What is a portfolio & How To Make A Portfolio? Today’s creative business world is all about how to make your skills speak for themselves and the answer to this is a PORTFOLIO, but what usually becomes a tedious task is to learn how to make a portfolio?

First, let’s begin with – What is a portfolio?

It is a way of presenting yourself to the world. Remember the words of Winston Churchill, “A good presentation should be like a miniskirt, as short as possible to catch everyone’s attention and just long enough to cover what you need to cover.”

Let us see during the course of this blog how to make a portfolio.

What Is Portfolio?

This is an online world today. Hence, building up an online brand is essential for anyone to succeed in this environment. Having a dazzling online portfolio can separate you from the crowd and make you stand out. This is what you need to grab attention. Employers today search online. Therefore, a professional portfolio will be an excellent addition to any job application.

Let us see how to prepare a portfolio.

How To Make A Portfolio?

We shall keep it crisp and short. A digital portfolio is like a mirror image of your traditional resume but with more flexible options. This flexibility is the ‘X-Factor’ that can help you to land your coveted job.

Elements Of An Impressive Online Portfolio

1. Portfolio design is important

Every industry has its individual demands. Therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach will never work when you sit down to create an online portfolio. Choosing the right template to suit the audience is essential. Your portfolio design should be such that it represents you as well as your targeted industry in the best possible manner.

2. Personal Information

This is the most important part of your portfolio page. Ensure that this information sits at the top of your web portfolio. This portion should present as much information about you as possible. It should include your name, photo, contact information, social links, and a brief professional summary.

3. Work Experience

What is the objective of having a portfolio page? You are searching for better job opportunities and this portfolio will help you to land one. Including your work experiences in the portfolio is important. It gives the prospective employer an opportunity to gauge your potential. You should give much importance to this aspect because your portfolio is as strong as your weakest work experience.

4. Education

Highlighting your educational qualifications in your portfolio presentation is equally important. Your prospective employer would like to know your education level. You can include your degrees, certifications, achievements if any, and all other highlights of your educational career.

5. Skills

Not everyone has work experience to boast of. You have to make a start somewhere before you gain experience. This is where your skills count. Be very clear in your portfolio about the skills you possess. Note that the employer is more concerned with what you can offer to him. Be specific but place emphasis when you prepare a creative portfolio.

6. Highlight Top Projects

This is the most creative part of your work portfolio as it breathes life into it. This portion can vary from industry to industry. However, ensure that you include your top projects that relate to the industry you are applying for. It can be by way of embedded links, PDF files, or a PowerPoint presentation.

In case you are into marketing, include some of the video talks that you have given. If you are an artist or photographer, include some of your best paintings or photographer. The list can go on.

Create Portfolio:

You have just seen what a portfolio is. You have also seen how to make one as well. Let us now proceed with the actual process of how to create online portfolio.

When you sit down to create portfolio, ensure that you have the basic requirements ready with you in a digital format. You might need to upload documents in support of your credentials. Having them in a digital formal is always helpful. Over the next few paragraphs, we shall see how to create online portfolio.

Ensure to include these elements in your online portfolio. Let us now proceed with details on how to make an online portfolio.

Portfolio Format

We shall now discuss some points to concentrate on when you prepare your portfolio online.

• • Preparation is the key to creating an effective online portfolio. You need a computer, connection to the internet, and all your work samples ready with you.
  • Content is very important. Making an impact on people is not as easy as you think. Employers are not much interested in what you were at school. They are more concerned with the contribution you can make towards their success. Going through a portfolio sample can help you decide on the format you wish to use.
  • The portfolio format should include your updated resume, educational achievements, projects and research experience, awards, letters of recommendations, and details of community service done by you. It is better to have these documents in the digital format.
  • Choosing the right online platform to display your professional portfolio is important. There are websites like Yola, Weebly and Google to name a few where you can build up your portfolio easily.
  • Creating an account in these websites is easy. The next step in preparing an online portfolio is to add a site and give it a title. Having a registered website domain in your name is advisable. Take care to use a professional looking name because you have to impress your prospective employer. Funny names can elicit laughter but will not serve the purpose.

