Whenever I make changes to my design site, I always struggle with my portfolio. How much information should I put in there? How much information do you really care about?
I started with a detailed portfolio
When I first launched my site, my portfolio was detailed. I had information like:
- The scope of the project (was this a website, a blog, a simple graphic, etc.).
- The client (their website name and URL).
- The date of completion.
- I tagged each entry with keywords. Examples might be: Responsive Design, Custom Coding, Banner Graphic, etc.
Then of course I had screenshots/images of the completed work.
But then I got sick of filling out details
After a few months of this, adding new projects to my portfolio became extremely tedious. I didn’t want to fill out all that info! And I often felt like I was repeating myself with the scope descriptions. Every single blog design project had the same scope (more or less). And that led me to thinking:
Do people really care about all this info anyway?
When you’re looking at a designer’s portfolio, do you want to read about EXACTLY what they did? Do you want to know the date of completion? Do you want a detailed list of the services they provided? Or do you just want to see the final work—the design/project itself?
Let the image do the talking
Eventually I changed things up. Now I ONLY provide screenshots of the completed design. I don’t walk people through my process and list of services. I’m hoping that the actual design work will speak for itself.
I think the only time you need details in there is if you didn’t do the VISUALS for a project. So, for example, I shouldn’t put up a screenshot of a blog that I only coded without clearly specifying that I didn’t design the work. Because if I see a screenshot of a blog design, I’m assuming the person is showing off the design itself, rather than their coding capabilities.
I think the pictures speak for themselves, and that’s mostly all I look at. Although, if you did create something special in addition to the design, like a custom widget or something, you should probably mention that, since potential customers may like that idea, or think of one that they’d like that they may not have if they didn’t know you did that. (that is a terrible sentence, but I hope you get what I mean!)
Haha yeah I know what you mean and that makes perfect sense!
I always ask this question when I’m sorting out my portfolio. I usually just add the best bits. π
Yeah I think that’s another thing: you don’t have to cram all your work into your portfolio. You should pick and choose the best pieces, and the ones that show some variety in your work.
I prefer simple portfolios (screenshot) mainly because If I don’t like the design that much than I wouldn’t want know more about it anyways….does that make sense? I wouldn’t mind if there was information about coding or whatever but in this case looks do really matter.
Yeah I totally agree. A design is a design. I tend to gloss over any design-related text and just look at the final piece.
I guess it would make sense if you’re applying to an actual company for a job, they might look at your online portfolio to determine how you work. Thats the only reason I have detail on my stuff on my portfolio.
Yeah that’s a good point. I’m mostly talking about portfolios by freelancers though. π But I can totally see how there would be a difference between the two. Companies might want to see more explanation.
If you were really hoping for work with big companies, who may want the details, you could always hide the extra info one of those nifty expanding tabs I’ve seen in some of your themes. But if you’re mainly looking for freelance work, I wouldn’t see the point, either.
I feel like the pictures speak for themselves, that’s pretty much what I look for when I look at a design website, is the portfolio to see what types of designs they have done and whether or not they have a link to the website they made the particular design for so that you can see it live and see how it turned out. It’s always nice, if something special was created for that particular website or blog design, that it’s listed as well because like one other person said above it might be something another potential client might want. But, for the most part, I think that you have a stellar site and stunning portfolio. π
Thank you Suz. π I could probably add a few more coding-related explanations to some of my entries. I just don’t want to do that for every single entry. I guess I need to figure out a system where I can have details on some entries but not others!
You’re welcome, I love your designs they are so clean, simple, and pretty without trying too much and that is incredibly refreshing to see out there. The biggest plus for you, is that your designs are reasonably priced, compared to a lot of other’s out there. Maybe, instead of having some coding related explanations on all of your entries, you could have a page or a section of a page that talks about some of the top most requested special coding’s, just to offer as an example. This way, you wouldn’t have to put it on every single one. π
That’s a great idea, thank you! π Then I can link to that page on my order form as well.
