The 23 Best Graphic Design Portfolios I've Ever Seen, & How to Start Your Own
A great graphic design portfolio doesn’t do the work for you, but as an ever-running marketing tool, it can change your life by reeling in new opportunities.
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A great graphic design portfolio doesn’t do the work for you, but as an ever-running marketing tool, it can change your life by reeling in new opportunities. AI-generated design as well as online design platforms like Canva are impacting graphic design hiring, making your portfolio more important than ever before. So whether you‘re a full-time graphic designer or dabbling in graphic design as a freelancer, it’s critical to create a tailored graphic design portfolio to showcase your work to potential clients. To that end, I've created a list of over 20 impressive graphic design portfolios, instructions on how you can create your own, and tips to curate the perfect space for your unique work. Table of Contents A graphic design portfolio is one of the most important elements a client or employer needs to see when choosing a graphic designer. A portfolio should include a selection of a graphic designer’s best work, as well as professional samples from client projects. It’s important to note that while there’s definitely still a place for physical portfolios, graphic designer websites can really offer a host of advantages when done well. With a decade in the floral design industry, I know from experience how quickly you can share your expertise and create a great impression with an online body of visual work at hand. Mine is simple and has ads on it, but the landing page represents my abilities in pavé design, wedding work, and high style. Whatever your design industry, a portfolio is essential for proving your skills. It's also a chance to: A graphic design portfolio, like a resume, will also include contact information. It may also feature case studies from past employers. Most portfolios are graphic designer websites now. Beyond just sharing your work, it’s a 24/7 branding opportunity that works while you sleep or hit the streets with your physical portfolio. These websites also create ways to connect with clients, help graphic designers build communities, and share their work with potential fans around the world. In many ways, it’s a major advantage to get one set up, and you can start with any site builder from ContentHub to Wix. So what does a graphic design portfolio website need to include to stand out? Your portfolio is much more than proving you know how to use Photoshop. Many graphic designers will include logos, typography, print design, or web design in their portfolios, too. Some of the best graphic design portfolios often also include: As you'll see below, the most powerful graphic designer portfolios balance personal vision with standout client samples. Let’s look at some graphic design portfolio website examples to inspire and motivate your portfolio development. Whether you’re a traditional graphic designer or experimenting with new media, there’s something here for everyone. The design industry is highly competitive. It takes eye-catching imagery and typographic finesse to create a portfolio that draws top clients like Apple, Benefit, and Levis. This portfolio comes from a designer who's been named one of Ad Age’s “Top 10 Visual Creatives,” among many other accolades. Currently a design professor, creative director, and head of creative agency &Walsh, this designer's portfolio on Behance makes great design the focus. Why I love this graphic designer's website: Bright graphics, animations, and clean design make this an exceptional graphic design portfolio. This approach is great for designers who lean into the art of design. It also works for designers who take on more experimental or site-specific projects. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: This graphic design portfolio website includes samples of book and website designs, branding, and more. It’s good for designers who work in many different media but want to present a cohesive portfolio. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: Mike Mills is a talented designer, artist, and filmmaker, known for his punk aesthetic and original style. His portfolio is a reflection of his diverse interests and skills. The website offers a quick lesson in clean design, with easy-to-understand headers, professional photography, and crisp layout. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: Samir’s work includes branding, typography, posters, and print design. So, this graphic design portfolio zeros in on a tight collection of award-winning designs. This graphic design portfolio is on Behance. This makes it a good fit for graphic designers who want an online presence without designing their own website. Why I love this graphic designer's website: Image quality matters. And if your portfolio pieces include a lot of detail, you may get stumped with your online portfolio design. This graphic design portfolio website has a simple left-hand navigation. So, with each click, you have a chance to see detailed posters, book covers, and more at a scale that shows how they look for print while also being easy to scroll on a mobile phone. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: Kuznetsov’s portfolio combines product design, user experience, and graphic design to create something entirely new. This Dribble-hosted portfolio has over 50 images, which could be overwhelming. But they're split into seven easy-to-understand projects. This makes it a great graphic design portfolio example for designers who want to show long-term or complex projects. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: Sagmeister is a legend in the design world, and his website reflects the curiosity and power of the designer. The home page features a grid of images with text that appears as you scroll over each image. With a click, you're presented with images and/or videos that show the details of each project. The site is a mix of collaborations, art projects, and more traditional design, like the corporate identity for the Jewish museum. Why this is one of the best graphic design portfolio websites I’ve ever seen: Great designers often let the work do the talking. That's certainly true here, with a streamlined graphic design portfolio that calls attention to client deliverables. When text is present, it adds to the value of the work, like sharing what parts of the design process their team completed. This is a great portfolio format for designers doing graphic design work like: Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: 3D animation is an exciting design form that‘s growing in popularity. But if you’re a client who's not in the market for an animated billboard, it may be difficult to figure out how you might use this creative form for your business. This site is a great example of a portfolio that educates with simple text, graphics, and video. It gives both a quick look and a deep dive into how this designer approaches his art form. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: A clear header and tile design emphasize work samples from this powerful graphic designer. Major brands, including Google, Nike, and Comcast, use Yeshi’s unique illustrative voice to speak for their brands. While the tiles emphasize the designer’s unique style, you can click on each tile to get the full details about each project. This is a great approach for designers who want to share the deeper story behind each project while still making the site easy to navigate. Why I love this graphic designer's website: Designers often have a muse — someone or something that inspires and motivates them when the designing gets tough. Sometimes that inspiration can serve as a starting point for your portfolio design, as it did for this design portfolio example. The landing page starts with a quote from Ansel Adams, “There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” Then, using clean motion graphics and fresh design, Nunes points to a central theme, a philosophy that guides his design approach. This leads every site visitor on a journey through his portfolio. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: This portfolio includes packaging design, illustration, and web design as well as graphic design and branding work. It’s one of my favorite graphic designer websites because it’s clean and easy to navigate. This makes it a great example for designers who aren’t sure how to organize all the work they want to include in their portfolio. Why I love this graphic designer website example: Book cover designer Chip Kidd’s graphic design portfolio website uses lightbox-style pop-ups. Popups make it easier to focus on each book cover. This is a smart way to narrow in on the visuals with a graphic design site while still making it easy to see all the work in one place. Kidd uses a range of different styles for book covers, and it’s edited in a way that makes this range look natural and exciting instead of chaotic. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: This Texas designer‘s style is heavily influenced by music, so his portfolio features illustration and design work that’s bright, evocative, and fun. This portfolio website shines because it keeps the UX and site structure super simple. This puts the focus on a tight curation of exciting design samples. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: Hands down, I think Kim Dero does a stellar job of making his website portfolio look yummy. It’s such a smart choice because it’s the perfect backdrop for his focus on food and beverage design. Try the contact page — even the satellite dishes look juicy. Why I love this graphic designer website example: This graphic design portfolio is also a home for Trochut’s product design, animations, music, and NFTs. It’s a great example for multimedia artists who want to present their work on a single website. It also works for creators with a big collection of work to show. Why I love this graphic designer website example: Sometimes a graphic design portfolio isn‘t just about a style — it’s about a vibe. This exceptional portfolio comes from designer Leandro Assis. From brand identity to hand lettering to package design, this portfolio displays a wide range of design skills and original style. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: If you're a self-taught graphic designer, you might have less guidance on where to start with your portfolio website. Look no further for inspiration than the interactive design portfolio for Peter Tarka. Best known for captivating 3D motion graphics like the ones featured in the video below, Tarka started with a love of architecture and vector graphics that's grown to a career working with top brands like Spotify, Google, and LG. Why I love this designer's website: This graphic design portfolio website uses a range of type sizes and contrasts to emphasize the ideas it communicates. This is a great approach for entrepreneurial designers. It's also smart for anyone who collaborates in their design work. Why I love this graphic designer's website: There are many ways to play up a unique style, and this graphic design website highlights this designer’s recent work as well as a full project archive. This is a great example for designers who also do illustration. Why I chose this graphic design portfolio: LingK's portfolio features their latest project while also showing other industry niches. The structure of the website helps prospective clients quickly decide if they want to work with this designer. Why