Checklist: Designing Your Portfolio

Posted on August 29th, 2011 | Web Design | 2 Comments »

For any freelancer, your portfolio will likely be the main deciding point on whether a potential client hires you or not. They may not first discover you through it, or even first contact you through it, but before the hiring process, the first thing any client wants to see is what you can do.

Just as important as the works in it, so is the design and functionality of the portfolio itself. In this article I’ll go over a quick checklist of some design and functionality considerations that can be helpful in gaining more clients.

Overall Design

• Visible and usable navigation
  Never over complicate the navigation of a portfolio. It shouldn’t be done with any site, but some sites opt to go for a more creative, non-traditional approach which can work in certain niches. You must remember that the majority of your clients aren’t going to be creative people that appreciate your creative approach to navigation, they just want to get where they need to go. You can design the navigation well, but think in terms of good user interface design.
• A visible and memorable logo
  Your portfolio is your business’s website. It’s where your branding should stick out the most, and it should be how potential clients remember who you are and relate to your freelance business. Have a good logo (if you’re not a designer or logo designer than hire someone), and make sure it’s in a noticeable location.
  
• Reflect your own design style
  Many designers follow a similar style from project to project, and clients hire them because they like that style and they want it for their own materials or website. Have you ever tried to “top” your own design style with your portfolio design, though? Forget about that, the look of your own website should remain consistent with the quality of work you provide! If you design for a lot of business websites, make your design more professional. If you illustrate for children’s or quirkier style books, reflect that.

Your Work

• Image previews and descriptions
  This is why potential clients come to your portfolio at all, so make it presentable. Make it easy for them to scan your works, and have it organized into sections if necessary. Include descriptions so they know what they’re looking at, and to give credit where needed.
  
• Main focus on the work
  Note how in my portfolio I have no sidebar or other distracting content. Just the header and footer for primary navigation. Clients likely aren’t too interested in my blog and content, that’s for my other target audience. Even if they are, excluding it from my view of works helps them to be distracted from the process that eventually hires me.
• Lightbox and/or preview designs
  Have a place clients can view more views or full-size views of the thumbnails and smaller versions on the primary portfolio page. A lightbox is a popular option, as it allows the visitor to really focus on the content at hand, and also minimizes all other navigation an distractions. (It’s something I need to implement on my portfolio here soon!) Likewise, for bigger projects it can be a good idea to have a separate page that highlights all of the features for the project.
  

About You

• An about page
  Some designers do not have about pages on their website, but if I’m looking for a designer to work with, it’s a main pet peeve! Some designers will at least have a short about blurb somewhere on the page, which is adequate, but when there’s little to no information on you, I surely won’t feel comfortable hiring you. Have at least a blurb that tells the basics, a page is best. The page does not need to be incredibly long or detailed either, just an introduction to who you are.
• A picture
  A picture of yourself can really add a lot of personality to your about section. With just a simple photo, people can get a much better idea of who they’ll be working with. A simple headshot will do. Camera shy? There’s nothing wrong with using an illustration either.
  
• Graphical elements to display process, skills, or other fun facts
  This isn’t a requirement of course, but adding graphical elements to pieces of content is a great way to highlight what you’d like to show in a creative way, without being too overbearing. It can be simple things, like adding graphical checkmarks to a list, a cool border/frame to your images, or rating stars like I have on my about page. Many designers will have more creative uses of graphical elements, like infographics explaining their work process.
  
• A quick bio
  In my opinion, I’d say that it’s almost a requirement to have at least a few sentences introducing yourself to whoever is gracious enough to take the time and check out your work. On my about page, I keep it to a few paragraphs. Include information primarily about your work history in the field, your process, and style. Feel free to include some details about your personal life too, professionally of course, and place it after your work related info.

Contact Info

• Well designed and usable form
  Create a nice looking form that is easy and quick to use. The simpler the better; the simpler the more contacts you’ll have. Ensure correct and user-friendly validation to prevent frustration on the potential client’s end, and spam on yours.
  
• Other contact info
  Include whatever other contact info you may have on this page. Put there what you feel comfortable with, but I always include my email address (in case the form is down), and ways to connect via social media. Many other freelancers may put their business number, address, and so on.
  
• Social media icons
  Always include social media icons somewhere on the contact page. In my case, mine are in the sidebar. This can allow your potential clients to get in touch quickly, or ask you short questions without the “dedication” of an email. The easier you make it for your potential clients to get in touch, the more you’ll win over in the long run. Plus, it helps your marketing tactic.
  

For Marketing

• Social media icons
  Again, your social media icons should be everywhere! This is a section that should be on every page, whether it’s in a sidebar, your footer, or worked into your design otherwise. It’s one of the most powerful forms of marketing, so make it easy for yourself. Include social media links for blog posts and other marketing material as well. Don’t include 50 social media icons, however. Focus on fewer but more powerful social media sites.
  
• Good and legible blog/content design
  Ensure that your content is easily legible, in particular for blog or marketing content. Helping readers scroll, find what interests them, and so on will help get the content you worked so hard on mentioned elsewhere.
• 404 page that leads to other content
  Never forget about your 404 page! If you design it consistently with your site, in the very least a lost visitor can find their way back home via the logo or main navigation. Better yet, design a 404 page that helps the visitor find what their looking for with suggested or popular content.
• Use proper SEO
  You wouldn’t believe how many potential clients may find you via just search engines, especially if you are in a vary particular niche and do some very particular work. Make sure your portfolio is properly optimized for search engines to crawl your site effectively. No need to use spammy methods or overly obsessive tricks; just make sure you have the basics in order!