The job of a creative professional is quite demanding and requires a lot of hard work and perseverance. Since zillions of creative professionals are trying hard to get new projects, creative professionals now have to go extra mile to be able to get new clients on board. Just posting some bids on some bidding websites is not going to help you get new projects as these job boards bulging at the seams. They are overcrowded and the less we say about project value, the better.
So, web designers and other creative professionals have to promote their services aggressively to get new clients and unless you have a proper portfolio in hand, all your efforts could go wasted. A proper portfolio serves as a testament of your expertise and experience to prospective clients and therefore, it has to impact and immaculate as possible.
But building a portfolio is easier said than done. You can’t make it too jazzy because that might confuse the visitors and at the same time you can’t make it look too simple because in that case your portfolio might fail to impress the targeted audience.
Moreover, your portfolio should be following the latest portfolio designing trends to grab more eyeballs. However, in case you are not aware of the latest portfolio design trends, all me explain those trends in great details –
Simplicity
There is no reason to make the portfolio overtly complex. The purpose of a portfolio is to showcase the creative aspects of the designer and also to showcase the projects that the designer has done in his long and illustrious career.
Make sure that the samples that you have uploaded there are handpicked and are of extremely high quality. Also you will have to make sure that the visitors should not be facing any trouble while browsing the website. Prospective customers will be scrutinizing your website minutely and therefore, you should not be giving them any opportunity to whine about.
Focus more on the presentation aspect rather than on the design aspect because people will be judging your skills based on the works that you have uploaded on the portfolio section of your website.
Single Page Design
The purpose of a portfolio website is to showcase your talent. It can be used an extension of the CV of a creative professional and that means, it does not need to have too many web pages. This is where single page web design comes into being.
You can squeeze all the details about of your career in a single page if you try a little bit harder. Since there is no need to features all of your works in the portfolio website, you can easily opt for a single page website. Just treat it like a one page CV.
Those of you who don’t have much time in hand to build a large website, a single page portfolio website could be your savior. The idea behind designing a single page portfolio website is to eliminate redundant HTTP requests and thus speed up the website.
It can work wonderfully for you if you are not planning to add too much detail in the website. Just add some info about you, your skills, and professional expertise and add some snap shots of the works that you have completed and you will be just fine.
Video
Using a full width video is another popular trend that is making a splash. This trend has its positive and negative side. On the positive side, Video increases the interactivity of the website and helps capture the attention of the audience. If done right, it can help you a lot to showcase your talent and skills to targeted audience via an interactive platform.
But on the flip side, video can slow down your website a little. So, if you are concerned about the loading time of your website, you can opt for a hero image instead. Use gradient if you want to make your portfolio website super fast.
Accessibility
The portfolio items that you have uploaded on your website should be easily accessible. Just adding some snapshots of the projects that you have done is not going to serve the purpose rather you will have to add provision for the users to check out the live version of the website, app or whatever you have designed or developed.
Alternatively, you can create separate landing pages for each portfolio item. This will help people to get more details about those projects. It would be great if you can add some content on those individual portfolio landing pages, as this would help those pages to rank high on related terms.
Slider
Slider is another popular way to spread your message across. Use a dynamic slider to feature the best works that you have done. This gives you an excellent opportunity to showcase your talent right on the Above The Fold section of the website.
Good thing is there are zillions of plugins available to launch a slider if you are building a CMS based website. So, it would not take much time to add this feature.
So, these are some popular trends that you should be aware of while developing a portfolio website.