In this design portfolio review, I sat down with designer Marissa to provide feedback on how she can improve her design portfolio website. I suggested moving from her self-coded site to a platform like Adobe Portfolio, paring down her projects to 4-5 stellar case studies, enhancing her project descriptions to tell a compelling story about her process, improving formatting/layout for clarity, reorganizing the homepage and overall structure, and using mockups and impactful imagery to showcase her work. I provided tactical tips to help Marissa boost her portfolio and better convey her skills to stand out. As a designer myself, I was able to offer insights into creating a portfolio that wows.

Key Points

• Utilize a design portfolio platform versus coding your portfolio website.

• Pare down projects and showcase 3-4 of your best works as deeper case studies.

• How to start your freelance design career to gain valuable experience.

To Think On

• What type of design work would you like to focus on? Can you showcase more of that work on your portfolio website?

• What is a realistic estimate of how much time you can offer while also pursuing your acting career, and can you use that to your advantage when starting discussions with internship opportunities?

Actionable

• Include descriptions for your projects and build out a story. Think of the who, what, and why for your projects.

• Consider switching to a platform like Adobe Portfolio to simplify developing your design portfolio website.

References

• Adobe Portfolio – A free mini-course I put together for building a portfolio website on the platform.

• Framer – A great tool for building a portfolio website and also for future projects.