If you want to share your create talents with the world having a portfolio website gives you the most effective way to do so.

If you don’t have the time or the wherewithal to build one from scratch and you don’t want to spend a fortune to putting one together, your best approach will be to find an affordable website-building tool that will do the heavy lifting for you.

If you look for a cheap and easy solution your portfolio website could come up short in terms of quality or performance or might lack a feature you really want it to have.

Your creations can speak for themselves. They are impressive. Your portfolio website needs to be equally impressive to gain your visitors and potential clients or customers attention and trust.

There are certain features to look for in your search for a fast and affordable website builder. We’ll use the Portfoliobox portfolio-builder solutions to demonstrate what some of these features are and how you can best take advantage of them.

5 Portfolio Website Building Features that are Time Savers and Performance Boosters

A portfolio website should serve to impress its visitors and boost your business and/or reputation. A poorly built one can do just the opposite. It can be a detriment.

That is why it is so important to find a portfolio builder you can put your trust in. Here are 5 time-saving and quality-enhancing features you should look for to ensure the finished product will meet your objectives.

Let’s start with:

1. Template mix-and-match page building

A theme-based website builder can be a real time saver but only if you can find a theme that can easily be customized to give you the layout and look and feel want. If it cannot, you could end up spending time doing a ton of customizing or deciding to start from scratch.

You want your portfolio website to reflect your unique creative abilities – at a minimum. The most promising way to do this is to look for a website builder (preferably a portfolio website builder) that allows you to mix and match templates to achieve what you want.

By doing so, you won’t have to worry about

• Allowing someone else to impose constraints on your site’s content
• Spending hours customizing a theme to achieve the correct look and feel
• Designing your portfolio website from scratch

Take Portfoliobox for example. You start with a black slate (not the same as starting from scratch) and build your site’s pages a section at a time.

Since there’s plenty of variety as to what each section template will look like, you should easily find examples that align well with what you expect your portfolio, testimonial, contact, and other pages to look like.

Filling in details can be faster that customizing and is usually more satisfying.

2. All-in-one pricing and affordable and transparent monthly plans

When you’re in a hurry to create a website quickly and you come across a website builder that claims you can use if for “free”, or offers an “affordable” plan, life seems good.

Or maybe it doesn’t.

When it gets down to incorporating all the features you want and need, you suddenly discover that they are only available if you sign up for an upgrade. Even then, you may not get everything you need.

That’s not the case with every portfolio website builder, but to be certain you’ll get the features you need you should look for transparent upfront pricing.

That’s the best way to avoid an unpleasant surprise. Portfoliobox provides an excellent example of transparent upfront pricing.

Portfoliobox offers three pricing plans, Light, Pro, and Pro Plus  (Pro is free for students). You can also select monthly pricing if it will work best for you.

The features of each of these plans are broken out, so you can see what’s included and what’s not:

• A custom domain name (on Pro plans)
• Web hosting and unlimited bandwidth
• SSL certification
• A mobile responsive website editor
• Image storage and protection
• eCommerce functionality is included in the platform
• SEO tools
• 24/7 customer support (chat)

3. Four strategic business features for creatives

You obviously want to use a website builder that enables you to create an impressive online portfolio. But if you plan to offer products or services your site also needs to do an impressive job of streamlining your business dealings.

Your website builder should feature such things as:

Right-click disabling – if you want to protect your online work from theft. With Portfoliobox, this is done by toggling the Disable Right-Click feature as shown below.

Private client galleries – which will give you a fast and secure way to send artwork, photos, web designs, or whatever you are selling to your clients or customers.

There are other tools to create private client galleries, but why take the time and trouble to set up and coordinate with another platform when you can create one within Portfoliobox.

In addition to only having to upload and transfer your work once, this Portfoliobox feature also lets you manage your portfolio and your client/customer collaboration from a single platform.

Image watermarking – protects your work from thieves. It also streamlines your business dealings with your clients in that it enables you to make sure that clients have approved and paid for your products before they can put them to use.

Portfoliobox makes image watermarking easy and you can apply the feature to any client gallery.

Third-party integration – is another time-saving tool to look for.

With the third-party integration feature your portfolio builder can pull files into your website from a image or video editing platform.

