Five Hacks to Build a Better Online Design Portfolio

If you’re looking for design jobs , your portfolio has to be strong. Here are some of the best tips and tricks to help you build a stunning portfolio.

Here at Cogs our advisors spend a lot of time informing candidates on how they can optimise their digital portfolios to ensure they beat client expectations and get them the job they deserve. So, here are some of their best tips and tricks to help you get that dream design job with a stunning portfolio.

Use the latest platforms

While you might be a WordPress wiz, there are plenty of digital platforms out there on the web like Behance and Carbonmade that enable you to design, create and manage a fully bespoke online portfolio.

Some of these platforms are free while others have pricing strategies that enable you to upload more and more projects to your portfolio, and customise the look and feel, the more money you spend per month.

Whether you pay for your portfolio is up to you and your monthly budget, but it could be wise to pay for a month and see if you see an increase in the number of leads you get. If there’s no increase, resort back to a free portfolio. No hard done.

Create filtering options

If you’re looking for work in a particular sector, or you’re searching for specific design roles in London, you may want to include filtering options in your portfolio so that potential employers can examine only the sorts of projects they are interested in.

For example, this might mean sorting work into ‘web’ and ‘mobile’ categories, as well as having an ‘all’ category. This not only keeps your portfolio tidy, but it also demonstrates that you’re efficient, logical and pragmatic.

Curate, curate, curate

While you might be proud of all the work you’ve done, it’s wise to take the total and try to cut it down as much as you can so that you’re only exhibiting the best of the best.

This could mean something as simple as taking only one example from each previous client that you’ve worked with, rather than all of them, or it might mean selecting one example each of the different kinds of projects you’ve worked on.

Although some people have given curating a bit of a bad name, when it comes to your own portfolio, you really can’t curate enough.

Add distinctive elements

Of course, your projects take centre stage in your portfolio, but around them, ensure you consider other distinctive elements to help your portfolio stand out, and demonstrate your ability.

Awards, extra qualifications and a link to your blog all ensure that you’re showing off your skills, as well as your work.

Social is your friend

The importance of social media is ever-increasing, and this is nowhere more true than in the creative industries. If your portfolio doesn’t have links to your social feeds, you’re going to get left behind.

Additionally, you could actually pull your Twitter feed into your portfolio so that it displays your recent tweets, bringing your portfolio to life, and giving potential employers a window into your social life.

These are just some of the main hacks you can make when you’re looking to build a job-winning online design portfolio to get you your dream design job in London, Singapore, Berlin or Hong Kong. If you’d like more detailed advice, get in touch with one of our specialist design experts.

If you’re looking for design jobs in London, you need to ensure your portfolio is as strong as it can be. Here at Cogs our advisors spend a lot of time informing candidates on how they can optimise their digital portfolios to ensure they beat client expectations and get them the job they deserve. So, here are some of their best tips and tricks to help you get that dream design job with a stunning portfolio.