Behance Redesigns its Portfolios

Default avatar.
January 17, 2019
Behance Redesigns its Portfolios.
There’s been a fairly big update to Behance, also known as DeviantArt for designers. Heck, I remember when I used DA for my portfolio. Good times. Anyway… Behance. They’ve gone and updated what has to be the single most important aspect of their site: the portfolios. I mean, that’s what everybody is there for, no? They’re overhauled both the main portfolio view, as well as the experience of viewing individual projects in some small but important ways.

Portfolios

Customizable banners: You know those big image banners you get on sites like Twitter and Facebook? Behance has them too, now. Just upload a picture, crop it to your liking, and go. The stated purpose of these is to allow users to sort of set the tone, and get their branding right in there at the top. Well, that’s the idea on all the other sites with the same feature, really. It’s a tried-and-proven technique. And if you don’t want a banner image, don’t upload one. behance2Bigger thumbnails: Not much to say, here. They took the old thumbnails, and scaled them right up. People get a better idea of what they’re looking at. behance1

Projects

In their blog post on the update, Behance says, “… actions like Share, Save to Collection, Follow, and Appreciate are always present.” Basically, they kept this part of the UI very simple, and made the action buttons sticky, to reduce the effort it takes to interact with any particular project. This is a simple but definitely good change. Projects tend to consist of one or more very, very long images, and scrolling can definitely take a while. behance3

My Impressions

The whole experience is definitely tailored for desktop. That’s not to say people don’t look for designers on their phones, but if you really want to see the details, big screens make that easier. Adobe runs this show, so the decision is probably based on a fair amount of data telling them to cater to larger screens. To be fair, any designer could probably have told them that. We might love our phones, but we work on desktops, laptops, and at the bare minimum, a big ole tablet. In fact, it would be fair to say that Behance is one of the few examples on the Internet where mobile-first design is… I’m going to say almost optional. Beyond that, the changes just make sense to me. I do like it a lot when things are kept simple.

Ezequiel Bruni

Ezequiel Bruni is a web/UX designer, blogger, and aspiring photographer living in Mexico. When he’s not up to his finely-chiselled ears in wire-frames and front-end code, or ranting about the same, he indulges in beer, pizza, fantasy novels, and stand-up comedy.

Read Next

30 Most Exciting New Tools for Designers, 2023

As we near the end of 2023, we wanted to take a look back over all the tools we collected over the past year, to pick…

3 Essential Design Trends, December 2023

While we love the holidays, too much of a seasonal theme can get overwhelming. Thankfully, these design trends strike a…

10 Easy Ways to Make Money as a Web Designer

When you’re a web designer, the logical way to make money is designing websites; you can apply for a job at an agency,…

The 10 Most Hated Fonts of All Time

Remember when Comic Sans wasn’t the butt of the jokes? Long for the days when we actually enjoyed using the Impact…

15 Best New Fonts, November 2023

2023 is almost over, and the new fonts are still coming thick and fast. This month, we’ve found some awesome variable…

Old School Web Techniques Best Forgotten

When the web first entered the public consciousness back in the 90s, it was primarily text-based with minimal design…

20 Best New Websites, November 2023

As the nights draw in for the Northern hemisphere, what better way to brighten your day than by soaking up some design…

30 Amazing Chrome Extensions for Designers and Developers

Searching for a tool to make cross-platform design a breeze? Desperate for an extension that helps you figure out the…

Exciting New Tools for Designers, November 2023

We’ve got a mix of handy image helpers, useful design assets, and clever productivity tools, amongst other treats. Some…

The Dangers of Doomscrolling for Designers and How to Break Free

As a creative professional, navigating the digital realm is second nature to you. It’s normal to follow an endless…

From Image Adjustments to AI: Photoshop Through the Years

Remember when Merriam-Webster added Photoshop to the dictionary back in 2008? Want to learn how AI is changing design…

3 Essential Design Trends, November 2023

In the season of giving thanks, we often think of comfort and tradition. These are common themes with each of our three…