20+ Best Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio In 2023

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Whether you’re new to graphic design, dabbling as a freelancer, or have years of expertise, having an online portfolio to exhibit your design work is critical if you want to gain future customers and ultimately extend your reach as a graphic designer.

However, any design portfolio will not be enough.

You want something that encompasses your abilities and essence as a designer; something that quickly showcases your skillset, adaptability, and range; something that creates your brand identity as a graphic designer; and something that serves as your digital business card.

Attaining all of those aims on your portfolio website is more difficult than you would believe – much more so when your trade is graphic design! If you’re looking for ideas for your graphic design portfolio website, you’ve come to the right place.

The following are some of the most inspirational examples of graphic design portfolios.

Contents

20+ Best Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio Examples
How to make a graphic design portfolio?
7 Best Ideas For Graphic Design Portfolio Projects
FAQs On Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio
What's a good graphic design portfolio?
Do graphic designers need a portfolio?
How long should a graphic design portfolio be?
What do employers look for in a graphic design portfolio?
Conclusion: Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio 2023

20+ Best Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio Examples

Let’s take a look at 10 of the most remarkable graphic design portfolios we’ve seen so far, in no particular order. Each of these portfolios is a great representation of the designer’s skills, technical talents, creativity, and thinking process.

1. Taylor Dunham Design:

Taylor Dunham is a designer who believes in the transformative potential of design as a problem-solving tool.

By positioning herself as a problem solution rather than a pixel pusher, she establishes the value of her expertise immediately upon landing on her website. Taylor’s case studies are detailed and informative, with customer testimonials included for social proof.

2. Fedor Shkliarau:

Fedor Shkliarau is a freelance product designer with an easy-to-use portfolio website. His website makes liberal use of white space, which focuses the viewer’s attention on the site’s enormous headlines and graphics.

Fedor’s case studies are both interactive and user-friendly. In general, this website satisfies all of the criteria for an excellent portfolio.

3. Zhenya Rynzhuk:

Want to elevate your graphic design portfolio? Consider Zhenya Rynzhuk, who has an amazing showreel on her website that gives a concise but comprehensive summary of her work and abilities.

Additionally, Zhenya provides extensive case studies for anyone interested in learning more about the processes involved in each project.

4. Adam Ho:

Adam Ho is a graphic designer whose portfolio website defies layout and typographic conventions in an aesthetically pleasing manner that piques your interest.

By scrolling down, you’ll discover a variety of diverse projects on which he’s collaborated with amazing clientele. He has created a thorough case study for each project that details his approach and design reasons.

5. Look Look Studio:

Look Look Studio is a design studio with a simple but very effective portfolio website for graphic design. Above the fold, we find a huge type introduction to the studio.

As we scroll down, we see a beautiful two-column grid of portfolio work. Each project page includes an overview of the project and several images that give an in-depth look at the studio’s work and process.

6. Leta Sobierajski:

Leta Sobierajski uses a variety of different creative tools and approaches to produce genuinely one-of-a-kind pictures.

Her portfolio is bright, vibrant, and entertaining, and her flair shines through every aspect.

7. Ramon Gilabert:

Ramon Gilabert is a product designer with an emphasis on clean, minimalist design. The portfolio is straightforward and well-curated, consisting of just four projects.

Each project page, however, provides an in-depth case study that details the project’s objectives, challenges, strategy, and outcomes.

In general, this website is an excellent illustration of how to zero in on the critical aspects while showing your work.

8. Kati Forner:

Kati Forner is a full-service creative agency with an impressive portfolio of elegant, sophisticated, and entertaining graphic design.

On the site, huge writing, enormous graphics, and subtle animations are used.

Each project page has a comprehensive case study accompanied by full-width mockups and just enough text to offer context and insight into the design process.

9. Simon Daufresne:

The portfolio website for Simon Daufresne is a one-of-a-kind interactive experience complete with scroll and hover effects.

Each project page offers a summary of the project, a description of Simon’s role(s), and a slew of huge images and mockups.

