Portfolios posts

Adobe has been rolling out some major changes and updates to Creative Cloud. While the new subscription-only model and individual product updates have gotten most of the attention, the new social and networking aspects built directly into CC have the potential to be hugely important to the creative community.

When Adobe purchased Behance a few months ago, there was a lot of speculation that it would somehow be added to Creative Cloud. But no one really seemed to know...

Developing a good portfolio is an absolutely indispensable part of building a client base, or getting a good job for that matter. And developing a good portfolio can be a very difficult thing to do if you don’t know all the little tricks.

Fortunately I know a few, and I am here to teach them to you. Bear in mind that when I say tricks, I don’t mean hacks that help you do less work. In fact, these ‘tricks’ may have you doing much more work than you were planning on doing. But don’t get discouraged because you certainly can do it.

We must have a portfolio to attract work, but in order to have a portfolio we need work, but before we can work we need to show something, and it goes round and around. In...

For some web designers, the process of creating a website for someone comes easy. You get a chance to really visualize how you feel about a company or client. However, one of the hardest things for almost every designer is creating a site for themselves. Designers want to show their creativity, skills, and express themselves all in one spot.

It’s a difficult task — one many designers often outsource to someone else. It’s hard to determine how you want to portray your work, what work you think is best to show, and what approach you want to take to the business side of things. On top of that, many average designers don’t have a lot of differentiation in portfolio sites; you get...

Your portfolio website sucks.

You built it to showcase your cumbersome genius, the work on there is spectacular, and it should be the envy of the entire web community.

It was designed to bring in new clients, get you picked up on design blogs, win the respect of your peers, prove to your ex-boss that you do have what it takes afterall, and impress...

Of all of the types of websites, the portfolio site has to overcome what might be some of the most difficult hurdles. Talk to almost any designer and they will agree, launching your own portfolio site is a painful process. Most frequently, this process includes numerous versions and, often times, a launch out of sheer frustration.

The upside to this in my opinion is that the portfolio site can be a window into the future of web design. I suggest this because when an individual designs their own site they are only under self-imposed limitations. There is no client to dictate things, no committee to destroy the design, and no approval process to drag things out and destroy momentum.

But not all portfolio sites are created equal. Despite the insane amount of sample portfolio sites available, there are surprisingly few that feel distinct and interesting enough to talk about. It is these sites, though, that raise the bar and expose what...

As websites like Carbonmade and Dribbble (where designers share and promote their portfolios) make their way into the mainstream, there is an ever growing demand for branding work.

In this environment, professionals can dive into the web head first and share their prized designs, without having to host their own portfolio.

Forrst is the latest addition to this niche. Though hiding behind an invite-only system, Forrst is an amazing community of knowledgeable web designers and developers who share snippets of code and design work. You can ask questions and share interesting links with your followers, creating a Twitter-like experience for us web designers.

I conducted a short...

Many articles are floating around that tell web professionals exactly how to build an online presence.

Techniques, best practices and all the other “what to do’s” can be great motivation, but that is exactly what this post won’t do.

Instead, we’ll go over how to create the “perfect” portfolio, one that suits your individual needs as a web professional and that gets optimal results.

By creating a perfect portfolio, you can gain more...

Recently we looked at the characteristics of effective blog theme design, and I’d like to take a similar look at the portfolio sites of freelance designers.

A designer’s online portfolio is a critical part of the business, and in some cases the most valuable asset of the business.

A...