4. eCommerce integration

This is another example of the benefits of having your portfolio folder and being able to conduct business on the same platform. There are more than a few website builder solutions that feature eCommerce integration, but most place an emphasis on product pages as opposed to creating outstanding client portfolio galleries.

The Portfoliobox solution also avoid having to configure separate eCommerce settings since eCommerce is built right into the platform.

There are no add-ons needed either. It’s as easy as adding the store as a new page, choosing the template you want, and uploading your products.

5. Timely customer service

A few website builders provide users with an FAQ page, most supply decent user documentation, and a some give you detailed documentation along with tutorial videos. Still, when you find yourself having to troubleshoot a website issue, wouldn’t you rather have a real person giving you expert advice when you most need it?

Attempting to troubleshoot a website problem on your own could take time, and the downtime you’re experiencing could cost potential business. The Portfoliobox platform offers the support you need when you need it.

When you’re on one of Portfoliobox’s Pro plans, you can go to the chat widget at the bottom of the screen to access instant customer support 24/7.

Building an impressive creative portfolio website the fast, affordable, and intuitive way  

While there is no shortage of website builders out there that feature portfolio-building tools, Portfoliobox was built specifically for creatives who need a tool for building a website whose main attraction is an attention-getting portfolio and doing so quickly.

Portfoliobox just happens to be one of the best website builders for creatives out there. Website builders that have all the features outlined in this post are rare, and that is especially true for the business oriented features.

Portfolio is fast and easy to use, and its affordable pricing plans are transparent, so you know you’re getting what you need to get your portfolio website up and running in no time at all.

Showcasing your professional work, your products, or yourself, is far easier than it used to be. Appearing in person with a sheaf of papers for a prospective client, customer, or employer to sift through can get you poor results. Instead of that you can get far better results by using a website builder to create your personal portfolio website. It’s also far easier to create and present a portfolio this way.

Building an online portfolio is easy. Building the one that showcases your creativity is easy as well, especially if you’re a creative person to begin with.

There are plenty of platforms to choose from to build an award-winning portfolio site. To get top results you’ll be wise to select one of the top tools for the job. Below are described the top 6 tools, most of which you can use or try out for free.

Having said that, let’s get started.

Portfoliobox

Portfoliobox is especially well-suited for use by photographers, designers, artists, and other creative types – and for entrepreneurs as well. Portfoliobox is almost ridiculously easy to use, and as it isn’t theme-based it’s super flexible as well. You don’t have to worry about coding either. It’s simply not necessary.

As this tool’s name implies, it’s primarily designed to enable its users to create portfolio websites that range from highly-professional to out-of-this-world awesome. Just what you need to gain fistfuls of clients or make sales. Better yet, you can accomplish this in as little as a few hours if you have your content handy.

Portfoliobox offers a free plan and a pro plan. The free plan is recommended since it offers a great insight into what you can accomplish and has sufficient features to put a small to medium-size portfolio in place. The pro plan includes web hosting for a much larger number of pages, blog posts, products, and images. The Portfoliobox user base currently exceeds 1 million. A new version, Portfoliobox 4, is in the works.

Wix

Wix is a versatile tool that can be used with great effect to promote a business or create an online shop. It’s greatest strength however is what it brings to the table as an online portfolio builder. Wix is strictly drag and drop supported by the tools and features you need to customize any of the 500+ designer-made templates to your satisfaction.

If you can visualize a truly awesome and unique online portfolio, Wix enables you to build it; without coding. You’re not restricted to presenting one static image after another either. Scroll effects, animations, video backgrounds, and more can be used to make your portfolio come to life and keep viewers engaged and looking for more.

If you want the total freedom you feel is necessary to create an award-winning, crowd-pleasing portfolio website, Wix is for you.

Weebly

A common feature of many of the top website-building tools is ease of use; which is important if you would like to get something up and running in a relatively short time. With Weebly, you can plan your portfolio-building project over your morning cup of coffee and have the website up and running before dinner.

It’s actually that easy when you have a great selection of customizable webpage designs to work with plus a host of custom fonts, video backgrounds, and other special effects and useful tools to work with. Best of all, the Weebly website builder is free.

