February's Portfolio Squeeze is a little late so I'll get right into. Here are best design portfolio websites found in February. Be on the lookout for the March edition coming very soon!
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The Portfolio Squeeze is a monthly newsletter focused on helping you improve your design portfolio website. The Portfolio Squeeze includes examples of top-notch design portfolio websites from around the world, video reviews, and deep dives into the art of the portfolio.
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Extra Juicy
A Dense, Chaotic, Lively Portfolio Website
Anton Repponen
This design portfolio website is chaotic. But I love it.
Anton is an interaction designer based in New York and one half of the design studio Anton & Irene (they make really cool stuff). Anton has had a very full creative career spanning over 20 years within the industry. While his portfolio website might seem chaotic at first sight. It's easy to see that everything on his portfolio website is placed and organized with intention. And that goes for his entire site really.
Knowing that Anton is half of an operating design studio. It's probably fair to say that his personal portfolio website might not be he his biggest priority. However, one of the reasons I like it so much is that it feels very up-to-date. It feels very current. It feels like everything that Anton has made or is interested in up until this very day is there. It feels alive.
I see a lot of portfolio websites struggle with this. And if they do attempt it. They struggle with keeping the design work the main focus. Anton does a great job dedicating his entire homepage to only his design work. When it comes to the navigation of his portfolio website, design work is the first item. Followed by other pages containing his photography, visual archive, and speaking engagements.
There is another thing I like a lot about Anton's portfolio website. All of his outside interests/hobbies level back to his design work. For example, you can see how Anton's interest in photography helps inform his design projects like 'Time Flow' or 'Time Stretched'. Everything on his Storage page helps to better understand his process and where he draws inspiration from. Nothing feels distant with Anton's portfolio website.
In my opinion, this is a perfect example of how to incorporate your interests/hobbies outside of your design work into your portfolio website. Keep them separate. Make your design work be the first thing people see. Make sure the things you decide to include, contribute to how you want to present yourself as a designer.
Score: 8.8/10
Built with: Cargo
Squeezed This Month
A Portfolio Website With No Work?
Guillaume Beaulieu
Score: 7.7/10
Built with: Webflow
This Portfolio Website Screams Take My Money!
Sierra Ching
Score: 9.6/10
Built with: Framer
How to Get Paid for Your Ideas
Jia
Score: 8.3/10
Built with: Framer
This Portfolio Website Blew My Mind
Robert Borghesi
Score: 9.8/10
Built with:
Custom Code
Review Rewind
How to Unify Client Projects, Passion Projects, and Experiments
Portfolio Review #136
• How to format your design portfolio website homepage.
• What design projects to showcase and how on your design portfolio website.
• Presenting your process and not just final deliverables.
• How to present deliverables in-situation.
The Squeeze
Do You Need to Brand Yourself for Your Portfolio Website?
In my portfolio reviews I get a lot of questions about branding yourself as a graphic designer. Do you need a logo? Do you need brand colors? How should you talk about yourself? Studio? Freelancer?
These are all valid questions. But I find that sometimes these are questions we ask ourself as a way to procrastinate or distract us from the more important things. Instead of worrying about these questions. Ask yourself this...
What is my objective right now in this very moment?
Do you want to find a job? Do you want to start taking on your own clients? Do you want freelance for amazing design studios? Do you want to work alongside big companies? From there you can then ask yourself some of the previous questions. Like if you want a job, will anyone really care that you made yourself a logo for the top of your website? If you want to take on your own client, do you really need brand colors?
I like to think of a design portfolio website as a picture frame. The fonts, colors, layout, negative space. All of these elements are your frame. The frame can always be a different color or material. But at the end of the day. What really matters is what you put inside that frame.
What will you put inside that frame? If you are struggling with what to put inside your portfolio website, shoot me a reply here.
I am back in full-swing with doing portfolio reviews. If you want to sign up for one you can do so here. I have also been working on editing my portfolio reviews for Youtube after they are recorded and would love your feedback.
PS. It would be a huge help if you could subscribe to my channel and leave a comment on any previous review videos.
If you would like The Portfolio Squeeze sent directly to your inbox every month, you can subscribe here.
