9 Unique Design Portfolio With Examples

Are you a Graphic Design freelancer?

Is getting clients a serious headache for you?

Is representing your work the most overwhelming task for you?

For freelancers, struggling to get clients is an everyday riot!

While there can be strenuous challenges to crack the deal with the first freelance client, onboarding successive clients are equally tough! The reasons can be numerous for this!

Inappropriate skill set, not up to the mark portfolio, poor branding, and so forth! Out of these, a failure of standing out is one of the top 5 reasons freelancers fail! And, this happens because design freelancers do not invest in unique design portfolio building, and take this essential step for granted!

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Portfolio? What is that?

Think of yourself as a client looking for a freelance graphic designer to get your designs sorted. Once you’ll spread the word about your requirements, you will get tons and tons of applications. How will you select?

That’s where a unique design portfolio comes in!

A design portfolio is an amalgamation of your best-delivered work to showcase your talents, skills, and experience in the design industry. It can pronounce how and why you are better than your fellow freelancers. It generally has your design samples and presentation of live projects delivered throughout your tenure as a freelancer. It can also have the tools you use to build your designs, and lucrative creatives!

But, What should a design portfolio include?

How to make a unique design portfolio that can impress clients?

How to make sure you stand out from thousands of freelancers already trying to grab your project?

Let’s begin!

Your Unique Design Portfolio: Here’s All it Should Have!

To leave no loopholes, make sure your design portfolio has everything your client might need or want to know about. Here are some of the things it should have-

1. Display Versatility!

As a graphic designer, versatility in terms of work is of utmost importance. It can help you win over your fellow freelancers and impress your clients in the first go!

To display versatility in your portfolio, ensure you highlight the types of work you have done, and projects you delivered. Maybe this can include websites, live web pages, product designs, logos, company videos, social media posts, and so forth! This would pronounce that you are not limited to one type of design and have versatile creative skills that can benefit the client!

2. Case Studies and Testimonials!

Clients trust fellow clients the most! This highlights why client testimonials and case studies are important in a design portfolio. These can vocalize your credibility and reliability as a freelancer!

If possible, mention your past client’s official id so your new prospective clients can contact them and get real feedback. This can help you spread the word about your work ethic and professionalism.

Check out the different ways to collect client feedback.

3. Make it Client Friendly

Your prospective clients are industry professionals looking for freelance graphic designers. These people are often short on time and don’t have time to figure out how to navigate and look for the right design samples in your portfolio.

Therefore, it is advised to make your portfolio simple and easy to navigate with clear menu icons. This increases the probability of your client going through your samples thoroughly. And, in the end, might select your freelance graphic designing services!

Also Read: How to become a freelance graphic designer?

4. Detailed Contact Information

Think of a scenario where your clients decide to move forward and hire you as a freelance graphic designer! How will they reach you? How will they be able to discuss prices?

Thereby, mentioning your contact information in your portfolio can be life-saving for you! And, don’t forget to be active on the mentioned emails, fax id, skype id, and other points of contact you are displaying on your portfolio!

Check out how to price your first-time customers as a freelancer.

5. Highlight Your Personality!

Though your creative skills are the first criteria to select you over other graphic design freelancers, your personality can be the second!

To prove your reliability as a freelancer, it is important you highlight your personality skills. These can be professionalism, effective communication, and so forth. You can also display your “true to the commitments” nature and how you can be an asset because of your pragmatic approach to working, active participation, and always being upfront in putting forward your thoughts and ideas!

All these factors can make your portfolio stand out from the rest of the freelancers. This would help you get local as well as international clients as a freelancer! But, what is the need for a portfolio?

Check out the most profitable niche in graphic designing

Why Invest Time in Building Up a Portfolio?

Making a portfolio can be cumbersome and daunting. As this serves as a first impression for your clients and pronounces for you and your skill in your absence, this has to be perfect and up to the industry standards. But, can you not get clients without a portfolio?

