50 brilliant design portfolios to inspire you

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The internet is overflowing with awe-inspiring design portfolios and creative resumes. To stand out in this tough market, it's important to make your online portfolio as impressive as you can.

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It's not just the examples of work that need to blow away your potential clients (although they do help) it's the way they're presented. You don't have to be a superstar creative director or web designer; a touch of creativity and innovative thinking will get you a long way. And there are plenty of free online tools, such as Behance, to help you build a portfolio without any coding knowledge.

So, check out these inspiring examples of online design portfolios, both for individual designers and design agencies – to help you angle your own in just the right way…

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01. Daniel Spatzek

We love how Daniel's bio zooms into view

Daniel Spatzek is freelance graphic designer and art director from Austria, and his site does a brilliant job of showing off both his design and web skills. Using plenty of WebGL and CSS tricks to bring everything to life, it's a selection box of hot web techniques that's packed with animation, but all put together in a restrained way so as not to overload the viewer.

02. Arturo Wibawa

There's some exemplary use of SVG animation on Wibawa's site

Arturo Wibawa's site is worth checking out just for the detailed breakdowns of projects he's worked on, complete with wireframes, flowcharts, palettes, fonts and plenty of information about his process. But it's also a slick, brilliantly executed site with loads of smart effects and visual tricks, including some masterful use of SVG animation.

03. Femme Fatale

Nice Velvet Underground reference, too

Based in Paris, Femme Fatale is a creative studio focused on culture, luxury, editorial and art. It pitches itself as being somewhere between sophistication and simplicity, and its portfolio site reflects this tone excellently, combining swish parallax effects with bold imagery.

04. Alexandre Rochet

It looks dark here but the colour soon kicks in

Also based in Paris, Alexandre Rochet is a French designer who's passionate about image and specialises in web design, identity and interface design. His site's packed with parallax effects and smart colour fades. What it sacrifices in straightforward navigation it more than makes up for in wow factor. 

05. Bert

Big and bold, Bert's site is in your face, with all the facts you need

Netherlands-based Bert's creative specialists work on an international level in branding, design and development. The studio's single-page case studies are a joy to look at, packed with punchy imagery interspersed with informative chunks of text.

06. Yul Moreau

Welcome to the neon jungle

Born in Seoul, based in Paris and raised by the 80s, Yul Moreau's site grabs your attention from the off with its splendidly garish background montage of retro video. The single-pager site does a brilliant job of showcasing the art director's work, combining video, images and clever scroll effects to show everything off nicely.

07. Steven Mengin

Just watch this undulate for a few hours and everything will be fine

To be honest we could happily sit and gaze at Steven Mengin's WebGL splash page, with its gently undulating cloudscape, for hours. However, it's worth dragging yourself down the page to enjoy his work, ever so slightly spiced up with a light ripple effect on each image as you mouse over. Great work by Samsy.

08. Studio Schurk

Studio Schurk brings humour to its animated site design

Animation studio Studio Schurk (meaning 'Studio Rogue') shows off its sense of humour in its bold and punchy site design. The animations highlight off the duo's talent while being interesting and fun. Scroll down to see their equally bold designs.

09. Melanie Daveid

Melanie Daveid's site shows that simplicity come sometimes say it all

UX designer and art director Melanie Daveid's portfolio is simple yet beautiful. Her intricate illustrated logo opens and closes the (almost) infinite scroll design that brings her resumé to life on your screen.

"Artworks and illustrations were my gateway to the creative industry," she says, "which led to the foundation of my own studio and to first steps in the digital world." Something that is crystal clear from her portfolio.

10. A Dandy Punk

The Dandy Punk expresses his multifaceted talents through a multimedia portfolio

A Dandy Punk hasn't just created a beautifully intricate illustrated portfolio but an online presence and alter-ego. The site mirrors this, with the character "existing to inspire and motivate creativity, non-conformity, whimsy, intense curiosity, do-it-yourself mentality and everyday eccentricity in everybody."

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Next page: 11-20 on our list of brilliant design portfolios

11. Sean Halpin

Sean's simple yet cute portfolio site contains everything it needs to in one neat design

Scroll through Sean Halpin's kitsch little green world to discover how he can help you build your perfect site. His design is simple and easy to read, yet effortlessly displays his skills and talent for bold, stand-out web design.

12. Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee displays his passion for toys and 90s cartoons in his designs

Christopher Lee doesn't just share his name a legendary actor, but apparently a creative talent too. His design site, The Beast is Back, showcases his punchy designs and illustrations influenced by 90s cartoons and urban street culture.

