Having an online portfolio is necessary for expanding your business. Here we give a few useful tips to make a professional portfolio, and that too, without coding!
Half an hour is nothing, especially when you can come up with an elegant and easy-to-navigate portfolio in this duration! Sounds good? Read on our handy and step-by-step guide to believe that you can certainly build an excellent and appealing design portfolio in less than half an hour. Also, there is no need to worry about coding skills because our tips do not require coding.
Let’s start.
1. Select the Theme of Your Portfolio (Approx 2 min):
Well, this is the first step toward an appealing portfolio. You need to think about how you want your online portfolio to be looked, and on the basis of this thought, you can choose the theme.
But then, there is no compulsion in the choice, because if you do not like the theme, you can change it anytime. All you need to remember that, it is about establishing the basic website. You will have a lot of time to change things up in the future.
When you start creating a portfolio online, you will see a few types of theme layouts like:
- 1. Horizontal Scrolling
- 2. Vertical Scrolling
- 3. Thumbnails
- 4. Full screen and
- 5. Slideshow
After selecting the theme for your portfolio, you can start designing it.
2. Design Your Portfolio (Approx 7 min):
Now it’s time to play around with the appearance of your website. The “Design” tab on the dashboard enables you to explore and customize different themes in line with your business model.
The “General” tab enables you to change the font and size of your website logo or add an image in a custom logo. You can also make changes in the site’s text, links, headers, footers, and background color. If you want to speed this process up, you can select one of the customized fonts available.
3. Build the First Gallery (Approx 8 min):
Now comes the most important and lengthiest part of the portfolio development process. Obviously, you want to impress the viewers by displaying the best project works. Now, what works to include and what to exclude can be a big challenge for you.
Here, you can start by selecting the top ten images that are unique and appealing. After building the first gallery with these best images, you can build galleries like portraits, personal work, work in progress, and the like in the future.
When you choose the top photos or illustrations for building the first gallery, make sure that they are capable of giving a positive impression on the viewer’s mind straightaway. Remember, when the visitors or viewers scroll through a quick and easy-to-navigate gallery, they can immediately get an idea of your creativity and designing skills.
What’s more, you can add captions or a type of content to your work in the portfolio. It is particularly important when you showcase commissioned items or collaborative projects.
We have just crossed the halfway. In the next three steps, which are slightly shy of 10 minutes, we will finish the process of designing the desired portfolio.
4. Write About Yourself and Create a Page (Approx 5 min):
You simply cannot escape from writing about yourself in a crisp and concise way. It is indeed an important part of your design portfolio because it gives a strong reason to visit your portfolio.
Though the ‘About’ page does not take much of your time, it can offer you a huge benefit. You can select the customized ‘About’ page template from available templates.
What can you include in ‘About’ content?
Well, you can add anything you feel worthy to let people know.
You can write a simple and quick bio containing information about yourself, your occupation, and your location. You can give your ‘About’ page a personalized touch by adding your image.
Remember, there is no need for using pompous words and irrelevant information in your bio. The tone should be casual and the length is medium to pursue people to read your bio.
You can add a comprehensive resume for describing your professional expertise later.
5. Add Contact Details (Just 2 min):
It is necessary for your business that your potential client can contact you directly with ease after seeing your online portfolio. If your client has to search the contact details on your website, chances are high that they can prefer to stay away from your business.
A dedicated contact page with all the information can serve your purpose effectively. It facilitates your existing and prospective clients to get in touch as and when they want.
6. Give Links to Social Media Accounts (Around 2 min):
We live in a social media-driven world. It is, therefore, essential to building professional accounts for your business on major social media channels like FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. You can add up to five social media accounts for linking visitors.
You can share updates and the visitors can share their thoughts and feedback. Social media can be considered as the most powerful and cost-effective tool to make your work popular across the world.
You can readily build a brand online with the help of social media platforms. Social media linking is the easiest way to inform people about your creativity, and as a designer, you just cannot ignore social media.
Concluding Lines
So, you have just made an online portfolio. Now, it’s time to give it a creative touch. You can add a promotional element like a blog or include an eCommerce store for your design works. It all depends on your business model. A reputed web development company can give you more information on these aspects.
Here we give a quick list of necessary steps to give your design portfolio an edge over your peers:
- – Customize headings, menu items, and other relevant content
- – Upload more images that effectively showcase your expertise
- – Build a listing page for providing easy navigation
- – Include a resume if necessary
- – Set up a link to your published designs
At Solwin Infotech, we’re always ready to help startups and aspiring designers to create and manage their portfolio. Feel free to contact us to get assistance for building an awesome online portfolio.