10. Ayakta Ito:

Ayaka Ito is a graphic designer that specializes in brand identities, editorial design, fonts, and illustration.

Her webpage has an extensive collection of her stunning work, which you can peruse quickly to get a feel of her style and ability.

By clicking on a project, you’re directed to a full case study page that contains an overview, huge images, and many lines of writing explaining the reasoning and context behind her design decisions.

11. WW Studios Portfolio Template

WW Studios created this portfolio website template. Not only is the template aesthetically pleasing, but it also expresses a lively creative spirit.

12. Harry Moses (motion warning)

Harry Moses‘ portfolio website is evocative of high fashion editorial spreads seen in periodicals such as Vogue or on promotional materials for New York and Paris fashion weeks.

Moses’ web portfolio demonstrates his abilities as a brand designer, digital designer, and art director. Moses’ principal storytelling techniques on the site are text and layout.

This is brilliant. Each project’s case study has imagery that is suitably concealed until clicked and then scrolled to expose high-quality pictures pertinent to each study.

13. David Klaus (motion & photosensitivity warning)

A single paragraph would be insufficient to adequately describe this web portfolio.

David Klaus‘ portfolio combines deep craftsmanship with digital media, demonstrating that creativity has no limitations when given the ability to, well, create. And that is exactly what Klaus accomplished.

14. BMCVR

BMCVR is run by Brendon Cleaver, a visual designer located in New Zealand. What makes Cleaver’s portfolio so intriguing is its inconsistency in style.

While the inconsistent design is a terrible decision in principle, it is so skillfully implemented that it brilliantly demonstrates Cleaver’s variety and adaptability as a graphic designer.

They say not to judge a book by its cover, and that is certainly true. At first sight, Cleaver’s website seems to be a standard grid design seen on almost every web builder platform.

However, as you navigate the site, you begin to peel back metaphorical layers and get insight into Cleaver’s creative mind. It’s frenetic but enjoyable, piquing your interest and enthusiasm as you anxiously travel from page to page, yearning to absorb more of Cleaver’s ingenuity and mysterious spirit.

15. Mauricio Barreto (motion warning)

To see another example of subtle flare, see Mauricio Barreto’s web portfolio. Though his homepage is not very subtle, you may discover little Easter eggs of personality across the remainder of his site by lingering over text elements or examining the site’s space.

What’s amusing is the way Barreto directs visitors to his contact page. Rather than a typical contact form, Barreto employs pixel arrows to lead users to his Instagram. Who needs a mundane contact form when you can use pixel arrows to direct prospective customers to your Instagram’s direct messages?

16. Tony Mayer

Tony Mayer is a New York-based freelance web and graphic designer with an excellent portfolio of work. And this transfers to his web portfolio, notably his case studies and the way he incorporates interactive components into his case study mockups.

While this minor use of motion may seem inconsequential to others, it acts as a visual motif across the story of his portfolio website.

It is used in conjunction with the arrow at the bottom of his website’s page and, more crucially, immediately upon redirection to his homepage. This is a wonderful method to infuse your graphic design portfolio site with subtle touches of flair and vitality.

17. Graphic Department

Graphic Department is a German design firm with an elegant but simple web portfolio. And, although the site is only accessible in German, the site’s basic design makes navigating simple and intuitive.

18. Travis McClure

Travis McClure is a graphic designer located in Austin that specializes in branding, logo design, packaging design, and illustration. And, although his portfolio may look straightforward, his case studies serve as the site’s actual hero.

The arrangement of his case studies is distinct from the homepage, about, and contact sections – a brilliant design decision.

His juxtaposition of anesthetic and a thorough description of his design approach illustrates to visitors how to successfully vary from the more conventional page layouts and structures that we see on so many websites.

19. Sylvain de la Porte

Sylvain de la Porte is a web and graphic designer from France with over 15 years of experience in the field.