When you’ve built your website, you can host it for free. You can purchase a domain from Weebly, but if you already have one you can simply transfer it.

If your portfolio will display a line of products, Weebly offers professional quality photos if you ship the products to them. Whatever your needs, the tools and services are there.

Mobirise Website Builder

With a tool like Mobirise at your fingertips you don’t have to be satisfied with yesterday’s idea of a professional portfolio. This offline builder gives you an easy way to build a portfolio that you can take pride in, and one that will encourage others to spread the word.

For starters, Mobirise features 2000+ modern website templates and blocks and a whole host of icons, Google fonts, images, and more.

Pixpa

Pixpa’s website-building feature set, its 24/7 support, and its cost-effective pricing plans make it a great choice for creatives and small businesses in need of an attention-getting online portfolio. You can build the website you want without requiring any coding knowledge.

It’s simply a matter of starting with any of Pixpa’s templates and customizing them to your satisfaction via drag and drop. Pixpa offers a 15-day free trial.

8b Website Builder

8b is brand new, futuristic in its design and performance, and super-simple to work with. You can build a portfolio website from your desktop, from a mobile device, or both; and, thanks to Google AMP, your finished project will be lightning-fast and 100% mobile friendly.

8b’s collection of 18 slick starter themes and more than 250 website sections are all you need to get your portfolio-building project off to a lightning start.

Tips for creating a great portfolio website

You don’t have a portfolio website, and what you’ve been using seems to be getting the job done, so why go digital (even though everyone else seems to be doing so)?

• For one thing, with an online portfolio you can showcase your work in a variety of unique and effective ways.
• It can also give others a quick insight into what you do as well as who you are
• It makes it much easier for people to find you (you become searchable) and see what you have to offer.

At a minimum, your portfolio website should feature a logo and a tagline, a sampling of your very best work, and contact information. You could also include testimonials and case studies, a blog, and anything else that you believe might gain visitor interest. It will look like a special project you have in mind or are currently working on.

Your online portfolio is like a shop window. It features a display that compels passersby to enter to see what you have of interest in terms of products, services, or creative works of art. In this case those “passing by” consist of clients or potential clients and future customers.

Your portfolio should:

• Introduce you and showcase your best work
• Be easy to navigate and be search engine optimized
• Tell a story. The most effective portfolios are often those that can tell a story,

There are also several side benefits to creating an online portfolio.

• Your talents are put on display for all to see
• You’ll get better at organizing items for maximum effect
• Your self-confidence should take a positive hit as interest in your portfolio takes off, and
• You may learn a few new things or gain a few useful ideas as you proceed

It’s win-win for you and your customers/clients.

Conclusion

An online portfolio is a valuable asset. When it is done right, it can help any business to grow and any vocation or career to advance – including a tech industry career. This valuable asset doesn’t require a ton of study or effort to put in place either. When you can put a top-notch portfolio website in place in a day’s time, the ROI can be huge.

That’s where online builders like those presented here come into play. They are easy to use, produce excellent results, and are either free or offer free trials.

Written by Taira Sabo, Wix Design Community Expert.

Out of all of the creative people in the world, designers have a very clear vision of what their online portfolio should look like. Their line of work demands a site that lives up to their standard, showcases the diversity of their creations, while capturing the essence of their signature. In other words: they are likely to think of their website as a piece of art in itself. As they should.

Whether you’re building your own online presence, or somebody else’s one, you need a platform that can fulfill even your wildest design fantasies. To create a website, you want to benefit from the most advanced features, intuitive to use and a platform that provides beautiful results. This way, you’re in control from design to live.

Speaking of lively results, there’s no better way to prove a point than with some stunning evidence. So without further ado, here are 10 designers who used the unlimited creative possibilities of Wix to imagine and realize portfolios that are not only functional, but serve as a true testament to their work.

1. Mike Almanza

2018 will see the confirmation of a now well-established trend: long-scrolling websites. The visual impact is great, and it fits perfectly the new mobile habits. You just need to make sure that the different strips will ‘feel’ clearly separated, while speaking the same language. This portfolio solves the perilous equation with a splash of red color that repeats on every single strip. A perfect example of how playing with only few chromas can create a memorable experience.

