Howdy, creatives! You need a portfolio website regardless of what industry you work in in order to stay competitive in today’s world. But what can you showcase in your designer portfolio? How will you display your work on your website so it will not look like boring still images but rather live links that will take visitors directly to the dedicated platform so they can see it? In this article, we will guide you through; let’s start reading.
Why Should You Have Online Portfolio Websites Rather Than Uploading to Design Platforms?
As a creative persona or designer, you will find tons of platforms to showcase your work. Such as Dribbble, Behance, Adobe and the list goes on. Why should you create your own designer portfolio website when there are already high-ranking work-showcasing platforms? Let us find out.
👩🎨 Stronger Personal Branding:
A personal domain (such as yourname.com) appears more professional and is easier to remember. It establishes credibility and positions you as a serious designer.
🎛️ Total Creative Control:
You are not limited to displaying your work in predefined layouts or platform restrictions. You can tailor everything, from navigation to visuals, to reflect your brand’s identity.
🎨 Showcase More Than Just Visuals:
Design platforms only allow for the presentation of certain types of work. Your designer portfolio can include more than just project screenshots. Case studies, video walkthroughs, testimonials, blog posts and even an online store are all options if you provide design services or products.
📊 Better SEO & Discoverability:
Your designer portfolio website can rank on search engines, which means clients and recruiters can find you organically without needing to browse design platforms. This will help you keep ahead of others in establishing your brand.
🎯 Reach out to Potential Clients & Get More Gigs:
Most design platforms do not allow you to add contact forms, email signup sections, or track visitor behavior using tools such as Google Analytics. This will allow potential clients to contact you directly, generating a stream of revenue for you.
All design showcase platforms are great for visibility and community engagement, but relying solely on them can limit how you present your unique design identity. So, having your online designer portfolio website gives you full creative freedom, helps you stand out and allows you to tell your story on your own terms.
Developing your designer brand persona requires a combination of both: creating your own portfolio website as well as showcasing other platforms’ work on it.
9 Things You Can Showcase in Your Designer Portfolio
When creating your own portfolio website, you must keep the following basic content: Briefly describe your website’s purpose, a little bit about yourself, your journey and all of your social and designer profile links. However, limiting your website to these basics is insufficient to establish your brand; you must showcase more.
We have analyzed and shortlisted things you must showcase in your designer portfolio. Go through the list and add these to your designer website.
1. Showcase Design Platform Works from Dribbble, Behance
Even before we have our own designer portfolio website, we begin uploading our work to popular design showcase platforms such as Dribbble, Behance and Adobe. So, once you launch your website, should you stop maintaining those profiles? We would say no. Rather, you should showcase those works on your website as well.
So that your visitors can quickly see what type of work you do. And, if you can embed content links, visitors will be able to go directly to their Dribbble or Behance profiles, show love, share comments and so on.
💡 With EmbedPress WordPress plugin, you can embed and display your content from design portfolios easily, in a click.
2. Highlight Live Updates from Social Profiles
In today’s fast-paced world, everyone enjoys receiving live updates on what is going on in their lives. The most effective way to share live updates is through social media accounts. As a result, displaying your social profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Instagram and other platforms is essential.
Instead of just sharing links to your social profiles, highlight the most recent feed, most important posts and so on in your designer portfolio. It will also help you build your brand. Moreover, creative people use Instagram as a work showcasing platform as well. If you are one of them, then you should highlight your Instagram profile on your online website.
3. Showcase Your Best Works Prototype from Figma
Figma is ruling the design world now. If Figma is also your go-to tool, then you should showcase your Figma designs in your designer portfolio. Figma gives flexibility to create clickable prototypes. You can make your website interactive by embedding a clickable prototype easily.
4. Showcase Your Canva Designs
If you use Canva for your projects, you must include Canva designs, banners and prototypes in your designer portfolio. When establishing your brand, rather than limiting your work to one platform, try to represent it on all popular platforms. It will show that you are agile and scalable.
💡 If you create a portfolio website in WordPress, then with the EmbedPress plugin, you can easily embed Canva designs without coding.
Learn How to Embed Canva Designs in Portfolio
5. Showcase Your Awards, Highlighted Works from Other Mediums
Websites such as 99Designs, ManyPixels and others regularly hold design contests. If your work is listed on any of these kinds of websites, then you should consider showcasing it in your designer portfolio. Also, if you have received any awards or if your work is highly regarded in any newspaper, magazine, or website, do not hesitate to highlight it. It will help you gain credibility and act as social proof.