His website is brilliantly created, using motion visuals and scrolling elements that engage and fascinate visitors. De la Porte deftly fills the folds of each page’s layout with material that is both meaningful to the reader and pleasing to the eye, a talent that does not come easily.

20. Cristiaan the Designer

Not to be forgotten is Christiaan the Designer’s experimentation with white space, font, color, and layout.

Her font selection unifies her web portfolio distinctively and entertainingly.

21. Andreas Gaida

Andreas Gaida is a freelance graphic designer, art director, and web designer who showcases his talents via a clean and contemporary portfolio website.

While his style is more subdued in contrast to the other graphic design portfolios on our list, it is his content design that elevates his portfolio to prominence.

Take a look for yourself and you’ll enjoy his play on style and content, which work in unison to produce a functioning site that retains the charm of the current design.

22. Annie Szafranski

The typography is the first thing that strikes you when viewing Annie Szafranski’s online portfolio. Her portfolio exemplifies how to properly employ typography as the primary topic of a design.

If you’re unsure how to design your portfolio website, complementing the white space and layout with typography is an excellent method to inject individuality into your design.

23. Sierra Plese

Sierra Plese is a multi-award-winning graphic designer with years of experience in the field. What makes Plese’s work stand out is her use of textured geographic forms as a visual design theme, an homage to graphic design concepts.

The addition of hover effects to these rough forms invigorates her portfolio, giving it a sense of playfulness. These effects elevate an already excellent design to greatness.

How to make a graphic design portfolio?

It’s high time to know about its steps so that operating it will become much easier.

Step – 1: Curate your greatest work and demonstrate a range of abilities

Ideally, your portfolio will showcase your sharpest, most remarkable 10-20 designs; obviously, someone reviewing your portfolio will not have time to look at other work, and they shouldn’t need to if your first two projects are strong enough.

However, it is equally vital that you demonstrate your adaptability to prospective customers. If you’ve experimented with both logo design and video animation, it’s a smart idea to include both in your portfolio.

Step – 2: Select the appropriate platform for showcasing your work

Investing in a high-quality website with a custom domain URL will pay dividends over time by displaying your professionalism to prospective customers.

Having your website enables you to arrange your portfolio to meet all of your business requirements — for example, you may add sections for ‘Projects,’ ‘About Me,’ and ‘Contact Me,’ so people can read your information and then contact you without ever leaving the site.

Step – 3: Include a case study from a professional or client recommendation

A written case study provides context for your project, explains the issue you were attempting to address via design, and details the method you used to arrive at a final result.

Design solutions need considerable time, effort, and iteration, and a written case study can aid in communicating your unique method.

To create a compelling case study, consider adding the project’s history, the challenge, the procedure, the deliverable, and any further actions. Burke recommends including research, experience mapping, persona building, wireframing, drawing, usability testing, and iteration in the process component of your case study.

Additionally, it will impress prospective customers if you include references from previous companies since this demonstrates your expertise.

Step – 4: Integrate your characteristics

As the examples above demonstrate, each portfolio is unique due to the artist’s style. A visitor to Tobias van Schneider’s portfolio will anticipate something very different from a visitor to Ling K’s site.

Ascertain that your portfolio’s layout, backdrop, and website title accurately represent your identity as a designer.

Step – 5: Describe the creative process in the following manner

It’s critical to offer context so that visitors can get a feel of how you approach difficulties and how your ideas address real-world issues.

Additionally, describing your creative process might assist a prospective customer in determining whether you are competent in tackling the complexity of their project.

Step – 6: Demonstrate work for non-clients or side projects

Side projects are an excellent approach to show your abilities to take initiative and manage numerous tasks concurrently.

Additionally, they’re an excellent method to demonstrate some of your more experimental, creative ideas that you may not be able to demonstrate in your day-to-day job.

If you’re just starting, it’s appropriate to incorporate side projects or non-client work to demonstrate your capability and style to prospective clients.

Consider include schoolwork, a logo you developed for your aunt’s business, or an internal design you did for your present employer — ideally, your designs will allay prospective customers’ fears about your lack of job experience.