this is a great example of a graphic design portfolio website: Sethi’s portfolio is simple and straightforward. It puts the spotlight on each design project. The “About” section also tells a clear story that encourages further questions and conversation. It can be tempting to tell an audience everything on your website. But a great portfolio should offer enough samples to entice clients to reach out and learn more. You don’t want to add so much that it overwhelms. This website is a great example of offering just enough. Why I love this graphic designer website example: Looking for more design portfolio inspo? Grab the Hubspot Design Lookbook (it’s a free download) for over 70 examples of incredible websites, landing pages, and blogs. Then, explore this list of successful designers and design studios. They are all great design resources for your personal portfolio website. You may find a perfect model to emulate or smaller aspects you’d love to incorporate. Paula Scher is one of the heavy hitters in graphic design, having shaped brandwork for Microsoft, Adobe, Tiffany & Co., Citibank, and the list goes on and on. Her work is smart while still being accessible, and she likes to inhabit the space between fine art and pop culture. Her ability to make work that is both recognizable and bold have won her hundreds of awards in the industry. Michael Bierut lives on the academic side of great design and is currently a senior critic for graphic design at the Yale School of Art. He has worked for such legendary brands as Mastercard, Saks 5th Avenue, The New York Times, and Princeton University. He served as the President of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) from 1988 to 1990, and later won the AIGA Medal itself in 2006. Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv specialize in trademark and identity, focused on idea-driven design since 1957. They’ve created some of the best known trademarks around the world, such as the Animal Planet elephant above, the NBC peacock, The Warner Brothers shield, and National Geographic’s yellow rectangle. Wolff Olins is a global brand consultancy that has snagged the attention of a number of contemporary brands and delivered world-class branding. Their clients include the growing social media giant TikTok as well as Uber, Instacart, and The Met. They are passionate about doing the best work of their lives, driving impact, and making a positive change in the world with their clients. Milton Glaser is the powerhouse mind behind the typeface of New York Magazine and the perennial I (Heart) NY campaign. Milton Glaser Inc. more recently contributed key artwork for the final season of Mad Men. Since the 1970s, Glaser and his visionary crew have designed and illustrated over 300 posters for clients ranging from publishing to commercial products to civil enterprise. David Carson is known for taking the rules and scattering them to the winds in pursuit of great design from the standpoint of, “Why not?” In 2014 he was awarded the AIGA gold medal, and has an innovative approach of using typography as the art itself instead of just as writing. He pulls inspiration from urban art forms such as graffiti and rap, and has worked with a seemingly endless array of clients from American Airlines to MTV and Prince to Xerox. Lindsay Burke, a HubSpot poduct designer, emphasizes the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to curating a graphic design portfolio. She says, “I recommend selecting your strongest projects and making these the primary focus of your portfolio website.” Ideally, your portfolio will feature your sharpest, most impressive 10-20 designs — undoubtedly, someone pursuing your portfolio won‘t have the time to look at more, and if your first couple of projects are impressive enough, they shouldn’t need to. But it‘s equally critical you show potential clients your versatility. If you’ve dabbled in logo design as well as video animation, it's good to include both kinds of projects in your portfolio. Investing in a quality website with a custom domain URL will pay off in the long run by demonstrating your professionalism to potential clients. Having your own website helps you organize your portfolio to suit all your business needs — for instance, perhaps you'll include Projects, About Me, and Contact sections so visitors can peruse your content and then contact you without ever leaving the site. Take a look at this list of the best website builders if you need help choosing a platform for your portfolio. Lindsay Burke told me it's incredibly valuable to write out a case study to complement any website visuals. She says, “Through a written case study, your site visitors can get a sense of your project's background, the problem you were aiming to solve through design, and the process you took to arrive at a final deliverable.” To cultivate a strong case study, consider including the background of the project, the problem, the process, your deliverable, and any next steps. In the process section of your case study, Burke suggests including research, experience mapping, persona development, wire-framing, sketching, usability testing, and iteration. Plus it will impress future clients if you can include recommendations from prior employers, which allows you to display a level of professionalism. As you can see in the examples in the above section, each portfolio is drastically different depending on the artist‘s unique style. Someone checking out Tobias van Schneider’s portfolio will expect something vastly different from someone looking at LingK's site. Make sure your portfolio — including layout, background, and website title — reflects who you are as a designer. Each designer has a unique process when working with clients — and the sooner a potential client can learn about your process, the