Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 6 – Thumbnails

(Illustration by Melanie Matthews)

What follows is Part 6 of the ongoing Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio series, which offers suggestions on ways to maximize the effectiveness of your Illustration portfolio.

Thumbnails

When considering the design of your online portfolio, it’s important to remember your approach to your thumbnail images as an integral part of the presentation and navigation of your website.

That’s because it will have a big impact on an Art Director’s experience of looking at your work.

For those who don’t know, the term ‘thumbnail’ in this case refers to the smaller images that link to larger versions of the work in your portfolio.

In order to make it easy, and even pleasant, for your visitor to explore your Illustrations, there are some key factors to keep in mind:

Example of thumbnails

1. Location

Just like other important elements of your portfolio website, such as your contact info and image gallery, it should be painfully easy to find your thumbnail images.  That’s the only way that your visitor will know how to navigate through your beautiful work.

2. Size

In general, you’ll want to make your thumbnails big enough to see, yet small enough to prevent them from dominating the page or detracting from your work.

3. Differentiation

Think twice before making your thumbnails nondescript images, such as solid colored blocks or some other repeated motif.  Ideally, it’s a good idea to help your visitor distinguish one image from the next.  That way they’ll remember which ones they’ve already seen and be able to find the ones they liked if they return later.

4. Detail

Try to show enough of the larger image to give an Art Director an idea of what they’ll see when they click on the thumbnail. While the element of surprise can be good, it can also be a turn-off if your visitor can’t pick and choose based on the samples that interest them, which brings us to…

5. Interest

You can maximize the effect of your thumbnails by showing one of the more compelling parts of a particular Illustration.  For example, if the piece includes a beautifully rendered portrait as part of a larger scene, it might be a good idea to show off the portrait in the thumbnail. It can even be beneficial to get a little creative with your thumbnails, as shown in the portfolio website of Meg Hunt.

For some examples of well-executed thumbnail images, check out the sites of these artists:

Jonathan Woodward
Nate Williams
Meg Hunt

About Melanie Matthews: I am 22 years old, I live in Melbourne, Australia and I love to paint and draw. When I’m not drawing, you will probably find me reading, tinkering with websites, or relaxing with some videogames – I’m a bit of a geek at heart. My work is influenced by modern art and graphic design, children’s book illustrators from the 50′s and 60′s, retro cartoons and vintage cereal boxes.

Related Posts:

• Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 1 – “Skimming the Fat”
• Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 2 – Consistency
• Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 3 – Segmenting
• Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 4 – Presentation
• Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Part 5 – Navigation
• 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website

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