7 Best Ideas For Graphic Design Portfolio Projects

Ideas are the basis of any project. Here we have listed a few of them which will surely help you in graphic design portfolio projects. Let’s start.

1. Take part in a design competition:

Consider participating in a design challenge to get inspiration, improve your talents, or communicate with other designers in a community while also building your portfolio.

By challenging you to venture beyond your design comfort zone, design challenges may also help you discover abilities you didn’t realize you had. Several daily, weekly, and monthly challenges will provide you with ideas for designs.

2. Create a stock WordPress theme:

WordPress, a popular content management system, enables users to create stock themes for the platform — and best of all, if approved, your theme can be sold as a premium theme for additional revenue.

Begin by researching the most popular WordPress themes and determining how you may design an appealing alternative.

3. Create a logo for a company that you admire:

Maintain a focus on the sort of content that you like creating. If you’re exceptionally skilled at designing logos and are often inspired by the logos used by genuine firms, try developing a custom logo for a company you like.

4. Create a creative brief for a hypothetical website :

If your designs are sufficiently stunning, prospective customers may not care if they were produced for a fake firm – in fact, they may be pleased by your innovativeness and ingenuity.

Consider exhibiting your abilities by creating a creative brief for a fictitious firm that includes wireframes and drawings. In due course, legitimate businesses will take notice.

5. Create a dummy website overhaul for a company you admire:

If you’re still waiting for LuLuLemon to contact you about redesigning their website, why wait? Consider redesigning a whole website for a well-known business to exhibit your abilities to prospective customers.

This is a well-known method that other designers have previously used — simply take a look at some of the stunning Behance mock-ups for designers like Michael Kors.

6. Create content:

Take the effort to verify the consistency and elegance of your marketing materials. Create a distinctive design for your website and incorporate it into other documents, such as your business card and résumé.

If a customer sees the sort of high-quality work you’re capable of doing for yourself, they’re more willing to work with you.

7. Inquire of local firms or start-ups:

Reaching out to non-profits and local companies in your neighborhood is one of the simplest methods to begin increasing your customer base. Consider creating mock-ups or drawings in advance to demonstrate your ability and vision to these firms.

Perhaps you believe a neighborhood restaurant might benefit from a new menu logo, or you’d want to assist a gift store with their online marketing materials. Ideally, these firms will offer to post a testimonial on your portfolio in return for your services.

FAQs On Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio

What's a good graphic design portfolio?

Prioritize quality over quantity. Exhibit your greatest work. Case studies should be included. Maintain a neat and easy-to-navigate website. Display contact details prominently.

Do graphic designers need a portfolio?

Whether you're new to graphic design, dabbling as a freelancer, or have years of expertise, having an online portfolio to exhibit your design work is critical if you want to gain future customers and ultimately extend your reach as a graphic designer.

How long should a graphic design portfolio be?

A graphic design portfolio should be between 10-15 pages long. It is a standard format, neither too lengthy nor excessively short. Additionally, it is critical to provide facts about your employment, sighting instances, interactions, and other pertinent information about yourself within 10-15 pages.

What do employers look for in a graphic design portfolio?

One of the first things an employer will look for in your portfolio is the area or areas of design in which you specialize, so they can immediately determine whether you're a good match for a specific job or freelance project that's available. Therefore, do not believe that including a little bit of everything would benefit your cause.

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Conclusion: Freelance Graphic Designer Portfolio 2023

Each graphic designer included in this article is highly brilliant and works with incredible clientele.

And, although their portfolios are eye-catching, it’s vital to keep in mind that they each have years of expertise. Who knows how long it took them to develop their freelancing careers to the point where they are now?

While we cannot promise you immediate success, we can help you accelerate your freelancing career by enrolling you in our course The 6-Figure Freelancer.

This thorough course teaches you how to develop a thriving freelancing company that enables you to work when and when you choose, on your terms.