better. It's important you include context, so visitors can get a sense of how you handle challenges, and how your designs solve real-world problems. Plus, including a description of your creative process can help a potential client figure out whether you're capable of handling the scope of their project. For instance, they might be unsure of your ability to handle graphic designs for mobile until they read how you single-handedly brainstormed and created the designs for another client's mobile site. In this case, context is critical. Amanda Chong, a former HubSpot designer, says, “Side projects are a great way to demonstrate your will to take initiative and your ability to balance multiple things at once. They're also a great way to show some of the more experimental, creative ideas that you might not be able to show through your day-to-day work.” If you‘re just starting out, it’s acceptable to include side projects or non-client work so potential customers can get a sense of your ability and style. Consider incorporating school work, a logo you designed for your aunt's company, or an internal design you created for your current company — ideally, your designs will negate any concerns potential clients have over your lack of career experience. One of the easiest ways to begin building your client base is by contacting nonprofits or local businesses in your area. Perhaps you think a local restaurant needs a new menu logo, or you want to help a gift shop with their online marketing materials. Projects like these will help you better understand local marketing challenges and give you time to develop your skills in those areas. You never know what a pro-bono project could lead to next. As you build personal brand content, take the time to make sure your marketing materials are cohesive and sleek. Design a unique logo for your brand. Next, start building your website, and add that same design across various materials, including your business card and resume. This is also a great time to start a branded social media account, and to create posts that show off your design skills and interests. Clients are more likely to work with you if they can see the type of high-quality work you're able to create for yourself. Don’t wait for your dream client to give you a call. Instead, create a complete website redesign for a well-known brand to prove your skills to future clients. This is a well-known strategy already used by plenty of designers — just take a look at some of the impressive Behance mock-ups for brands like RyanAir. When I spoke to Amanda Chong about this tactic, she told me, "If you‘re creating mockups for established brands to use as part of your portfolio, it’s important to pair this with a case study or description of the process that helped you arrive at your proposed design. Chong added, “Mockups are great at showing your visual design skills, but don't necessarily demonstrate your ability to work in a real-world context, so you'll want to take the time to explain how you would have approached it in a true business setting.” If your designs are impressive enough, potential clients won't care that you created them for a fictitious company. In fact, you could impress them with your innovation and creativity. Consider showing your skills by putting together a creative brief for a fake company, complete with wireframes and sketches. Other projects you can create for imaginary companies include: In due time, real companies will take notice. Stick to the type of content you enjoy designing. If you're particularly adept at making logos, and are often inspired by the logos used by real brands, consider designing an alternative logo for a brand you like. For example, take a look at these inspiring reimagined NFL logos. While these NFL teams probably won’t make the shift, they‘re great examples of the designers’ skills and creativity. WordPress, a popular content management system, allows users to develop stock themes. Best of all, if your theme is approved, you can sell it as a premium theme for extra cash. Begin by studying WordPress's most popular themes, and consider how you can create an impressive alternative. Take a look at WordPress's Theme Review Requirements and this overview of how to create a child theme to learn more. To get inspired, practice your skills, or interact with other designers in a community and build your portfolio at the same time, think about participating in a design challenge. Design challenges can also help you uncover skills you didn't know you had by forcing you to step outside your design comfort zone. There are various daily, weekly, or monthly challenges that will send you prompts on things to design — for instance, try checking out the Daily UI Design Challenge or The Daily Logo Challenge. You’ve done the work, and now you’re pulling together your graphic design portfolio. Try these tips to make your graphic design portfolio stand out. A portfolio should show a range of different works, so you want to highlight what you can do. Some clients prefer a more streamlined look, while others are looking for more experimentation. If you have clients from different industries, include some work from each industry. Then, edit your portfolio based on the kind of client you’re showing your portfolio to. For example, if you’re meeting with a client in real estate, show work samples from similar industries. You’ll also want to show anyone who sees your portfolio what you can do. So, if you create design logos, books, and motion graphics, include a little bit of everything in your portfolio. That said, try to limit your portfolio to your best work. Don’t include a piece in your portfolio just to show that you can do it. The way that you edit your portfolio shows that you understand your strengths and know how to play them