Five Tips on How to Make an Amazing Portfolio Website

Put Your Personality on the Web

by Shaquille Foronda

​As we go through college, we find it more and more important to build a resume/portfolio of work. Creating an amazing portfolio website will help showcase your brand and share your expertise with many people. I was able to sit down and interview Logan Cross, a fellow Journalism student here at California State University, Long Beach, where she gave five tips on how to make an amazing portfolio website.

Take your time.
Creating and designing a website takes time. You need to accumulate all of your personal work, choose a color palette, add pages, etc. Try to give yourself a few weeks to get everything together, as well as an ample amount of time to look over your website and edit it. This is crucial because rushed work will often translate into overlooked mistakes on your website.

Have a creative projects section.
Having a creative projects section will allow you to demonstrate off work that doesn’t necessarily pertain to what’s on your resume; but it still displays your skills in other fields. This section helps to exhibit your personality, as well as your interests outside of your industry/career. Although this section is all about fun, make sure that all of the content is appropriate. This section also confirms that you have the capacity to be a self-starter and to create your own opportunities (a skill that is incredibly valuable!). 

Keep everything consistent.
Create a style guide that you can follow. Make sure you don’t use too many clashing fonts, colors, or styles. You want to show that you understand the concept of personal branding and that you can implement it coherently. Keep your voice professional, but also don't be afraid to let your personality shine through. This is mostly a stylistic tip, and is best curated through experience (so write, write, write as much as you can!). 

Short, simple, and sweet.
Try to refrain from making your pages too long. Potential employers probably don't want to scroll through a page with endless content. Put your strongest and most relevant work at the top. Links are also great, but visuals are better!

Review review review.
Make sure to have other people take a look at your website. Also, show it to people who aren’t in your field! This will help get the perspective of those who aren’t in the same department. They might see things or pick up on certain aspects that you didn’t notice. It’s always interesting to see what they think. Also, edit often! Don’t be afraid to update your website and keep it fresh.

With these five tips from Cross, making an amazing portfolio will be a breeze. A portfolio website is a great way to showcase your professional (and creative) work, while also displaying your interests and expertise outside of the field. Don’t forget to be original and have fun!