Original, Entertaining, and Appealing Portfolios That Work

A good portfolio is an essential tool that all serious designers should posses, but what makes up a good portfolio? Simplicity, mixed with a creative and unique environment can help you show off your work to clients in a fun and interesting way. In this article I will show you some amazing design-related portfolios that present artwork in original, entertaining, and appealing ways. I will then provide some resources that will help you in your pursuit of the perfect portfolio.

Inspiration

Every serious designer needs to have a portfolio to showcase their talents for perspective employers. If you want to take it a step higher and create a portfolio that looks good and is user friendly then you should definitely check out the roundup we have below. These 15 portfolios feature various designs that range from extremely simplistic and empty to flash based and vibrant. Each one of the portfolios featured has an excellent design that is user friendly and displays all the information needed. Potential clients do not wish to spend a bunch of time sifting through tabs trying to find your work and credentials, they want simplicity, and then a unique aesthetic will only boost your chances. So check these portfolios out and see why they work, after that you can take a look at some tutorials and templates to help you build a portfolio that works for you.

Darek Nyckowiak

This portfolio features a simple grayscale color scheme that works extremely well with the 3D flash
incorporated navigation system. The viewer can scroll through all of this designers past work with ease. All of the designers contact info as well as his own design style is easily
accessible for any prospective employer to view. A unique navigation system top of a simple UI makes for a great portfolio.

Janis Godins

What I really enjoyed about this designer’s portfolio is the opening page, which featured a small quote that defines this person’s portfolio. With that there are specific words, which you can see are highlighted that lead the user to different parts of the portfolio. This creative introduction ties the user into your message as a designer with your work. The colorful design definitely adds to the ambiance of the portfolio, and gives the viewer some more of the designer’s art to look at.

FormTroopers

This design studio’s portfolio has a very minimal design that gives prospective employers all the information they need in a short concise way. Five separate tabs on a single page site are surrounded by a very clean and elegant aesthetic that provides for a very simple user experience.

Chikezie Ejiasi

This is probably the most common type of designer portfolio out there. A title page that leads into a list of illustrations created by the designer, which can be viewed once at a time. With that being said this is still one of the better adaptations of this popular design scheme. The colors give off a very nice mood, which is in character with the portfolio identity. The designers info can be easily found, all his credentials are listed, as well as his design capabilities. A perspective employer will find all they were looking for from this page.

Orange Label

This is one of the better portfolios out there. We first get a very vibrant and colorful pixel art shot at the very top of this long one page portfolio. We then scroll further down to see an informative profile on the company and their services. A price chart definitely helps those who are looking to hire decide if you are right for them. A little more scrolling gets you to the companies past web designs and at the very end we have a contact form, which wraps up a very complete and comprehensive portfolio.

CPB Group

Being completely original in your portfolio design definitely helps set you apart from every other person in your field. This is prime example of a portfolio that puts a unique spin on their product. A company that deals with videos made a Youtube friendly portfolio that easily displays their work in a simple manner. Showing their past
clientele at the top of the page also helps their cause for getting hired. Twitter and news feeds keep the viewers up to date with the company and its work so that is also a plus to this great portfolio.

OLA Interactive Agency

Portfolios that get their point across in a interesting manner can be really key in landing agency’s and designers clients. This design agency brings forth a very funny and amusing approach in showing viewers what they do. The flash based website showcases some entertaining dancing from the employees at the agency that then ties into their messages to the viewer that they create Fancy, Sexy, Cool, Websites. This loop is definitely fun to watch and will get anyone interested in checking out the rest of the site.

Carlos Cabrera

The home page for this portfolio is a great and simple way to get your services across. With a loop of your artwork going on as the background and a simple easy to read price list in front of that anyone who is looking to hire you will quickly know if you are the right designer for the job. Firmly stating your price point will save you a bunch of time, and showing your work right away shows your skill set right at the gate. This is a great portfolio formula for designers, something to look into for all.

Juan David Perfan

Sometimes design portfolios that are heavy on flash are quite a pain for people because of the long load times. Clients with short attention spans can get bored and just move on to the next page. But they definitely pay off if you lay one out correctly because they bring a whole new dimension to the table. This portfolio is a great example of flash that works, containing three simple tabs on the home page as well as well as an all important social media tab at the bottom. Each tab opens up to show more categories that the viewer can look through with ease. And with all of that the designer keeps new work flowing through the background, which is another plus.

Richie Chin

Portfolios don’t always need to be elaborate and flash based to be considered good. This one is a portfolio that gets the designers work across quickly and in a very sleek matter. A nice horizontal scrolling window at the start of the portfolio holds all of the designer’s past work and below that is all the personal info compacted all on one simple page.

Mutant Labs

Branding of a company or business is very important to remember when creating a portfolio and this one definitely remembered that little bit of information and ended up creating a very good page. Mutant Labs stuck to its brand and created a great themed one page portfolio, little things like calling its past work "Specimens" and its employees "Anatomy" really ties into their brand. This is all around a great portfolio because of its sense of their brand as well as the overall design and aesthetic of the page.

Esteban Munoz

This portfolio is a prime example of how one page portfolios can really get their point across in a simple manner. You automatically start off viewing the work of the designer in a small slideshow, and below that is a very cool moving illustration that was also created by the designer. Showing off all that work so quickly definitely gives an employer a look into your style and your level of talent.

Whyisbox

Sticking to the theme of simple one-page portfolios we come to this one that puts an interesting twist on it. We start off by viewing a simple one-page introduction on the artist that sadly doesn’t feature too much work, but it does give all of the other info needed. If you would like to view more this site directs you to a blogesque portfolio that breaks down into 6 separate tabs ranging for different design styles to contact info. This mix of portfolio styles is a unique showcase of a designer’s talents, definitely another one to look at for those in need of a portfolio design.

Greg Althoff

This portfolio is the epitome of simplicity, no flashy design needed to get your work out to clients. All that they will need is on the side of the page and it is easily
accessible. Not much else is needed to show clients your work and experience.

AdaptD

The last portfolio we are featuring has a great color scheme that just ties together all the info about the design studio featured on their page. You might not get all you need from just their front page but once you start digging you will see everything you need such as price, and past work in a very clean setting.

Portfolio Tutorials

If you’d rather buy a pre-made portfolio instead of creating one yourself then check out these amazing portfolios from Theme Forest. There are thousands more great ones to check out, so head on over there if you are in need.

Elegant Portfolio Tutorial

One Page Portfolio Tutorial

Grungy Translucent Web Portfolio

Professional Web 2.0 Layout

Premium Portfolio Themes

If you’d rather buy a pre-made portfolio instead of creating one yourself then check out these amazing portfolio’s from Theme Forest. There are thousands more great ones to check out, so head on over there if you are in need.