How to choose the right builder to create your portfolio website
As a Product Designer or UX/UI Designer, the right choice for your portfolio platform, is the one which has the right features and price to suit your skills and needs, and that you can update in the time you have available.
Here you can quickly decide the right one and avoid wasting a lot of time in research or ending up having to rebuild your portfolio in a new platform later.
Important Considerations for the portfolio platform
Quality result - check example portfolio's from other designers in each platform
Ease of use, learning curve and templates to get the portfolio done fast
Whether you can connect your own domain name
Price & total cost (Consider extras like www domain, hosting & SSL certificates)
Features, such as suitability to show off UX work using videos, click-throughs and animations, and not just flat images of design work that doesn't properly convey the experience design within
What skills does the platform or website builder require? e.g. Avoid Coding or HTML skills if you're not comfortable using those, or they would take you weeks to learn
How easy and quick is it to maintain when you're time poor in a full-time job?
What are the main types of portfolio website builders?
Social sites which help you get discovered
Niche designer platforms - under your own web address
General website builders which could build any type of site
Totally free and paid 'out of left-field' options
Portfolio builders typically include:
Design templates / portfolio template
A visual editor, sometimes with 'drag and drop'
Customisation options such as fonts, colours and themes
Custom domain - sometimes a free domain, or a few dollars ($15-25 per year)
The right process to create a Portfolio
If you launch into this without much thought, you'll end up getting lost and spend hours re-doing work. So go through the steps below to do it the right way for the best result.
Research the current job market in your local area, or remote or hybrid jobs if that's what you're going for. Find out what skills are in demand. Decide what type of companies you want to target, the industries and types of projects which you can show that are relevant.
Strategise your approach, what skills can you showcase? What makes you valuable to these companies or clients?
Devise a personal brand based on your strategy and work out your USP - Unique selling point(s)
Consider who is your audience? - Recruiters, Hiring Managers, Clients? - The audience alters the whole approach
Draw up a simple wireframe on paper or in a program like Figma with boxes to show the main areas of content.
Consider your job application process - will you need to provide different URL links according to the type of work you want to submit e.g. work/app-design and /work/web-design - for the different types of job you may want to apply for? e.g. See my portfolio category
If you do want to categorise your portfolio projects, then create a list of those categories and decide which category or categories each of your projects falls into. For example I have categories such as: UX Design, UI Design, Websites, Apps etc
Evolve your figma design to mid-resolution based on the abilities of your chosen platform(s).
Finalise your design in figma and start creating your design in your chosen folio builder
Connect your domain name ie. yourname.com
Create an ATS friendly CV in .doc format, and include interactive folio link clearly embedded, as well as direct links to top projects and categories e.g. www.artfuly.com/work/ux-design
Send your CV out and include links to your portfolio website in your signature and everywhere you can such as your social media and designer profiles such as linkedin
A full table of the top 17 portfolio builders or portfolio website platforms
A summarised recommendation based on the skills needed
Includes graphs of things like 'ease of use vs price' and 'suitability vs features' to help you decide
This tool makes it easy to find the right portfolio builder for you quickly and accurately. You'll find all the information you need to make the right choice, including the features and capabilities of each platform, the pricing plans, and customer support. The product finder also includes helpful graphs that compare price, ease of use, and suitability, so you can make the best decision for your needs. With this tool, you can avoid costly mistakes and get the portfolio builder that's just right for you. Avoid time consuming mistakes and swaps! - Delivered as a Figma file with links. Click here to download it.
All of the above examples were built with Webflow. This website is made with webflow and I very much recommend it - but I urge you to consider carefully before deciding which portfolio website builder to use. Webflow has a longer learning curve than some, however it's one of the most creative and flexible platforms.
Sometimes, I use affiliate links with my recommendations, which if bought through, earns me a few cents at no extra cost to you. This helps with the cost of keeping this site alive so I can continue to guide you. I would never recommend anything I don’t or wouldn’t use myself - Rachael
All the Visual Design Principles in one book with examples. Learn, refresh or hone your design skills to create stunning designs - Available as e-book for €7.99
