Is Your Portfolio Website Too Demanding?
(Illustration by Gonçalo Viana)
This is the latest in a series of posts inspired by my experiences in running EFII’s Portfolio Workshop, which offers one-on-one consultations with Illustrators who want to take their portfolios and websites to the next level.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when designing your portfolio website is creating a space that is inviting and pleasing to Art Directors and other potential clients.
The best way to do this is to make your design as simple as possible while putting your work, and any other vital information, front and center.
You don’t want to do anything to detract from the quality of your work or place any barriers between your visitor and your bio and contact info. This can be a challenge when you try to balance this with a desire for a compelling and exciting design, professional branding, and a memorable experience.
One of the simplest ways to improve the flow and navigation of your site is to remove anything that “demands” anything of your visitor.
This means not making them have to work or think too hard when they’re working their way through your website and your portfolio.
To clarify, here are 3 things to avoid in order to keep your portfolio website from being too “demanding” of your visitors.
1. Extra Steps
You should remove any extra steps that might be required for an Art Director to get to your portfolio or view your work.
Some examples of extra steps are:
- Landing Page that your visitor must click through to get to your main site with menu options.
- “Portfolio” menu button links to multiple Portfolio categories, which link to more specific categories, which lead to thumbnails, which lead to images.
- Portfolio images that open in their own window, requiring your visitor to go back or even close a window to get back to your main gallery.
By themselves, these examples aren’t necessarily deal breakers, but they can add up quickly to ask too much of your visitor’s patience.
2. Too Many Options
Avoid the temptation to over-segment your work into too many categories. Just like with the images you choose to show, less is more when it comes to the number of categories you wish to include.
Contrary to what you might think, people don’t want to be presented with an overabundance of choices to make. Too many categories means too much thought on the part of your visitor, which slows them down and degrades their experience of looking at your work. Take them straight to your image gallery as quickly as possible without making them work for it.
3. Poor Navigation
Making someone have to figure out how to make their way around your site is another way to make them work harder than they should.
I’ve gone into some detail here about the dangers of poor navigation on your website, but it bears repeating here because it can be one of the easiest mistakes to make. Most of us aren’t intuitive web designers, so it can be challenging to get this right, but if you give navigation the attention it deserves, you’ll be less likely to confuse or annoy Art Directors.
Make No Demands
Whether you follow the specific examples above, the main idea here is to make sure you’re not requiring your visitor to do anything except enjoy looking at your amazing portfolio and keep you in mind for future projects. Anything beyond that just becomes a turn off.
What are some other mistakes you’ve seen Illustrators make with the design of their portfolio websites? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section of this post.
Are you looking for one-on-one help with your portfolio/website? Sign up for the Portfolio Workshop!
Special thanks to Gonçalo Viana for providing the artwork for this post.
About Gonçalo Viana: Gonçalo Viana is a freelance illustrator based in Lisbon. He started off as an architect and since then geometry keeps seeping into his illustrations. He’s been doing mostly editorial work, working for publications both at home and abroad. He shares a love for all themes and subjects but business magazines seem to love him and he loves them back. It’s an open relationship though. Gonçalo has stranded himself on illustration island out of free will and has no desire to escape!
Related Posts:
- The Replacement Theory of Portfolio Design
- Upgrade Your Illustration Portfolio with EFII’s Portfolio Workshop
- 3 Mistakes Illustrators Make in Their Portfolios
- Which of Your Illustrations Should You Remove from Your Portfolio Right Now?
- 7 Elements of an Effective Portfolio Website
- Fine-Tuning Your Portfolio Series
In the spirit of creating a “friendlier” portfolio site, what recommendations would you have for those artists that work in multiple disciplines? I’m a studio artist with about 20 years of portfolio work that is pretty much comprised of the needs of the different studios I’ve worked for. So to put it bluntly, it’s all over the place. I am revisiting what I do to emphasize the work/ style that is catered more toward what I consider my signature look (to get more consistent work within that arena) However, I do not want to eliminate or diminish what I have amassed already. That work still brings a lot of jobs my way.
My current site is extremely old, hence the need for this overhaul that I’m toiling with.
The only solution I’ve been considering is a secondary or sub website that contains a selection of the studio work I’ve done.. I’d love to hear others thoughts.
Hi Bob,
One solution could be grouping the work chronologically, ( 5 year slots )
with a thumbnail for each grouping ? Of course that would mean the oldest work
gets the least importance.and the recent work the most. but that’s what you want isnt it?
Good luck !
Sanjay
HI Sanjay,
Thanks for the reply. Would the act though of posting older work (and advertising the date it was created) turn off an art director? Would that potential viewer say “Why is he putting up such old work?”, “Doesn’t he have any current stuff to show?” Does anyone have experience with this solution to their site?
btw, Sanjay, your work is very nice. I added it to my bookmark list.
Bob