That’s what I was thinking, that way if you felt like you had something really new and unique to offer that had been asked for and other client’s might want something similar to it – all you’d have to do is update that one little section every now and then. π
You could do that with Advanced Custom Fields though, right? Using the if statement. That way you don’t have to fill it in for every portfolio design.
Oh yeah, coding-wise it’s not too hard. I just mean in terms of design, how would I present it nicely to have two different styles:
* One with a ton of details.
* One with only images.
It can certainly be done, I just usually take VASTLY different design approaches for each different option, so merging them together would be interesting. π
Ah gotcha! That’s true. And when people see only images on certain pages they wonder why there isn’t any information.
Hadn’t thought about that, lol.
I actually like knowing about the project. I like to read about what the client wanted and why that did or didn’t work and why you decided to go in the direction you did.
I have a serious love of design though. π
Yeah I can see how it’s interesting. It’s just a lot of work to put all that together. π Especially when so many projects don’t have detailed explanations. Like quite often, the client just comes to me and says:
And that’s all I have to work with. That’s totally fine, but it doesn’t really give me much to say on the portfolio page, you know? Then I feel like I’m just repeating myself if I write that (or similar) on every single entry!
Honestly, screenshots are all I need.
Same!
As someone who recently hunted your portfolio out – I don’t look for all the in-depth deets, if I want them at some point I’ll ask for them. I love seeing as many different projects as possible to really get a feel for what you can do, and some testimonials to get a feel for working with you. Dates of completion etc. aren’t really decision-making bits of info for me, I want lots of pictures! π R x
Yeah pictures are the best! π
I prefer simple ones. A grid of screenshots where screenshot leads to original(designed) website. The only thing that should be added is what is done on the website (design, just coding, header design, social icons design etc.)
I like it also when portfolio has a filter on top so I can pick to see only the images from one category: for example only images of websites where you did header design (maybe something else but this too). I think it would be really helpful if I want to hire you for that job too.
Yep, I totally agree!
Filters are a nice touch. They can get complicated to implement if your portfolio spans multiple pages though. π
But yes, they’re a great feature for people who do multiple things (like Web Design, Branding, Coding, Print Work, etc.).
Personally, I find portfolio info really interesting! But that’s coming from a design enthusiast, so loving to read about what the project was about is only to be expected, I guess. π For Charm & Co., I just include a short description about the project — what the client was looking for (really, really briefly), the client’s website name and url. I don’t write anything about what kind of package the project was or stuff like that. I agree, though, in this case, a picture paints a thousand words, so it’s probably the best idea to keep things short and simple.
Yeah I agree that sometimes they’re fun to read. They’re just a huge pain to write if you’re the designer, haha! (At least for me they are. :P)
I am of those people who skip to the pictures and then view the other stuff, usually skimming over it. I agree, the teeny details aren’t something everyone will always care about…I guess it really depends on who’s viewing your portfolio. For me, though, pictures are absolutely fine. Pretty picture π
Yeah I think you’re right—it depends on the person. π Judging by these comments, a lot of people are fine with just images, but there are a few who like to read those details!
So has I was looking around it was your site and just the images on the portfolio that sold me on wanting to work with you. That said knowing what you did that is more than standard is a great way to upsell and when I saw your post the included two new designs and you started talking about extra coding work on the one that is what got me thinking “what else could she do for my design to make it even more amazing?” Without knowing there is that option I think I might not have asked you what else could we do.
Thanks Jennifer! π It’s great to hear your input!
I feel like the more information you have, the less projects you should have. Otherwise, it just takes forever to go through a portfolio. So in that case, a small amount of details showing a large variety of work works best. Plus, if someone’s interested, they’ll contact you anyway, so they’ll have a chance to ask for more details then.
Visually, I want to see everything you did. I’m that person. Perhaps a way to compromise is list a few designs you have done on the main page, and then links (perhaps in a tabbed section) to all your other work, sectioned out like:
“Custom plugins” and “Custom themes” etc.
I think that graphics are the most important thing to me, and a link to the website. I don’t need any details like completion date, rather, I just like to see a lot of designs in a portfolio. I usually just scroll through the pictures. π