Must Have Elements in Your Portfolio Web Design

This is a guest post by Tara Hornor, if you want to guest post on this blog, please contact us.

As a graphic designer, striving to reveal your creative complexity in words, stills, and video is a challenging but fulfilling venture. As you build your proud portfolio, remember to mix all the ingredients for success: the basics with the memorable. You want potential customers to be “sold” on your custom booklet illustrations or website design concepts but also know how to track you down time and time again. Follow the five below so that each and every look at your portfolio can be and will be worth a thousand sales.

Keep in mind, too, that the reason you need a checklist isn’t because you only have one portfolio, though. Most designers have several! One on Behance.net, a version on DeviantArt.com, and maybe even your own Tumblr blog as well. This checklist will give you a quick way to make sure you have your bases covered on all of your portfolio websites.

Logo

Your portfolio logo should be both memorable and unique. Potential clients should be able to recognize your mark, no matter where they see it. In your portfolio, keep it prominent! You want to make sure viewers know they’re on the right portfolio if they’re visiting from somewhere else, like your website. The logo is a huge visual cue that they’re where they need to be.

Contact Info

Make sure to put your contact information on ALL of your portfolios. Most make it easy to display an email address, phone number, and website address. At least have an email or phone number available. This is one of those items that should be consistent across portfolios. Always make it as easy as possible for clients or fans to find you.

About Me

Share yourself with potential clients and employers. Reveal your “uniqueness” and thus your strengths. Doing this can begin the refinement of you as well as your product. Creating connections in this manner builds bridges. Your unique reflection will brand you and the products that represent you. And, in your reflection, others will see themselves. With this, you make a sale…and create a sail. Think about it.

You can also tailor each of your “About Me” blurbs for each portfolio. You don’t have to copy and paste, but stay focused. Keep a theme, but don’t be afraid to match the tone of the portfolio.

Services

Clearly define what you offer: services, products, ideas, visions. Explain your niche. Explain how you and your products can fit into their lives. Make your followers and your customer base available and provide links to your website so patrons can see, read, and explore all about you and your goods.

This service offering should be available on every portfolio. Don’t assume that just because you’re a landscape photographer and only take pictures of landscapes that visitors will make this connection. Tell them!

Blog

Your blog is the freshest way to present your reality to the world. Visitors, who will become future friends, can feast on your thoughts, your photos, your art, and your videos. Your blog promotes you daily in new and different ways. It keeps you in the “know.”

You can connect all of your blogs in most cases, so you don’t have to write content for each portfolio. The key is to write personable content that’s about your art and your process. This is one of the best ways to create a following and discussion regarding your work.

Tagline

Tag your customers with a “Quadruple Quote.” Make this one-liner savory, sweet, snappy, and savvy. This memorable phrase should sum you up. It is you, your product, and your goals in a simple slip of verbiage. Power-pack each word so that prospects can easily decipher your skills and services from your tagline.

Don’t be afraid to mix it up with each portfolio. As you know, sometimes you reserve certain designs for certain portfolios – your family-friendly version on your site and your adult version on DeviantArt. It’s okay to make it clear in a brief statement about what that particular portfolio is. Set the tone.

About the Author!

Tara Hornor has a degree in English and has found her niche writing about marketing, advertising, branding, web and graphic design, and desktop publishing. She writes for PrintPlace.com, an online printing company that offers brochures, business cards, custom flyer services, posters, postcards, printed booklets, and more printed marketing media. In addition to her writing career, Tara also enjoys spending time with her husband and two children. Connect with @TaraHornor on Twitter.