Your Portfolio page has a lot more power and influence than you might think. More than a place for showcasing your recent work, your Portfolio page can dinstinctively demonstrate your expertise, communicate your values and approach, and help your business to connect with preferred clients. By curating your Portfolio and presenting your work in a purpose-driven way, you can do more of the work you love and value, and grow your business. Today, we’re excited to share creative ways to design your Portfolio.

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Creative Ways to Design Your Portfolio Page

Welcome to Episode 167 of the Brand It, Build It Podcast: Creative Ways to Design Your Portfolio Page

Whether you’re a photographer, interior designer, copywriter, brand designer, or web designer, your Portfolio page is a powerful tool for showcasing your work in a purpose-driven, connection-driven way. Today, we’re going to explore five creative ways to design a Portfolio page to showcase your expertise, connect with your preferred clients, and ultimately, grow your business.

1. Embrace a curated Portfolio. Sometimes, small business owners believe their Portfolio needs to include all — or a very large portion — of the work they’ve done. Many clients of With Grace and Gold have shared with us that they feel pressured to include every wedding they capture, because they want to foster positive relationships with past couples they’ve served. The truth is: Your Portfolio can be a place you curate with your best work. You can create a user-friendly space your new, prospective clients can seamlessly browse. Additionally, if you’d like to feature every couple or client you’ve served, you can explore using your Blog for showcasing additional work. When you embrace creating a curated Portfolio, you can focus on the work you are most proud of, you can create a more user-friendly page design, and you can ensure your Portfolio is showcasing the best of what you are capable of, and equipping you to connect with new prospective clients who value your expertise, style, and approach.
2. Get organized. Sometimes, it’s beneficial to use separate galleries for each client you serve — and divide your Portfolio page up client by client. This is beneficial when your work tells a very specific story you’d like your prospective clients to see and understand. Other times, it’s beneficial to use separate galleries for each category of work you do — such as a gallery for wedding photography, a gallery for engagement photography, and a gallery for brand photography. This is beneficial when you want to show your prospective clients the breadth of your work, or show your clients a curated collection of your very best work. No matter which path you choose, we usually recommend no more than 10 galleries, and no more than 50 photos per gallery. This creates a user-friendly experience and is often enough to give your prospective clients a detailed understanding of the quality and caliber of your work. Of course, there are unique circumstances and unique cases for unique businesses — but these foundational rules equip us to create engaging, experiential Portfolio pages our clients’ prospective clients can connect with and remember.
3. Share your values, approach, and style. One common misconception about With Grace and Gold is that With Grace and Gold only serves photographers. The truth is, we serve all types of small businesses: authors, speakers, content creators, conference hosts, podcasters, marketing professionals, coaches, travel experts, wedding planners, personal stylists, and many more. We determine which designs are shared in our Portfolio based upon a variety of factors — whether we would like to showcase a specific style or design feature, or we would like to showcase the breadth of our design expertise. We’ve discovered our Portfolio can be a place where we can also communicate on behalf of our work and share with our prospective clients what we’d like them to see and notice about our work — noticing how each design looks and feels like the client we’ve served, acknowledging that our business serves all types of businesses. When you use your Portfolio as a space to share with your visitors what you’d like them to see and notice, you can better equip your Portfolio to accurately and seamlessly guide your visitors toward confidently choosing your business.
4. Incorporate engaging, textural elements. Adding engaging elements to your Portfolio page can create a memorable and engaging experience for your visitors. Think about incorporating features like slideshows, hover features, before and after transformations, or animations to allow users to further engage with your work — or experience your work in a more detailed way. These elements can bring your Portfolio to life and leave a lasting impression.
5. Include your past clients’ experiences. Create space for you to tell a story about the work you’re showcasing — or to allow your past clients to share about their experience working with you, too. Your Portfolio can be a blend of photographs and copy — creating a more engaging space your prospective clients can connect with.
6. Showcase your process. It’s likely your prospective clients are not only interested in the final product but also in the journey and the creative process behind the final product. Consider including behind-the-scenes glimpses, sketches, or mood boards that share and show your creative process. By showing your clients how you approach your work, you not only build trust but you also demonstrate your expertise and attention to detail.
7. Include a call-to-action. If someone is excited about the work they’re seeing, what action step should they take next? Include a call-to-action at the bottom of your Portfolio so your visitors know what to do next should they determine your business is the right fit for them.

When it comes to your Portfolio page, embrace simplicity, tell a story, use engaging elements, and showcase your process. Of course, if you’d like to learn more about With Grace and Gold’s Custom Brand and Web Design Experience, through which your work can be showcased in an engaging, experience-driven way, visit withgraceandgold.com.

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, and founders. Weekly, brief, actionable episodes will equip you to build a successful, sustainable small business. Since 2014, With Grace and Gold has provided award-winning custom brand and Showit web design and completely customizable Showit website templates for small businesses worldwide.