up. So, edit your portfolio to include only your best work. If you’re great with one skill set but not as good with another, edit your portfolio to spotlight that skill. If possible, create portfolio pieces that show many skill sets at the same time. For example, if you love hand lettering, a poster could emphasize your graphic design skills alongside this unique ability. I can’t say it enough: include case studies. They tell the illuminating story of how you get your clients to their goals: their ideas, your ideas, your suggestions and why, the compromises that worked, and how you completed the work. Every client is unique and will teach you something new, so as you continue to work with different clients, build up a collection of these stories. In other words ,they lay out in plain view what goes on in your big, beautiful brain to future clients. Learn from my mistakes, and try not to throw anything away without documenting it. That page of thumbnails might not be much to look at on its own, but this kind of work in progress is a great way to show prospective clients how you solve problems. When you present case studies in your portfolio, start with the initial problem your client approached you with. Next, show what the conversation and ideation process looked like over time. As you pull your case study together, don't forget to include the solution you delivered. Design is about more than visual skills: it’s about communicating. So, the format of your portfolio — whether it’s printed or online — should be clear and simple to scan. This point is especially important for graphic designer websites. It can be tempting to build a website that shows off the latest trends or to add Easter eggs that people need to hunt for. There’s a fine line between art and design, and those approaches can be super inspiring. But building a complex site can also mean that clients in a hurry could miss some of your best work. For example, a graphic designer once sent his portfolio to a creative director friend of mine. They liked the designer’s drawing but didn’t see much of the graphic design or web work that he talked about in his resume. With a little digging, they found a URL in one of the sketchbook drawings, and that URL led to his website. This hide-and-seek process was cool, but it wasn’t clear or easy to navigate. This scenario could have been a missed opportunity for that designer. If someone wants to talk to you, there are many places they can find you online. But you want to make it easy for them. You don’t want to miss an important meeting because a client reached out to you with an email you don’t check anymore. Most graphic designer websites have a contact page that has your contact information. Once you add this to your site, be sure to check that the links and forms are working. There are thousands of successful graphic designers out there, and you might be competing against some of them for your next client. So, the best tip for a great portfolio is to be yourself. Whether you have a feel for typography or are talented with color, show off the way that you see the world in your graphic design portfolio. Think about every detail, and then execute to the best of your ability. Whether it’s the first version of your portfolio or the 200th, make it feel like something only you could create. You’ve learned about the value of a graphic design portfolio and checked out some of the best portfolio examples. You read about how to create your portfolio, then you scanned some smart ideas to build on the graphic design work you’ve already completed. So what’s next? Even the best graphic design portfolios need constant updates. Keep in mind that while your first graphic design portfolio may be complete, portfolio building won’t ever really end. What do you want to tackle for your next project? Social media to promote your new portfolio? A new resume or professional bio to attract clients? The possibilities are endless. Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
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What is a Graphic Design Portfolio?
Why do graphic designers need a portfolio website?
What to Include in a Graphic Design Website
Graphic Design Portfolio Website Examples
1. Jessica Walsh
2. Morag Myerscough
3. Heather Shaw
4. Mike Mills
5. Mohamed Samir
6. Gail Anderson
7. Gleb Kuznetsov
8. Stefan Sagmeister
9. Lotte Niemenen
10. Luke Choice (Velvet Spectrum)
11. Sophia Yeshi
12. Eduardo Nunes
13. Stefanie Brüeckler
14. Chip Kidd
15. Ryan Dean Sprague (Pavlov)
16. Kim Dero
17. Alex Trochut
18. Leandro Assis
19. Peter Tarka
20. Tobias van Schneider
21. Aries Moross
22. LingK
23. Nisha K. Sethi
Where to Find Inspiration for Your Design Portfolio
Paula Scher
Michael Bierut
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv
Wolff Olins
Milton Glaser
David Carson
How to Make a Graphic Design Portfolio
1. Curate your best work and show a wide breadth of skill.
2. Choose the right platform to showcase your work.
3. Include a professional case study or client recommendations.
4. Integrate your personality.
5. Describe the creative process.
6. Show non-client work or side projects.
Graphic Design Portfolio Ideas
1. Help a local business or startup with its design and brand.
2. Create content for your own personal brand.
3. Redesign an existing website.
4. Create graphic design materials for a made-up company.
5. Design a logo for a brand you love.
6. Create a stock theme for WordPress.
7. Take part in a design challenge.
Graphic Design Portfolio Tips
1. Show your versatility.
2. Display your best work.
3. Include case studies.
4. Make it clean and easy to navigate.
5. Prominently display contact information.
6. Display your unique personality.
The Best Graphic Design Portfolios are Never Finished
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