Best graphic design portfolios from around the web

Creating stunning graphic design portfolios is a task open to interpretation. There's no one single way to lay a portfolio out. In a way, that's good as it means you're free to experiment and showcase your creativity when designing your website. But because it opens up so many avenues, it can create a tyranny of choice making it difficult to find the perfect direction for you.

It can be useful to look at the graphic design portfolios created by your peers, not only to get inspiration from their work but also to discover the self-promotion methods they've used. Looking at those portfolios can help you decide what you do and don't like, which will clarify what you want yours to achieve. If you need even more ideas, head over to our more comprehensive list of design portfolios that are sure to inspire you.

01. Alex Coven

Alex Coven, in his own words, “wears three hats”, as a freelance graphic designer, letterer and front end developer based in Chicago, USA. He illustrates those hats literally on the homepage, which is a brilliantly simple way to convey the depth of his skills and experience.

Scroll down on his site to see his work and a cross on each one for more information about that project. Clever use of colour overlays again acts as a simple device to keep things distinctive and interesting.

02. Rafael Kfouri

Rafael Kfouri is an award-winning graphic designer currently working for AlmapBBDO. He previously worked at Wieden+Kennedy Portland.

The one-page portfolio site is a tricky thing to pull off, but Kfouri succeeds well in giving his colourful and impactful visuals – including single images and collages – room to breathe. Giving them almost the entire width of the screen, with just a couple of slim sidebars for context, allows visitors to enjoy and appreciate the wide scope of his work at a leisurely pace.

There’s only the barest of information about each project, and to be honest, we’d like to have seen more. But as a way of showcasing graphic eye-candy smartly and with minimal (if any) clicks needed to get to the goodies, this portfolio offers a lot of inspiration.

03. Heather Shaw

With almost 20 years' experience in design, Heather Shaw designs brochures, menus, business cards, books, annual reports, Powerpoint and Keynote presentations, responsive websites, applications… anything her clients need, in short. And her impressive portfolio site marshals all this diverse work with simplicity and elegance.

Overlaying photos of each project with a block colour provides an element of visual consistency. Meanwhile, the big, bold typography and simple but effective design make it all very easy to navigate.

04. Stefanie Bruckler

Based in New York, Stefanie Bruckler is an Austrian designer and illustrator with a particular interest in branding and editorial design. Passionate about building cohesive and strong brands as well as typography and packaging, she’s applied a touch of old-fashioned elegance to her website. Its minimalist, grid-based layout, muted colour palette and restrained use of type are all enclosed within a fixed, single-line frame.

05. Peter Komierowski

Peter Komierowski is a visual designer working in Vancouver, British Columbia who specialises in illustration, branding and identity design, and interface design. With many high-profile clients, including The Huffington Post, NBA, Telus, and YouTube, there’s a lot to fit in here.

Komierowski’s homepage takes a quite radical approach, featuring just a small number of logo designs, surrounded by acres of white space. It’s a strategy born of (justified) confidence in the high quality of his designs, and it works brilliantly.

SHARE THIS