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Last Updated January 2 2023
The best portfolio websites get out of the way. Ornamentation is not necessary. Instead, whitespace should frame and showcase the photography, videos, illustrations, etc.
Beware of portfolios that are too unusual. A portfolio should be simple — weird scrolling mechanics and loud animations might be unique, but they can also frustrate and alienate users. You should think of your portfolio website as an art gallery— pretty and austere with plenty of space to showcase the artwork.
See the websites below for inspiration for your own portfolio. I’ve also described how the first ten websites go about structure and style to make it clearer for you — the rest follow a similar template.
Side Note: Most of the listed portfolio websites are made with Squarespace. If you want to see more of those, visit Squarespace Portfolio Examples.
Wild Heart Flowers is a floral design company created by Christina Hartman. Gorgeous weddings and unique special events make up her portfolio, including work featured in Bridal and Interior Magazines.
The Wild Heart official website is elegant, well-structured, and to the point. Overall, it follows all the modern website design trends:
RyuCreative is a boutique-style marketing agency in Los Angeles. The female-run company has successfully assisted several different companies in PR, Social Branding and Creative Design.
How they have gone about their homepage is unique, but it will not alienate the potential clients. Firstly, people will know it’s a creative agency from its name. Besides, even if the randomly spread images on the homepage create a mystery about their business, users will find what exactly they do as soon as they scroll.
If we discuss their portfolio page specifically, Ryu has structured it differently than most agencies. First, the visitor has to select the portfolio category from four options (their primary services): Social Elevation, Content Creation, PR + Events, and Graphic Design. Each category page/landing page uses a different but beautiful design template and has excellent images + concise descriptions of all the items in the portfolio.
Currently located in Los Angeles, visual artist and designer Mindy Nguyen helps brands with identity, art direction, web design, etc. She currently freelances and also works with ilovecreatives Studio.
Her website homepage is her About + Portfolio page. Above the fold, she describes what she does with a good font, concise copy, and cool animations.
As soon as the short bio ends, you’ll find her works, i.e., her online portfolio. Each portfolio item includes four things: an image, the company’s name, what she did for the company, and a link to either see the live project or learn more about the project.
Everything is neatly presented with negative space, proper visual hierarchy, and emojis.
Dylan is from France and moved to LA to follow his dreams of using his artistry. His work is now published in well-known magazines, featuring fashion, portraits, and editorial work.
His portfolio site is built by personalizing a popular template of the Photography portfolio-first website builder, Format. So everything’s pretty perfect as far as website elements go. There’s whitespace, proper framing, great typography, ideal website structure, social media icons in a visible and right place, etc.
Plus, he obviously is a great artist, so all the portfolio items shine. Also, he has categorized his works well, which is crucial for an extensive portfolio.
Meiwen is a professional photographer that features travel, people, editorial, and interior photography. He is also a designer, combining his many artistic talents to help his clients with branding, art direction, and more.
His website is minimalistic. On the homepage, he has gone with the two main things: a short bio and his photography and design portfolio with a few featured items. The minimal navigation bar helps visitors find more of his portfolio items, the contact form, or the primary social media profiles (Behance, Instagram, and Pinterest).
Mike Kelley is a photographer located in California. You can view his excellent work that is focused on architecture, as well as his love for airplanes. He loves the world of art and design and merging these into his projects.
The website is clean, with the homepage divided into two columns. The main section showcases his works, whereas the left column helps visitors navigate different parts of the website - work portfolio in a particular sector, the ecommerce store where he sells portraits, about page, contact page, etc.
Rob Jinks Photography offers wedding, engagement, and family photography that captures meaningful moments. This website feels both classy and adventurous. It also showcases his work and clearly defines his services.
The website is sort of a small business website, with service pages, a portfolio, an about page, a blog, lovely testimonials, and a CTA to “Request Pricing + Availability.” Also, of course, the hero of the website — the photography — is well highlighted all over landing pages.
