How To Make a Portfolio Website

Art galleries are a perfect place to learn about presenting your work with clarity, intention, and focus.

What galleries teach us about showcasing work:

• Minimalism: Galleries are often plain. The walls and space fade into the background so the artwork stands out.
• Whitespace: Blank space is intentional. It draws attention to the pieces without overwhelming the eye.
• Curation: Artists only exhibit their best work. They don’t show everything they’ve ever created.
• Context: Small text labels provide information about the work, including name, year, medium, inspiration, etc. Which is enough to guide, but not distracting.

Unless you want or need your portfolio website to be a work of art, it’s best to follow these same principles. Whether you’re a photographer, illustrator, designer, or developer, your site should feel like an elegant gallery: calm, curated, and clear.

You can break the rules. But make sure your creativity doesn’t become a distraction. Visitors come to see your work, not your navigation gimmicks or quirky fonts. In fact, potential clients or customers may leave the website if they cannot find what they are looking for.

There are hundreds of website builders available, and we have tested nearly all the top ones. Squarespace has proved to be the best portfolio website builder.

Squarespace Overview (2:41)

Squarespace is like the Apple of website builders. It’s intuitive and thoughtfully designed; all features are polished; the templates are beautiful; it’s a secure platform; and the editor is flexible and customizable for a whole variety of portfolios.

For portfolios specifically, it has:

• Customizable Templates: A wide range of professionally designed, mobile-responsive portfolio templates that can be tailored to reflect your unique style and brand.

• Portfolio Pages: You can create dedicated portfolio sections with various layout options, such as grids and slideshows, to display your work in an organized and visually appealing manner.

Changing Squarespace portfolio layouts

• Fluid Engine Editor: Squarespace’s drag-and-drop editor, Fluid Engine, lets you intuitively drag and drop blocks anywhere in a section. The blocks snap to an adjustable underlying grid, i.e., you can’t quite place elements pixel-perfect, but this structured approach gives enough customization while being intuitive and easy to use.
• Other Integrated Features: Includes blogging capabilities, ecommerce, scheduling tools, photo galleries, forms, and business and marketing integrations.

Our tutorial is designed to help you create a portfolio website using Squarespace. However, it’s still generic enough for you to follow along using a Squarespace alternative.

This is a step-by-step description of the process Steve (Site Builder Report owner) followed to create a sample product photography portfolio website.

Step 0: Seek Inspiration

Before entering Squarespace, know what you want to achieve. Look at other portfolios. Take notes on structure, layout, typography, colors, and everything in between. Screenshot/Save what you like.

I suggest starting with Squarespace’s portfolio templates for inspiration. If you like something there, it’d be ideal. You’ll simply need to replace the content and visuals, and you’ll be up and running with a solid start.

Other than that, we have collected well-designed portfolio websites across categories for your inspiration. All the examples follow the principles this tutorial focuses on. Check them out:

• Portfolio Websites
• Squarespace Portfolio Examples
• Animation Portfolio Websites
• Architecture Portfolios
• Art Director Portfolios
• Art Portfolios
• Copywriting Portfolios
• Creative Director Portfolios
• Designer & Developer Portfolios
• Fashion Portfolios
• Graphic Design Portfolios
• Illustrator Portfolios
• Journalist Portfolios
• Marketing Portfolios
• Photography Portfolios
• Student Portfolios
• UX Portfolios
• Video Editor Portfolios
• Writing Portfolios

Step 1: Select A Template (Or Start From Scratch)

Select the template that is closest to your dream portfolio website:

Squarespace has some of the best portfolio website templates.

If any template doesn’t seem to fit or requires extensive editing, it’s better to start from scratch.

Alternatively, you can use Squarespace’s AI builder to get started. However, I haven’t found it (or any other AI website builder) to be helpful enough to suggest it over choosing a template or starting from scratch in most cases.

Step 2: Set Up Your Page Structure and Navigation

If you are starting with a template, you’ll have some default pages. Keep the ones you like and delete the rest.

Then, add new pages. Click the plus (+) icon to add pages such as “Home,” “About,” “Services,” and “Contact.” You can choose from blank pages, portfolio pages, blog pages, or other pages, depending on your needs.