2. Michael Burk Studio

Like it or not, the 80’s are back – and web design is no exception, as shown by this eye-catching designer’s portfolio. The combination of a vintage computer layout and bright colors immediately gives that ultimate pop feel. The “Work” and “Info” buttons anchored on either side of the page complete the bold approach. The result? Another piece of evidence that when a website looks like candy, everyone wants a taste.

3. Hannah Jacobs 

Grid-based layouts will probably be one of the most widespread trends in 2018. Adding strips and columns helps your site to breathe, and organize the content in a more elegant way. This illustrator clearly mastered the art of composition, with her projects allocated in small boxes. For the animation, have a look at the bottom, with the film displayed in a full strip thanks to the genius tool that is Wix Video. Of course, the sketch wouldn’t be complete without the author’s signature. You’ll find it in the header, smartly transformed into the cutest and most authentic logos.

4. Dennis Krawec

Sometimes less is more. Obviously not here. This site proves that you can go crazy with colors, animations and a busy design language, and still create a fantastic-looking opus! If you happen to need a multilingual site, take some inspiration at how effortlessly this portfolio switches from English to Japanese.

5. Mild Design

Some pieces of art are so strikingly beautiful that they need very little introduction. This website went for a long-scrolling page that allows the visitors to discover the galleries gently and quietly – like in a museum. Don’t discard all textual content just yet. If you go for the same inspiration, the footer is the perfect place to stuff all your crucial information – such as your contacts and social media.

6. Candyfornia

GIF, GIF, GIF is all we can say! While the animations (and colors) may be busy, the perfectly boxed layout calms down the craze. The very prominent logo is balanced out with clean and simple “Services” and “About” pages. Another smart move: the rolling Instagram feed directly displayed on the homepage, and which looks like the most appetizing candy necklace.

7. Bruna Cristina   

A powerful portrait as the header of your website is a classic, yet efficient way to lure users in and tempt them to continue to scroll. Another great find: check out how this design challenged the standard photography portfolio structure, by showcasing the gallery in a striking two-column grid.

8. Thai Pham

You learned it in your first year of (web) design school: white space is a crucial element to draw your users’ eyes onto what’s really important. This portfolio put the theory into practice in a masterly fashion, with white borders and a vast amount of space between the images. As a result, the website looks like it ‘breathes’ – even though a lot of pictures are displayed. We also love the sharp and ‘broken’ letters of the logo, which give off an edgier feel to an overall elegant design.

9. Max Halley   

If your work involves a sense of humor and color, why not place it front and center to catch your visitors’ attention? This über-talented designer does exactly that. His fun, bright, and neon-colored animations are the most inviting. Note the clean background that helps balance out all the adventurous hues, and ease the navigation.

10. Adieu Film

Giving your website a character, if not a personality, is crucial. Somewhere between Wes Anderson’s movies and the sophisticated designs of the 60’s, this site clearly found its own language. We could elaborate for hours on this homepage that is supremely enticing, thanks to the lovely pink overlay and the slow motion video background. ‘Adieu’ film maybe, but ‘bienvenue’ to stunning web design!

Filled up with good inspiration? It’s your turn to experience creativity without limits. Start designing your website with Wix now!

Modern minimalism is vastly overrated for the value it adds to a website. When content is centered as the main priority users are free from excess distractions. Granted not everyone likes minimalism because it can be seen as lazy, simplistic, or just boring. But this is not the case!

The best minimalist websites are anything but boring. In this gallery I’ve put together a series of minimalist layouts for personal creatives like writers, designers, and performers. Minimalism is a powerful tool when used appropriately. Graphics and photos have their place but not always higher than content. Take a peek at these examples and see if you can draw any ideas for your own creative work.

Drew Wilson

Ignacio Macri

Mig Reyes

Justin Aguilar

Anais Zamboni

Justin Mezzell

Ben Ashman

Julien Milles

Darrin Higgins

Karl Anders

Alexander Munk

Andrew Colin Beck

Isaac Orloff

Jamie Gregory

Arne Meister

Weston Vierregger

Alex Tass

Andrew Lucas

James Lutley

Paul Robert Lloyd

Colin Tierney

Ryan Hamrick

Bob Flynn

Anthony Kolber

Robert Iza

Miguel Ferreira

Christopher Doyle & Co.