No, you can get clients without a portfolio!

But, the quality of clients would differ. With a portfolio, you can get international clients, clients with high budgets, and also ones with renowned industry reputations. This is how and where your unique design portfolio can make a difference and work in your favor!

And, no matter if you are a budding freelancer or a freelance graphic designer with several years of work experience, a portfolio can make your freelance journey a lot easier and more fruitful!

Also Read: How to create a portfolio website?

To help you get your design portfolio right, here are 9 unique design portfolios for you to take reference from-

1. Zara Drei

She carefully amalgamated elegance, experience, and precision in her online portfolio. Not too heavy on text, easy navigation, and best work placed up front, are some of the factors that made Zara’s portfolio in the list of our unique design portfolio examples.

Further, it also has some exciting GIFs, animations, and short videos to pronounce how she was a member of the team of UI & UX development for big brands. You can surely take some inspiration from this!

2. Moritz Oesterlau

We have discussed how case studies and client testimonials can help you penetrate the tough freelance market. And, that’s what Moritz leveraged in his portfolio!

He has linked case studies and some of the best-delivered work on this portfolio website. Moritz’s portfolio is surely an example of a clean, easily presentable, and precise showcase of past work experience!

3. Elizabeth Lin

Product designers are in high demand. But, to get projects from such a rich market, your portfolio has to pronounce your skills. Elizabeth Lin took this seriously!

In her portfolio, she showcased her illustrations, past work experience links, and a clean yet interactive introduction “About” Page. This leaves the client with a clear understanding of her expertise, and how she can be a perfect fit for their requirement!

4. Jamie Wolfe

An animation director with renowned industry experience, Jamie Wolfe designed a portfolio every graphic designer freelancer can take inspiration from! The portfolio has themed examples of past work experience, important connections with social accounts, a CV, and a brief introduction page. Also, the contact details are added!

5. Olivia Truong

Precise classification of past work samples, and clutter-free portfolio design, Olivia Truong’s product design portfolio is next in our list of unique design portfolio examples. Along with this, integrations with social accounts, and contact details make this portfolio have everything a perfect graphic design freelance portfolio should have!

6. Aaron Lowell Denton’s

A portfolio that can impress at first sight, Aaron Lowell Denton’s design portfolio has previous project samples with brief details when clicked. It is a perfect example of helping clients understand your work style and past project details all at once!

7. Cass Deller

An aesthetic design portfolio with the right color selection, navigation, and segregation of different elements in the right manner, Cas Deller’s portfolio is right for you to take inspiration from! As she also has her courses available, she has beautifully added the details of her course, complete structure with prices. This is an example of a unique design portfolio for freelancers who believe in self-branding!

8. Sandeep Maurya

Sandeep Maurya’s design portfolio includes examples of previous projects along with brief summaries of each. It is the ideal illustration of how to help clients comprehend your working style and the specifics of previous projects at the same time!

9. Priyanka Gupta

If you are a fan of simple yet pronounceable designs, Priyanka Gupta’s portfolio can be your right pick to get inspiration from! Carefully added projects, case studies, and details of projects, this is an example of less is more!

All these examples illustrate what are the different ways to ace the design portfolio. And, you now know What should a design portfolio include? But, remember your personal touch can make any portfolio sample work in your favor. And, to make your life easier, here are a few amazing Carrd templates for portfolio sites. This reaches us at the end of our discussion of unique design portfolios!

But, wait!

Looking to become a UX designer and start your career off on the right foot? Our blog has got you covered with all the information you need to get started!

What After You Create Your Unique Design Portfolio?

Once you are done with your design portfolio, the next challenge is to send it to potential clients and leave an impression. So, here comes the new rollercoaster; How to reach clients?

Don’t worry! A freelance network that can mitigate all your challenges in finding new clients all over the globe is Refrens. Reach your clients, get the best prices, and experience accelerated growth in your freelance career!

More to read guide to set freelance graphic designing rates