13. Resn

Resn has a portfolio site unlike any other

New Zealand-based creative digital agency Resn is known for its boundary-pushing websites, and its own portfolio is no exception – in fact, this bonkers creation is pretty difficult to sum up in words. The homepage features a glimmering, 3D gem, and when you hold down your mouse button, weird and wonderful scenes appear before you. Let go, and the site springs back to the gem.

It lacks any kind of structure, so you're probably not going to want to go for this approach on your own site, but it's worth a visit just to marvel at the team's creativity (not to mention enviable technical skills).

14. Gisele Jaquenod

Jaquebod's cute cartoons capture her personality perfectly

Art has dominated much of Gisele's life, and that is evident from her quirkly cartoon-styled portfolio. The designer's site expresses her personality, from her obvious love of animals to doodling. However, she doesn't overcomplicate things. The menus are simple and easy to navigate, and strategically, her Etsy selling page takes centre stage on the homepage.

15. Adhemas Batista

Adhemas Batista's colourful work contrasts with a monochrome homepage

A Brazilian-born graphic designer and artist based in Los Angeles, Adhemas Batista has worked with some of the world's biggest brands, including Adidas, Coca-Cola and Sony. His homepage design is monochrome, which makes for a powerful contrast with the riot of colour and pattern within the portfolio that follows.

16. Ryan Scherf

Web developer Ryan Scherf's one-page portfolio site is simple but very effective

In-between web designing, developing, writing, teach and building, Ryan Scherf found the time to create this eye-catching portfolio site. A gorgeous example of a one-page site, simply scroll down past the beautifully illustrated landing page to a number of example websites that he's worked on, followed by contacts at the bottom. Simple but very effective.

17. Charlotte Tang

Tang's portfolio lets her work do all the talking

Toronto-based interactive designer Charlotte Tang 'strives to marry the love of web and graphic design by finding a harmonious balance between functionality and aesthetics'. And is something that she's clearly applied to her portfolio site.

Users are greeted by little port holes, featuring a black and white taster of her work. Hover over each and they come to life in full colour. Click and you're led to a beautifully big image of said work, plus a short description.

18. Robby Leonardi

Robby Leonardi stars in his own interactive design portfolio

Robby Leonardi is a multidisciplinary designer based in New York City. Specialising in illustration, graphic design, animation, and frontend development, he has worked with the likes of Fox, Speed TV, FX Networks, myNetworkTV, and G4. He's laid out his portfolio site as a video game that the visitor can actually play. This incredibly fun interactive design portfolio will have you scrolling for hours.

19. Björn Meier

A beautifully simple and easy to navigate portfolio

This beautifully minimal, easy to navigate portfolio from Björn Meier is a feast for the eyes. Designed by German based agency BASICS09, the portfolio went on to become recognised on the AWWWARDS.

20. Sadok

Sadok's animated beard galaxy adds a comical touch to the site

Product designer and coder Sadok has a beard full of secrets. But he also has a great portfolio site. Each project is summed up succinctly in a singe page, with the background echoing the work on show. It's a relatively simple site, but these touches help it shine.

Next page: 21-30 in our list of inspiring portfolio designs

21. Marc Thomas

Fun colours and a responsive layout make this a portfolio to die for

This portfolio from designer Marc Thomas teams a playful icons with bright shades. He manages to fit you need to know onto a single screen: details of his skills and current role, previous clients, and links to his social accounts and contact details. It's neat, memorable and packs a punch.

22. Rosie Lee

Images of the agency's work take centre stage on this site

Rosie Lee is a hybrid creative agency, with on- and offline expertise in branding, advertising and retail design. The agency's work takes centre stage on its website, with plenty of colourful, full-width images, videos and carousels showing off what it can do.

23. Studio Airport

An unusual vertical carousel helps this site stand out

Studio Airport is a design agency based in the Netherlands, with a strong online presence embracing airport graphics, large photographs and strong typography. There are quirky touches throughout its website, including an unusual vertical-scrolling carousel of its projects, and an About Us section in which the photographs interact with one another when the user mouses over them (scroll down the homepage for a look).

24. Paul Currah

The design portfolio of Paul Currah is clean and simple

Paul Currah is an award-winning multidisciplinary graphic designer, delivering creative, innovative and engaging solutions to communication problems across brand identity, print, packaging, environmental and digital. His scrapbook-style portfolio is a clean and simple offering, with each project photo fading in and out, showcasing different aspects of the creation.

25. Smart!

The online portfolio of Smart! has a simple structure

Smart! is a multidisciplinary team of professionals in graphic design, communication and information technology that have two offices in Buenos Aires and Peru.

Their online portfolio has a simple structure, with the grey images turning to full colour once you hover over each project. We love that the selected images from each project are presented in a horizontal line.