6. Showcase List of Brands & Companies You Have Worked with
Your designer portfolio is your canvas on which to display your work, passion and motivation, as well as yourself as a professional designer persona. If you have worked for any brands or companies, showcase that in your portfolio. If you cannot manage a direct link to your work, then you can consider showcasing logos of those companies as well. It will also help you build trust among potential clients.
7. Showcase Already Live, Published Works Sneak Peek
If you have sources or links to your published work, then do not miss the chance to showcase them in your designer portfolio. For example, if you designed a website, a banner, a logo, an illustration, or your design was used in a journal or poster, try to keep track of them and share a sneak peek.
💡 If you have a live link to your work, then with the EmbedPress plugin, you can easily embed any page or blog and show it on your website.
8. Showcase Your Gigs And Procedures to Easily Get You Onboard
The most common way to onboard new projects usually involves long discussions with clients before finalizing the scope and pricing. While this approach is effective, it’s essential to make it easy for clients to reach out. That’s why having a well-designed contact form on your portfolio website is a must; it streamlines communication and encourages potential clients to connect.
But beyond direct inquiries, don’t overlook your gigs listed on freelance platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or Freelancer.com. If you’ve already published service listings there, make sure to feature them on your website. This gives visitors more flexible options for hiring you, whether they prefer structured gigs or custom project discussions, making the onboarding process smoother and more accessible.
In addition, you should develop a strong procedure that is appropriate for you. For example, how you accept new offers, analyze requirements, set deadlines and so on. These will provide your audience with a clear picture of you and assist you in securing projects that you are passionate about.
9. Showcase Resume as an Interactive Flipbook Instead PDF
You should upload your recently updated resume as well on your website. It gives a clear vision of your work and passion and experiences. You can either create a dedicated webpage for your resume or display it in PDF, DOCX, PPT, or other formats.
What we would recommend is displaying your resume as an interactive flipbook, rather than as a boring static PDF format. It will create an edge of your designer portfolio and hook the visitors to your page more.
💡With the EmbedPress plugin, you can turn any PDF content into a stunning interactive flipbook with a click; no custom coding or addons are needed.
How to Turn PDF into Interactive Flipbook
How to Create Your Designer Portfolio Website without Coding & Showcase Great Works?
This section is especially for you if you do not yet have your own designer portfolio website yet. We have shared the easiest way to create your website in minutes. Follow the steps below to create your website and seamlessly display the items listed above.
Create Your Designer Website with Ready WordPress Templates in One-Click
We all know creating a website from scratch is time-consuming and tiring. Moreover, if you do not have sufficient coding experience, it is hard to make a website live. To make your designer portfolio creation journey smoother and faster, use WordPress templates.
The most popular WordPress template hub, Templately, will give you tons of options to create a portfolio website in one click. Explore the portfolio templates and other 6,000+ templates, dedicatedly designed for Gutenebrg and Elementor website builders; from there, select your page builder and then import the template in one click. This way you can create stunning websites without any design, content or coding dependencies.
Explore Stunning Designer Portfolio Templates from Templately
Embed All Your Highlights with the Best Embedding Tool, EmbedPress
Based on the discussions above, now you know what to feature on your portfolio website. But how to do it? If you are looking for the easiest and least-coder way to showcase your work from multiple platforms on your website, you should get an embedding tool. And the most popular and efficient one is EmbedPress right now.
With this single plugin, Embedpress, you can easily embed PDFs, videos, images and content from Figma, Canva, Dribble and 150+ versatile sources. EmbedPress also allows you to embed any website’s webpages or blogs on your website. It makes it easier to promote articles and works of yours from other platforms. It is also worth noting that you can customize the appearance of the embedded content by changing the height and width, theme color, branding and so on.
To manage your designer portfolio website seamlessly, you should get EmbedPress, make your website interactive and hook the audience to your website.
Get Started with EmbedPress Now
Create an Outstanding Design Portfolio & Reflect Your Unique Personality 🖌️
A designer’s journey is primarily defined by the presentation and quality of their design portfolios. It serves as your primary point of contact with potential employers or clients, allowing you to showcase your skills, design approach and personality. Hopefully, now you know how to create a portfolio that is technically sound, visually appealing and aligned with your professional objectives.
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