Design Your Own Portfolio

For web and graphic designers, having an online portfolio is crucial to finding work, getting connected with colleagues and showcasing your skills. I just recently re-designed my portfolio site so I thought it would helpful to share what I’ve learned.

My old site was built using Indexhibit and their archetypal format and CMS. It comes as a zip file that you download and install yourself. If you have intermediate web skills, you can be up and running in less than an hour. For those without some web skills, you can find a nice pre-designed theme from Ed Nacional. It allows limited modifications to the main code if you want a different menu, image scrolling and blog integration. While it suited my needs, I decided to code my new portfolio site by hand and not be limited to redesign and expand the site.

Before deciding to write the site myself, I explored a few of the online portfolio options available. The first was Carbonmade which puts the work front and center and seems especially suited for artists and designers with a minimal layout and user interface. A new version of the app is in progress so be sure to check back with them.

Cargo Collective is another online portfolio site which puts the emphasis on the work. It also allows integration with your Twitter feed and online shop along with multiple layout options.

Flavors.me is a slick online site that allows you to merge all of your sites into one microsite. You can collect your Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr and many other sites into one clean layout. Having the ability to use custom fonts, backgrounds and layouts makes this an attractive option.

Stacey must be downloaded and installed and comes with a custom CMS and several layout options. Although I haven’t tested this platform, the examples show a variety of ways to brand your site. Again, an intermediate level of web skills would be needed to install and activate the site.

With many outstanding online platforms and other options considered, I decided to code my new portfolio site using XHTML and CSS. I used Komodo to write, validate and test my pages as I progressed. The user-interface is similar to FireFox in that it creates a tab of each page and you can view what you wrote in the browser of choice. It was a rewarding exercise and allowed me another portfolio piece to showcase.

SUMMARY:

If you are a graphic designer, an online portfolio website will allow you to have a web presence with little coding and web design experience. For developers with limited design skills, they offer a slick and modern solution to present yourself. The options presented all have strengths and in certain cases, it may be beneficial to use several of these options, thereby increasing your web presence.

QUESTION:
What do you use? Are there other options to consider? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.