David Hutton

Sam Dallyn

Rob Wootten

Aaron Shapiro

Josh Warren

It’s surprising how many people move into the field of copywriting. It’s a much-needed position to fill in advertising and marketing agencies. But copywriters also manage content in publications like magazines, TV guides, instruction manuals, and many other printed publications. It seems almost every company or idea rests on the wordsmithing abilities of talented copywriters.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to portfolio design. The layout style tends to morph depending on what you create and how you design. But overall it’s just a website meant to showcase a particular talent. I hope this gallery provides inspiring ideas to other writers who are currently in the process of building or redesigning their own personal website.

Ashley Milhollin

Dan Rozier

Benji Shaw

Jose Carlos Benitez

Erik Donham

Sarah Dembkowski

Alan Snider

Gari Cruze

Johnny Galbraith

Brian Smith

Bernie Watt

Michelle Spivak

Lora Olivia Faris

Lara Kesler

Jordan Dodson

Britton Upchurch

Meg Linen

Elliot Nordstrom

Phil Calvit

Jim Morrissey

Drake Paul

Demian Kendall

Garrick Sheldon

Joe DeSalvo

It’s often the little details that really take a layout from good to amazing. Button styles and colors aren’t enough – you have to consider the value of icons, photos, and definitely videos. Background elements can add depth and layering to an otherwise simplistic design.

Video backgrounds are insanely popular now that video recording is much more commonplace. But not every video can work as a background – you have to consider how a video fits into the website’s overall theme. Video background techniques can also vary based on certain libraries and their level of browser support.

The following examples showcase the most interesting and relevant video backgrounds in modern web design. These are perfect for new or experienced designers who want to understand more about the fundamental design concepts behind video BGs for the web.

DSN X MFG

Digital Tutors

Urban Influence

Bob Wassermann

Fresh Design Studio

Powerhouse Company

Purple Rock Scissors

Brindisa Tapas Kitchen

Panoptiqm

Active Theory

Adaptable

Axe Matte Effect

Studio Pie

WinShape Camps

Monsorro

Designmodo Startup

Geckoboard

The Obakki Foundation

Acunity Unite

Crop the Block

Demodern

Dadaab Stories

Project Skin

Moodboard

HLK Agency

24 Hours of Happy

Louis Ansa

Build Films

Pushreel

Kalexiko

Modern case studies are built for design projects of all types. Studios and freelancers alike can put together case studies ranging from branding, web design, mobile UI design, or even After Effects compositing.

The following tips & examples should help you understand the purpose of case studies in a creative portfolio. While they might not be useful for every project, there is drive among designers to fit more case studies into portfolio work. A great case study will demonstrate not just technical proficiency but also a philosophical understanding of design principles.

Case Studies hold Knowledge

When styling a case study it’s a good idea to frame it from an educational perspective. Most portfolio entries include some photos with extra details about the project. This is fine and most definitely encouraged – but case studies are meant to explain the stages and hurdles of a project.

Aside from actual mockups or completed designs you might also include some preliminary photos. Basic prototypes, sketches, or even rejected design ideas. All of these things demonstrate knowledge to prospective clients or job recruiters.

Take a look at the above case study from the portfolio of Jordan Price. His layout is exquisite and touches upon all the main areas of a project. The page includes the overall project goal, initial sketches/prototypes, production graphics, and ultimately the final product.

When you can show your process in this manner it opens up a world of opportunity. Basic portfolio entries might just show a finished project and some basic details. But anyone can show a finished project – people really want to see and learn about your process.

Design interesting case studies to help others understand your creative process. This is not an easy task at first because you probably won’t have much experience describing each project in detail. But with practice it gets a lot easier and really fun.

Take for example the Basic Agency case study which incorporates sectioned areas for content. The project is broken down into phases with photos and descriptions of each one. The case study page uses a sliding navigation element so readers can skip between sections.

A great case study should be written to share & demonstrate knowledge. Keep this in mind at all times and be sure to conserve resources from each stage of a project.

