We are not going to do that, but before we start, we are going to take a look around the Internet and get a general idea of what the best are doing.
It’s not about copying, but when you see something you particularly like, write down what it is and save that address.
Ideas come from other ideas. Our portfolio must also be inspired by what the best are doing.
2. Select only the best for your portfolio
In your graphic or web design portfolio, you should include only your best “silver bullets” and put them at the beginning. They should impact potential clients or employers as soon as they come into contact with you.
Here’s the reality: the people looking to hire you are very busy and have too many options on the table, so within the first few seconds, they’re going to decide whether to spend a few more seconds (and then a few more seconds if they’re still happy with what they see) or click away or swipe to the next folder.
He has a very busy day, and the reality is that there are thousands of portfolios.
We have to hook in the first second, or we will lose a golden opportunity.
Putting a lot of things will make our portfolio become diluted, like that ten-page resume that even includes the course we took at school and that has nothing to do with the job we want.
Nobody reads that. The person who creates the CV or portfolio may get a certain satisfaction from it and appear to be helping, but it is just the opposite.
You have to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. They have little time and many candidates, so in the first few seconds, they will sift through 80 or 90% of the options.
We have to grab him at that moment and not let him go. That is why it is important not only what you include, which should only be the best, but also the order in which you include it, starting as strong as you can.
3. Opt for variety
Our portfolio must include a variety of pieces that showcase a range of skills.
The reality is that many of those viewing that portfolio will be anonymous potential employers browsing through it, looking for something that matches their needs.
Showing different types of designs will make us more likely to do that, and it will also convey that we have broad skills and the ability to adapt, which is probably the most interesting quality of all.
4. Don’t restrict Yourself to an Online Portfolio
Nowadays, online is so prevalent that everyone has a graphic or web design portfolio online, but fewer and fewer in physical format.
We have to have both because we don’t want to be like everyone else. We have to work on the physical portfolio not just like any other catalogue but also like a small work of art, a valuable and quality book.
A handful of stapled sheets of paper or papers in a folder is not enough. Remember the first impressions and the judgments about multiple things that will be done based on them.
In fact, if we are going to work on a physical portfolio, we must have the same professional craftsman mentality as with the web portfolio. If not, it is better not to do it, it is better to not give an impression than to give a bad one.
If we have a good book design, it is not a bad idea to offer it on the web in PDF format.
5. Always in High Resolution
For any type of portfolio, online or physical, nothing will say that we are not professional, like having pixels visible.
Yes, the page may be a bit slow to load, or the book may be a bit expensive with that type of paper and sharp photos, but we have to see the portfolio as an investment, not as an expense because as an investment, it will give us more than what we put into it… If we do it, excellent.
6. Consider Usability and Overall User Experience
There are true works of art that get lost in themselves and their design so that the user does not know how to close the image or move on to the next piece in the portfolio.
We must show our capabilities, but not at the cost of poor user experience.
He must be able to find what he is looking for immediately and move fluidly from one piece to another.
Think about the user because, in reality, they are not only going to tell what they see that you have done but also the overall experience they have within your design portfolio.
And a design that is too particular or original can lead to a negative judgment if accompanied by a bad or confusing user experience.
7. If you don’t have clients, it’s okay
The ideal, we will not deny it, is that you have clients and display real work in your graphic or web design portfolio, with links to that client or even the possibility of asking for references.
Most people won’t ask for these references, but it gives them confidence that they can.
However, if you don’t have any clients, that’s okay, you can make pieces for fictitious clients and show what you can do.
Remember to make something spectacular and to opt for that variety we were talking about. Of course, if you haven’t had enough clients yet, you can alternate between real and fictional pieces.
8. The Portfolio must be Updated
We know that creating a great portfolio takes time and effort, but remember that it is your business card. There is nothing worse than an outdated design portfolio that does not consider new design trends or only contains work from more than four years ago.
As you get real clients, you have to replace the made-up pieces with client pieces, and in general, you have to give the impression that your portfolio is always current and you are active.
9. Make it easy to contact you
Because the ultimate goal of your graphic or web design portfolio is to get in touch and talk, make it easy.
Have a contact section always present in the main menu, highlight that link, or have a form at the bottom of each page and each piece so that it is only necessary to fill out and send.
The easier the contact, the more likely it is to occur.
10. Embrace social media
As we have seen, the portfolio has the mission of selling you little by little. If they like something at first, they will click on something else, if they like it too, they will navigate to something else.
Once they have come to terms with the fact that you might be a good candidate, they will want to know more about you and many companies today visit the social networks of their potential recruits.
Whether we like it or not, this is the reality and this trend is not going to change, at most it will become more pronounced. So, since it is not going away, we might as well use it to our advantage .
Keep those networks clearly visible. Use them to show what you do, sprinkled with personal things (but not too personal). Let them see that you are human, accessible, and, in general, someone they would go out for a beer with, someone with personality.
There is a maxim in sales: “People buy from other people they like.”
Until they meet us in person, and we can display all our charisma in the interview, social networks are the first key to doing so.
Don’t talk about politics, religion, or controversial topics, this is not the place. If you want to have other social networks for friends and the like, don’t advertise them there and keep them more private. Use these other ones as part of your portfolio and your professional image.
The graphic and web design portfolio is what will determine whether or not most people want to hire us. Nowadays, not just anything is good enough; it has to be excellent just for them to start considering us , but with these 10 tips you will be on the right track.
