• 15/11/2022
  • 10

Tips to get your portfolio noticed on creative networks

For designers their portfolio is their calling card. A portfolio is how you as a designer can show your skills, experience and potential to recruiter and clients. A strong design portfolio can lead you to your dream project or job. Considering the competitive nature of the design industry, building an impressive portfolio becomes imperative.

With many creative networking sites today like Behance, Indiefolio, Dribble, Coroflot, we bring you some simple and easy to do tips that help your portfolio stand out.

Correct credentials

A key point many ignore or do not take in seriously is having the correct credentials. This means your name. Use your full and correct name on your portfolio, so there is a clear understanding for the viewer on what to remember you by. If you have chosen a professional name that you’d professionally like to be known by, then do not use any other alias or surname in the portfolio.

Stick with one name, this helps the recruiters and HR professionals to remember you.

Also interesting to read: 5 Sci-fi inspired automotive design trends

Portal design aesthetics and your portfolio

Behance, Coroflot, Core77 amongst others have a unique user experience of their own, make sure you understand how that adds value to your portfolio rather than taking away from it. When it comes to design aesthetics, make use of colours and contrasting elements that will aid to make your work stand out on the mosaic page of the creative network portals.

Quick tip- To make sure you stand out here, do an analysis of your peers and competition on the creative network, if they are all using the same white background, try working with a grey, black or colourful background to help your projects be more visually distinct.

Also interesting to read: How to deal with feedback as a product designer

High quality images and catchy project covers

When you are building your portfolio make sure you use the projects with the most unique visual appeal first. Pixelated images, low quality images and documents should never be part of your portfolio. The main notion of your portfolio is to grab more eyeballs and gain more projects/ work. Creative images you use to build your portfolio reflect you and your work, make sure you use high-quality and best of the images from your projects.

Layout should be simple, organized and designed with hierarchy in mind. Be more visually creative with your message, avoid being text heavy. Keywords to hold on to here are being comprehensive, crisp and distinct with self-explanatory creatives.

Not to forget, maintaining captivating, intelligible, and catchy visuals as covers for your project albums is key to grabbing attention. These visuals should have an instant appeal to the recruiters and increase their desire to know more about your work and explore your portfolio.

Also interesting to read: How recycling design is shaping product design trends?

Build your portfolio for the job you want

When designing your portfolio on creative community networks such as Behance, Coroflot, Core77 and Indiefolio, you must first answer the question of – who you are as a designer and what you want to do. When you have answered this, the next question is – what are the projects you have done that help represent what you want to do?

When you showcase the projects that reflect your design sensibilities and capabilities, you are giving a clear message on what you want as well. For example, if your interest lies more in footwear design, make sure a large majority of your projects are concentrating on how you have been working with footwear design trends, brands, and ideas than everything you have done in the classroom.

Make room for confident work

When you are a new designer in this competitive design market today, the work you share in your portfolio should be what you are proud of. When you are proud of your work, you can explain the concept, ideation, and execution with confidence. Recruiters are aiming to hire designers who are confident in their abilities and can defend their own work with logical explanations.

Be sure that your project on the portfolio site are unique, original concepts, duly credited and most importantly – they are projects you are proud to be associated with. These help you raise your confidence and reflect the quality of work you bring to the table.

Also interesting to read: Trends shaping the future of automotive design

Relevant tags

Community networking platforms are all about the work you post and the relevant tags. Make sure to capture the right tags for your projects and portfolio overall. Allow yourself some time to research your peers’ work and other competition work on the platform and make note of what relevant tags they have used based on the work posted. Next step will be to see how many unique tags are used by projects that fall under the same tag.

If your project is on typography, some relevant keywords may include- type, fonts, typeface, type design etc.

Also interesting to read: Apple Electric car project: What to expect from its design

Choose the correct category for your work

On these creative and community platforms, a key move to help recruiters find your work is by using the right category. This means you select the creative field that best represents your style of work, your role and not necessarily the work as a whole.

If your work falls under UI/UX and your role is focused on UI copywriting, make sure you select UI copywriting and not just UI/UX in general. This option offers you the opportunity to show what your exact contribution has been hence making you more relevant for the recruiters.

By following these tips, you can make sure that your portfolio is clutter free with unique sensibilities and defined specialization. What are you waiting on then, let’s get started to fine-tune the portfolio now.

Want to Become a Designer ?


Strate is a unique design school that nurtures your talents as a designer by offering state-of-the art designing courses in Bangalore.

Join Strate

Start your journey by filling the enquiry form.
Strate School of Design Strate School of Design




    Disclaimer: The information we collect about you is intended for Strate School of Design, who are responsible for its processing. You have the right to access, rectify, and delete data concerning you. You can exercise it by sending an e-mail to the following address: admission@strate.in.
    X

    Admission Open 2024-2025.

    Apply Now