Suggested pages:

• Home: Add a brief introduction and showcase gallery.
• About: Your bio, photo, and contact info.
• Work: Individual galleries categorized by project or client. You can replicate the structure or categorization you liked when gathering inspiration.
• Other: You can add other pages if needed. The common ones we have seen across portfolio websites include a blog, a ‘hire me’ page, and an ecommerce store.

For Navigation:

• Add a logo (text-based is fine), remove unnecessary elements (such as login links), and include social media icons (like Instagram). Here’s a clean navigation header:

• Keep your main navigation simple, with a maximum of 5–7 items. Use dropdowns if necessary, but always make them intuitive. For example, if you work in both graphic design and photography, you can use the main categories in the header and include subcategories such as landscape, product, or others under Photography.
• Avoid hard-to-read typography or clever-but-confusing links. Visitors shouldn’t have to “solve” your site. The best navigation is the easiest to use.

Step 3: Create and Style Your First Gallery

Each gallery should clearly highlight one project or client.

Gallery Setup:

1. Choose a gallery layout:

Changing Squarespace portfolio layouts

• Grid: Uniform, cropped images.
• Masonry: Images of different sizes stacked attractively.
• Strip: Uniform image height for a clean look.
• Slideshow: For focused presentation, slower browsing.

2. Recommended settings:

• Three columns: It’s the most common way galleries are displayed on the internet, at least for desktop sites.

The three column gallery we created for our sample site.

• Ample whitespace.
• Lightbox mode enabled to allow visitors to click on individual images for full screen viewing.

3. Upload and reorder images in a logical order. Keep the main screenshots at the top. For example, if you are a UX designer, showcase the finished design at the top and go into the process details later.

4. Provide brief context:

• A brief text introduction and concise details about the images and the process behind them are the way to go.
• Add client logos and testimonials for credibility.

Add as many galleries and portfolio pages as needed to showcase your best work.

Step 4: Add Personality with Fonts and Colors

Minimalism doesn’t mean your site should lack personality. It means purposeful personality.

Open Site Styles in Squarespace:

• Choose a clean, readable font (Helvetica is a safe bet)
• Avoid low-contrast gray-on-white text.
• Select a bold accent color.

Note: Use your accent color sparingly:

• Highlight text with Squarespace’s highlight tool
• Accent links and buttons

Step 5: Build a Simple, Effective Homepage

Homepage of the sample site

Think of the homepage as your handshake.

Include three key sections:

1. A short introduction: 2–3 lines about who you are and what you do. Interested people can read your About page for more details.
2. Your best work: A super-curated gallery of work to draw visitors in.
3. A next step: Invite them to explore more or contact you.

End the page with a clear call to action and well-placed links (“Explore my work” or “Let’s work together”).

Step 6: Build the About Page (With a Friendly Photo)

A sample 'About' page

Include:

• A short intro, preferably addressing the potential client’s needs (e.g., “I bring your products to life” in the sample text).
• A photo of yourself to bridge the digital gap. Ideally friendly, not brooding.
• Contact info or a form.
• Highlights like awards or big-name clients.

Tip: Use image masks or shapes to give your photo a more designed feel. Apply accent color to text to tie everything together. Squarespace offers a wide range of options for you to choose from.

Side Note: Check out these ‘About Me’ pages for design and content inspiration.

Step 7: Check the Mobile Experience

Squarespace auto-generates mobile layouts, but always test:

• Are galleries stacked correctly?
• Is the font legible?
• Is the spacing tight or too loose?

You can tweak sections individually to clean up mobile-only quirks.

Step 8: Publish on a Custom Domain

All Squarespace plans include a free custom domain for the first year. So, if you don’t already own a domain, use the free credit.

If you already have a domain registered with another registrar, you can connect it too.

To end, let’s recap the guiding principles to great portfolio websites:

• Minimalism: Keep the design out of the way of the work.
• Whitespace: Give your visuals space to breathe.
• Curation: Only show your strongest work.
• Context: Provide just enough info to guide the viewer.
• Clarity: Design navigation and layout so users never have to guess.

Follow these and you’ll have a well-designed portfolio website. You can start breaking the principles once you know what you are doing.