Show your Creativity

Demonstrate your process in a true-to-life manner. Take photographs of sketches on your desk or scan your sketchbook for a digital shot. Take apart your designs and create little diagrams with tooltips going into detail about each part.

Creation is a somewhat elusive concept for non-creative people. Although everyone has creativity we don’t all use creative energy in the same way. So visitors will always be curious to know more about your creative side and how you do the work you do.

The portfolio website of Henry Bayuzick is rather simple yet straightforward. It looks all-business and his case studies come off with a similar vibe. Each page includes plenty of written content but there are sketches and prototypes littered throughout.

It’s always nice to show your creative process in both visual and contextual ways. Before writing a new case study you might take down some notes or even write an outline of each section and how you want the content to flow.

Add Personal Work

Case studies do not always need to rely on client work. It’s actually a smart idea to add case study details about your own personal work or projects you did just for fun.

Most people call this spec work where a creative person makes something on speculation without the guarantee of payment. Sometimes this can be for a project which may sell in the future. Other times it can be for project destined to be a portfolio piece.

Personal work is so important because it’s a way to demonstrate alternate skills which you may still be developing.

For example a talented UI designer may only receive inquiries related to websites and mobile applications. But this designer could also have prowess in another skillset like motion graphic design. So if this person wanted to land motion graphics/compositing work, they should create a demo reel or add some motion project case studies to their portfolio.

You can’t always wait around for the perfect project to fall into your lap. This is especially true if you hope to move into another industry but don’t have any examples of work. Nobody will hire a freelance web designer to do photography if they don’t have any serious work examples.

The moral here is to stay focused on particular areas which you truly enjoy. Show off your best work and prove that you know your stuff.

Details are Everything

The best case studies often take a slant towards being highly-detailed and specific. Before delving into the process most designers will add extra features like tools, techniques, timeframe, clients or even co-workers.

Some details may not be admissible into a public portfolio because of confidentiality agreements. However there are usually lots of details that you can share regarding the specifics of each project in stages. How many iterations did you try before settling on the final one? Which techniques were used to create certain textures?

SFCD has an interesting case study layout which delves into a ton of detail. Their studies includes video media along with sections for project descriptions and client info.

Scrolling down the page you’ll notice individual sections outlining parts of the UI design. Each section behaves like a focus study into areas of design like texture, fonts, icons, color choices, and the overall composition. People may not read all of this stuff but they’ll sure as hell appreciate your level of commitment.

I also enjoy the case study design of Justin Edmund. The whole page feels like a single unified project which includes design phases into the top navigation bar. It scrolls along with links in the header for prototypes and iterations of the final design.

The only time you’re being too detailed is by repeating information or including stuff that has nothing to do with your work. Otherwise detail is highly recommended for every case study.

Why Should People Care?

Before even starting a case study it may help to jot down notes for your desired direction. People will surely love to read about your process, but it also helps to explain things you learned or some of your favorite creative choices.

Give people a reason to care about each case study and they’ll keep reading. Go into detail about how you created a particular icon or a repeating tiled background. Write about how each idea came into being and why it was rejected or accepted.

The portfolio of Adham Dannaway is simply phenomenal and his case studies follow suit. Most of the content in his case studies are taken up by graphics and previews from each project. There are paragraphs explaining things but most of the work speaks for itself.

This example goes to show that you can always focus on writing or design in balance, or switch it up either way. Most people want to see pictures so you really do need to include some behind-the-scenes content.

However if you’re not much of a writer or simply don’t have time then it’s possible to let the content speak for itself.

Haraldur Thorleifsson has a very clean and minimalist portfolio layout his case studies. Each project covers details about different segments of the design along with the team and final result. Haraldur’s minimalist layout retains focus solely on his work and keeps people interested all the way down the page.

Final Thoughts

If you’re thinking of redesigning your own portfolio consider first taking notes and getting a serious organized plan. Case studies are very popular in the creative field because they demonstrate progress and the ability to create something from nothing. Prospective companies and clients like to see this kind of stuff to be sure that you’re trustworthy on a creative project. If you decide to follow this route be sure to catalog your work and plan a layout structure for organizing detailed case studies into your portfolio.