• We shall take the example of the Weebly website for creating your free online portfolio. The ‘Elements’ tab can help you to add your content such as text, pictures, and videos. Select your theme using ‘Design’ tab. You can seek help on the website itself as it has facilities for providing step-by-step guidance in such matters.
• Your portfolio should have a home page that contains all the vital information you wish to display. This includes your personal details, experiences, qualifications and anything you wish to share with the prospective employer. Go through successful portfolio examples to notice that the biography should not exceed 7 sentences.
• Images say better than words. Upload an image of any relevant project you might have done during your academic career. Managing your portfolio page is essential. Ensure that you do not have more than 8 different pages.
• When you add your resume to your digital portfolio, ensure that you add your social links as well. The coursework pages can include details of the courses you have done. Having the logo of your college can present a good visual experience. It is pertinent to mention here to be very choosy with the courses you like to include. Being selective in this matter is advisable.
• Employers place great emphasis on the candidate having researching capabilities. If you have experience, it is a good idea to include the same as well.
• Experience counts everywhere. If you have leadership qualities, it is more beneficial. The best portfolio examples have all these boxes ticked in proper perspective. Go through a company portfolio sample to understand what employers look for in a portfolio.
• Submitting your contact information is necessary because you want people to contact you back. Be very specific in this aspect and include the exact details. This information should contain your name, mailing address, telephone numbers, email ids, and links to social media. This is vital for an effective portfolio presentation.
• Now that you have seen how to prepare a creative portfolio, you should also ensure that there are no mistakes in it. Getting a third person to go over the same is advisable. It is better to ask a professional to read it to you.
• The next step is to publish your digital portfolio. You can choose to register your own domain by paying the requisite amount of fees. You can add this website to your resume.
• The final step in designing a web portfolio is to update the same on a regular basis. No person would like to see stale information. This is an online world and updating portfolios online should not consume much time.

You have just seen how to build a portfolio in the easiest manner.

Portfolio Examples

It is always advisable to look at certain digital portfolio examples from different websites before finalizing your portfolio. You get a clear perspective about the portfolios required for different industry sectors.

When you have to be the best, there is no harm in taking inspiration from others. There are hundreds of websites out there in the internet that explain how to create an online portfolio.

Here are few of the best examples that can inspire you to create portfolio that appeals your skills to prospective clients:

16 Best Examples of Portfolio Design Websites That Bring You Inspiration

50 Brilliant Design Portfolios To Inspire You

Portfolio Ideas

We had mentioned earlier in the article that your online portfolio should stand out from that of the others. This is a competitive world and one has to be creative to succeed in this environment. We shall now share some portfolio ideas that can help to make your portfolio effective.

• Employers are not much concerned with the past. Try to showcase the work you want to be doing in the future. It is advisable to curate your best work and exhibit it. Quality is of utmost importance. Your digital portfolio is as strong as your weakest project.
• Images and videos can speak much better than words. Using eye-catching images along with their backstory can help you clinch the deal.
• Simplicity is the key. It is better to let your work do the talking. When you sit down to make a portfolio, ensure that people should not have any difficulty in navigating through it.
• Make your biography interesting by including some personal trivia about your hobbies and interests. You might strike a common chord with your prospective employer. This tip can help you design a creative portfolio.
• Do not unnecessarily beef up the portfolio by adding irrelevant information. Remember the words of Winston Churchill that we have used at the beginning of this article on how to make a portfolio.
• Keep your portfolio up to date.

Portfolio Sample

This is a competitive world and only the best people succeed. A lot depends on the first impression you create on your employers/clients. This entails that you should have an impressive portfolio. You have just seen how to make a creative portfolio in the paragraphs above. It is always advisable to have your work portfolio sample read by a third person before you venture to publish the same. They will be able to eliminate the minor flaws that you might as well overlook in case you do the proofreading of your own work.

Portfolio Presentation

This is the final step of the entire exercise. You have done the hard work of creating your portfolio online. A good presentation can go a long way in employers/clients evincing interest in your services. An excellent portfolio presentation is necessary for an effective marketing strategy. It can be a simple PDF or even a PowerPoint presentation. However, you should ensure that the presentation should be an effective one by all means. The person who manages to do this goes a long way in his career.

Final Thoughts

Portfolio presentation is very important. If you do not highlight your achievements, do not expect others to do so. Go through online portfolio examples and master the art of preparing the best portfolio.

We end with a quote by Steve Martin, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

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