26. Olly Gibbs

The online portfolio of Olly Gibbs shows real attention to detail

Olly is a London-based, multidisciplinary designer and illustrator who has already worked with the likes of Warner Bros, Muse, and The Salvation Army. It's the attention to detail within his portfolio that really makes it stand out.

The sense of fun immediately showcases Gibbs' personality, whilst the typography and layout makes it work aesthetically. We especially love the 'About' section.

27. Pollen

Pollen has won a slew of awards for its work

Digital and branding agency Pollen has won a slew of awards for its work, and its online portfolio is beautifully structured and art directed. For each project, the team has put together a series of images, videos and short chunks of text, each of which is displayed alone on a full page – as the user scrolls, a new item jumps into view.

28. Viget

The online portfolio of design agency Viget shows the power of photography

Working as a team of 58 creative individuals, Viget has got some impressive projects under its belt. Set up by brothers Brian Williams and Andy Rankin and their Dad, Wynne 'Pop' Williams, Viget Labs was established back in 1999 when the internet was changing.

The portfolio showcases just how important photography and user experience is within this industry. Pops of primary colour and subtle animation help create a playful, highly usable experience.

29. Super Awesome

The online portfolio of web design agency Super Awesome is, well, super awesome

With a name like Super Awesome, you'd expect this web design agency's portfolio to be pretty, well, awesome. And it's safe to say that it is!

Making sites not suck since 2007, the team have gone for a cutting-edge layout reminiscent of print design, complete with vertically running text and staggered imagery. We love that the site isn't afraid to produce statements such as 'portfolios are boring' and 'we don't do meetings'. Bold, super awesome stuff.

30. Tawn

The design portfolio of Ashleigh Downer immediately grabs the user's attention

In a world of quick clickers and impatient scrollers, it's important to instantly grab the attention of your potential clients. Too much text on the homepage could scare away the curious, so it's a good idea to entice them with an image. Here, Ashleigh Downer does just that with a quirky landing page before showcasing her incredible collections. Remember, you want to make your visitors click, and you can't help but do just that with this portfolio.

Next page: 31-40 in our list of great portfolio websites

31. Small Studio

Small Studio portfolio is whimsical and interactive

Small Studio is an award-winning creative agency, founded in Melbourne in 2007 by directors Paul Kotz and Todd Proctor, and it's portfolio is well worth a visit. The moment the visitor lands on the homepage, they are invited to cut the balloon's cord to send it flying into the sky, and there are plenty of whimsical and delightful moments to follow. 

32. Bleed

Bleed aims to challenge conventions with its work

Bleed states that it represents "a mix of cultures and disciplines to challenge today’s conventions around art, visual language, interaction, media and identity". This mode of thinking is implemented within its online projects. Full-screen imagery and large type engage the user whilst scrolling through the site, and its studio manifesto at the end is a nice touch.

33. Kendra Schaefer

The online portfolio of Kendra Schaefer is packed with personality

Kendra Schaefer likes to mix up her portfolio, but every version is packed with personality. The designer recently moved to China, and has embraced this as her theme. And with comments like "THIS SITE USED TO BE FUNNY, now it just feels sexually inadequate (guess who's over 30!)" it's clear she's maintained her sense of humour.

34. Cast Iron Studio

The online portfolio of Cast Iron Studio is full of creative flair

Cast Iron Studio's portfolio is a modern delight. The studio has taken on a nifty little cast iron pan as their logo and evokes its environmentally responsible ethos with a simple, naturalistic design and infinite(ish) scrolling. Each project section goes in-depth into each aspect of the work, so there's plenty to explore, too.

35. DJNR

The online portfolio of DJNR truly stands out

This is an online portfolio that really stands out from the crowd. DJNR crafted this highly interactive site, which includes a GIF of a working day that coincides with the bar running at the bottom of the page.

There's also music and a highly eye-catching colour scheme. You can browse through all the projects on one page, which includes development, games, animation and design. It was even an FWA site of the day!

36. Strangelove

The colours on this site complement each other perfectly

The phenomenon of Pinterest has meant a huge rise in Pinterest-style layouts. This is far from another copycat site though – graphic designer Gareth Strange has managed to make this one his own. The homepage directly focuses on his illustrations, with the colours nicely complementing each other. The visitor is able to immediately gauge Gareth's design approach, which certainly makes for a successful portfolio.

37. Maria De La Guardia

Maria De La Guardia's portfolio site is easy to navigate

UX and visual designer Maria De La Guardia's portfolio site was built using the Craft CMS. It's an impressive lesson in clear navigation. It's split into sections – work, contact details, recommendations – all signposted with bright bands of colour. Meanwhile, the icon-studded homepage background lends personality.