Samantha is an artist currently working from Brooklyn, New York. Her paintings of people and the world around her have a unique way of connecting with viewers psychologically.
The personal portfolio looks a bit dated but does what a portfolio website should: present her best work categorically and structurally. The first portfolio page has her latest works (2015-2022), which you can scroll through or leave to see her older works or works in a particular category (Portraits or Ariel).
Israel has a passion for photography, documentaries, and editorial images. He works alongside his wife, who provides makeup and beauty services to clients, while Israel captures the day being played out. They have 3 children and live in Mexico currently.
The website looks sleek with professional-grade photography and minimal typography. There’s one small problem, though: Because most of the photos on the homepage are white-ish, the white text menu items are barely visible at first, which is something you’d want to avoid to create a good first impression. However, as you scroll, the header background transforms into black, which solves the visibility problem.
Devon is a developer who works directly with Squarespace. He focuses on helping a variety of different clients providing assistance in the field of coding and the front-end development aspect. He is currently located in Pennsylvania.
Of course, Devon knows how to build an attractive yet practical portfolio website. His own website is a case study of a website with excellent UX design. He nails all the elements: The site has a personal + professional headline, good CTAs, a great video, an ideal visual hierarchy and structure, a great color scheme, and a practical navigation bar.
Kenneth Reitz is a well-rounded guy. He’s a photographer, writes essays and blog posts, and also has podcasts. He tackles all of his crafts on a deeper level and invites you to join him on his road of exploration worldwide.
Erica is a plus-sized model with a background in music and business. She has worked with many different companies in their ads and loves to be the face of the future and body acceptance. You can view her Instagram and shop her looks as well!
Landon Wiggs is the talent behind this portfolio site. He serves the Phoenix, Arizona area but is available to work globally. You can find commercial work, headshots, and architectural photography on the site.
Francis and Sarah offer wedding photography packages and live in Ireland with their dog. Their style sets them apart from other photographers because the focus is more on story telling and they put effort into being different when working with their clients taste.
Charles works globally applying his skills in graphic design and typography. He’s collaborated with companies as well known as Netflix, and continues to develop genius ideas that aid in the advertising of brands.
Janet is an artist with some amazing work at the center of different locations worldwide. She is an absolute master at her craft, and continuously pushes the limits in sculpture, architecture and modern art as a whole.
David Justice loves the details from a photographers perspective. He has a blog called “Fstoppers” where he writes a variety of articles about the art of photography, equipment used and helps others in his field.
Caitlin and Thad are a married couple that created the September Company. They work out of New Orleans and offer wedding services for the romantic couples looking for simplistic images. They take their personal experience and apply it to other’s special days for a unique experience.
Ruwen is an illustration artist. He currently works for Sizigi Studios on projects that have a fiction and fantasy vibe to them, and you can easily contact him via the site for illustration work to be done.
Duane Smith is a wedding photographer representing Cape Town. He is also a destination wedding photographer that has been creating his portfolio since 2011. He loves the connection he can create with the people in his photos.
Nikki is a photographer that is located in Maine. She likes to keep it simple when she approaches her specialties in newborn, family and portraits. This allows the picture to speak for itself, her work has been featured in magazines as well.
Nana grew up in Athens where her love for photography was born. She is a photographer, lecturer at a university and artist. Her work has been published in magazines and she loves collaborating with others.
Chris and Annie are a husband and wife team of photographer and videographers in the UK. They are happy to travel worldwide and capture the love of couples regardless of location. Their style is romantic and emotional allowing you to really feel the moment from a single image.
Lisa is an illustrator and artist that has created some truly unique stuff. She loves to be bold and comical in her work, and has worked for several companies bringing different projects and ideas to life.
Cari is located in Georgia and has a huge portfolio full of work on weddings, lifestyle sessions, boudoir and more. She emphasizes the importance of providing actual print packages that allow her to put together albums and truly recreate the memory.
This company is ran by a man who adores modern love and capturing that whole heartedly. His styles is unique and far from traditional. It’s perfect for the couple that considers themselves to be eclectic yet simple.
Larisa now resides in NYC, but was born in Russia. Her upbringing has made her a fun, passionate photographer who has an obsession and admiration for capturing the love of couples around the world. Her goal is to make you relax and have fun while working with her.
Sidney is a designer and artist that has worked on some truly amazing campaigns with companies such as google. Working with these companies has given him a huge amount of knowledge, and he provides that expertise to you with presets and other packages to make your editing process more simple and unique.
Jesse is a videographer and photographer that is currently serving Toronto. His work combines a simplicity of emotions with loud colors and old school vibes.
Anthony is a photographer and film specialist based out of Florida. He travels to beautiful locations around the world to practice his skills and has portfolios in commercial, non-profit, editorial and more.
Holger is a professional in the world of 3D images and creations located in Germany. His portfolio contains animation and technical direction projects, as well as downloads to learn and watch projects from start to finish.
Belle Art photography is a destination wedding photographer offering deep and emotional packages for weddings, elopements and more. You can add what she calls a “Super 8” film to your packages which she feels adds a whole new level to remembering your day.
Harry Frank is a creator and teacher of design, technical and engineering art projects. After 25 years in the business, we was able to hone in on what he could offer to other artists and now creates tools that simplify production.
Brandon is a photographer in New York. Check out his site for his awesome artistic portfolio as well as information on his craft as a whole. He tells you about the gear he uses, shows you before and afters and shows you the companies he has partnered with in the past.
Adam is a photographer based out of England. He specializes in weddings, portraits and has some gorgeous fairy tale like images worth taking a look at.
Genevieve started her company back in 2005 and has been working on wedding, engagements and corporate projects ever since. You can find some of her work in Bridal Magazines and read her blog about her projects and get the full story for each of them.
Thomas Defert has a portfolio full of paintings and photography textures examined at a close level. He’s the Art Director of BETC located in Paris, and collaborates with Emile Defert on creative projects.
Michael is an artist located in Tennessee. He serves nearby areas in addition to traveling for destination weddings. Aside from weddings and couples, he also offers portraits and senior picture packages in addition to film options.
Karl is an avid traveler and documentary photographer. You can find beautiful stories of different places he’s visited through his unique way of capturing what he sees, when he isn’t at home in Australia.
Nicole is a photographer located in Boston. With her understated style, she takes a journalistic approach and loves to capture moments that will last a lifetime. She specializes in weddings, portraits and family sessions.
Studio McGee is a design studio that will bring to life amazing spaces within your home and personal space. They will combine their skills and taste with your requests and make you feel comfortable and right at home with bright, airy, clean-cut designs.
Venatus is an advertising company that helps brands around the world. They work on apps and websites, working hard to bring in your audience successfully and maintain impressive engagement rates.
Irene operates a Bed and Breakfast called Valdirose in Italy. She shares her expertise for food, atmosphere and photography with her audience through Instagram and hosts workshops so that others can learn her techniques.
Pantera Capital is an investment firm focusing on financials and blockchain technology. They work with successful entrepreneurs and investment companies to conquer their field and provide the best services focused on forecast.
Brit Cochran is a makeup artist in New York City. Her looks are used in advertising around the world and are sure to grab your attention no matter what. She has a ton of experience in her industry working in fashion, graphic design and photography making some super cool projects.
Matthew Scott is a Cinematographer that creates awesome film projects, works in still image photography and has an educational blog. You can find tutorials on a variety of elements associated with these topics and access free downloads too!
Aesthetic-wise, Squarespace has the best templates to create a portfolio. Besides, it covers all other grounds - security, ecommerce, hosting, ease of use, etc.
You can use platforms like Behance or Dribble to build a free portfolio. You can even use a free website builder like Square Online to make a free portfolio website.
However, anything free has limitations.
Yes, Wix can enable you to make great portfolios. But its editor is unstructured, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