38. Steven Bonner

Steven Bonner's portfolio site barely includes any words at all

Illustrator Steven Bonner's work deserves to be splashed across any screen. Thankfully his online portfolio does just that. In the most recent version of his portfolio, he's taken a confident approach and shunned words altogether, instead opting to let his work speak for itself. The homepage features a selection of tantalisingly cropped images of previous projects, and he invites the user to get in touch to find out more.

39. Jesse Willmon

The design portfolio of Jesse Willmon is playful and fun

This playful portfolio comes from designer Jesse Willmon. As soon as you arrive on the homepage, you know you're in for a treat. A cute aesthetic helps you feel welcome, along with a chatty tone, felt-tip font and colourful imagery. It only gets better once you click on the links, as Willmon's signature illustration style continues throughout.

Next page: 41-50 in our list of 50 awesome portfolio sites

40. Seymour Powell

The design portfolio of Seymour Powell offers a interactive visual insight into their work

Seymour Powell is a multidisciplinary group of design researchers, brand experts, product, UX and UI designers, and makers. As you can see from the grab above, they're not afraid of a splash of colour. The site also features a modern take on the parallax trend of yesteryear. 

41. Lounge Lizard

Lounge Lizard's portfolio takes the bar theme and runs with it

Website design and marketing agency Lounge Lizard has been making waves on the design circuit for almost 15 years. The team describe themselves as 'brandtenders', and this bar-themed portfolio is the perfect execution of their work and style.  The site is packed full of case studies and information while still maintaining a fun, drinkable vibe.

42. Tim Lahan

The design portfolio of Tim Lahan is perfectly laid out

New York based graphic designer and artist Tim Lahan presents his portfolio in a simple yet stunning way. Thanks to the sticky header, the important logo and information stays firmly at the top of your screen as you scroll through colourful examples of work. The drawings and designs are also perfectly laid out to really show them off; with no framing or barriers to distract the visitor or alter the work's effect.

43. Justin M. Maller

Justin Maller's portfolio lets the vibrant imagery do the talking

The Australian designer's portfolio site keeps things reasonably simple, and so lets his vibrant work – he's going through a delightfully crystalline phase at the moment – do the talking. It lets you get straight to the artwork; the only fancy stuff going on is a lovely little gradient at the bottom of the main index window, subtly fading everything in as it scrolls up.

44. Tim Smith

HTML5 tricks bring this portfolio site to life

Boasting 'Brain-powered graphics fun', Tim Smith's portfolio site uses CSS3 to mix a spotlessly clean look with some clever HTML5 tricks such as the cut-out titles for each piece, which disappear as you mouse over. We love the sidebar as well, featuring social links on the front page and then used for navigation between portfolio pages.

45. Delete

Delete's action-packed site has plenty going on

Big, bold and in your face, Delete's site opens with an animated introduction to the agency and a recent project. The rest of the portfolio meets the expectations created on the front page, with plenty of animation and graphic touches throughout.

46. Studio Contents

We love the smoothly responsive images on Studio Contents' site

 The front page of Studio Contents' site seems basic – minimal text sitting on top of a big carousel image, with a grid of smaller images beneath that – but it's fantastically responsive and smooth with it, images resizing with the browser like a dream. It's all about presenting the work in the best possible way, and this does a great job.

47. Bob Galmarini

Bob Galmarini took a template site and made it his own

'Bright' and 'crisp' are good words to describe the personal portfolio site of Bob Galmarini, an award winning art director at {e} house studio.

"Like a lot of other designers, my work has been hidden within the portfolios of the companies I have worked for," says Galmarini on the goal of his new site. "I needed a simple, easy to update place to host my body of work." Galmarini started with a template theme but heavily used CSS to make it unique. It’s a good example of how altering fonts, colours and other CSS styles can make a difference.

48. Hayk

Check out the brilliant use of colour on Hayk's site

Hayk is a full-time freelance designer who also happens to be a music producer by night. After high school he continued to study on his own, reading and gaining experience working as a graphic designer. This cleverly crafted portfolio has a lovely colour scheme and an ace scrolling experience.

49. Stereo

A creative portfolio site for Stereo

London-based agency Stereo Creative has created this simple yet striking portfolio site. Each case study is well thought out and beautifully presented, with a carefully chosen slogan introducing each one.

50. Fieldwork

A clean-cut portfolio for the team at Fieldwork

Fieldwork is a focused team of makers and doers that specialises in crafting engaging experiences across digital, web and branding. Founded in 2012 by Loz Ives and Andy Gott, the company has worked with a number of brands including craft beer brewers and illustrators. Its lively portfolio is clean-cut, colourful and easy to navigate.

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[Shri Krishna Technologies 0]

Nice Article and good portfolios designs.