now if your portfolio sucks then it doesn't matter how good your design skills are your career is
going to suffer and today's video is going to show you how to make high converting portfolios and
that starts with understanding a novice mistake or problem so this is quite a big problem that
I see among many novice and intermediate designers kiss or keep it simple stupid
your portfolio isn't meant to be a piece of art or some kind of Masterpiece it's a tool for getting
people to see what you do contact you and hire you if the layout is convoluted messy cluttered
and just confusing to people you're far far less likely to gain clicks and conversions
so remove any clutter or any things that don't need to be there and just direct to the viewers
to your work what you do and then that call to action button keeping it simple for the win is
the way to go but now think about the quality of the imagery all over your portfolio are those
images high resolution think about the quality of your writing and your texts do you actually have
too much text does the level of the text leave the user feeling confused what about the website
Pages do you have too many pages and that's the portfolio feels like a maze to navigate
you want to refine and simplify everything down to an easy to use Quality Tool for selling yourself
as a designer amateur portfolios often forget this and they throw everything they have to see
what sticks be it low or high quality so here's a good quote to remember as a designer you're only
as good as the weakest or the worst example of work in your portfolio so the next quality aspect
to professional portfolio is the designer will add something of themselves into the portfolio
now this is going to be a personal touch and it might be a sense of humor a theme like a
color scheme but whatever it is they're going to add something that you won't find anywhere else
this is also done in an efficient and a tactful manner basically it isn't just applied with a
little thoughts it needs to be integrated into the portfolio in a fluid and a seamless way
the portfolio of a professional designer is going to reflect who they are and you won't find Cookie
Cutter design Trends and layouts they've gone ahead and actually thought about interesting ways
to express who they are through their portfolio and it isn't just a place to Showcase their work
now we're going to look at some really cool ways to actually boost the clicks and the conversions
on your portfolios does your portfolio contain trust signals and what do I even
mean by trust signals so you have to remember that if a potential client is looking at your
portfolio website they need to have some trust and conviction in your ability to make their time
and also their money worthwhile so one key thing and many designers fail to realize is that if a
potential client is looking at your website it's a good idea to show how your services are going to
benefit them so maybe demonstrate how you solve problems for previous clients as this does work
pretty well so maybe you brought a brand into the 21st century with a well-needed Rebrand or maybe
your skills and services can quickly generate high quality leaflet designs whatever it is
tell a story and demonstrate how your services can benefit a potential client because if you
don't show how you provide value to somebody then your portfolio is not going to be that effective
professional clients need a professional solution and that means having a method to solve a problem
in a smart and effective way so it's always wise to explain briefly the problem a client
had and how you resolved that problem now this shows that you're fully capable of tackling real
design projects and not simply just someone who can design attractive pieces of artwork now this
is a simple tip to elevate you above many other graphic designers via your portfolio it does go
a bit deeper than this though in areas where you do have text on your portfolio try throwing in
some technical words related to graphic design as this will demonstrate you know what you're
talking about and that you are a professional these little nuances do go a long long way now
what else do professional portfolios do right well they understand what conversion means now this is
a marketing term and it relates to converting a user from the website to either a paying customer
or simply that you gain their email address and contact details and so a professional portfolio
will have an easily accessible and easy to use contact page not only that but there might be
social media icons dotted around the websites and also there might even be a contact form that pops
up whenever somebody lands on the home page you want to turn those visitors into clients and so
do not underestimate the power of an effective contact page so almost every single website has
a call to action button in some way shape or form and your portfolio website should be no different
in your case the likely call to action is that a potential client should contact you
about a possible project to work on so design your website so it kind of funnels the viewer
to the final destination of that call to action section and then make the call to
action button obvious with contrast flow hierarchy or whatever principles you think
will work well basically just make it stand out it needs to be engaging and look different as it
does need to be clicked without clicks you won't get client conversions it's just pretty simple
now here's a really important thing that most designers don't actually consider on the portfolio
and so the first thing I wish I learned a long time ago was paint and no I didn't mean self-harm
or a martial arts corks no instead you should learn the pain points that your clients or the
potential customers of your portfolio do actually have if you can actually understand what keeps
your potential clients awake at night and what really bothers them then you can tailor your
portfolio to meet to those needs and address those problems and let's take Josie here as
an example she has a dog grooming business but in a local area she's just seen recently lots of new
competition coming onto the scene and that means her profits are started to decline which obviously
is going to make a depressed and a bit sad she has children to feed she has a deadbeat husband with a
gambling problem and not to mention that card that she doesn't really ever use but she pays
monthly for that just sits on a driveway knowing pain points really will help you appeal to clients
or potential clients a lot more in the case of Josie you could actually reinvent her brand or
brand it so she can fight off the competition and allow her business to grow and Thrive it really
is just a case of marketing your skills and your strong points in accordance to the pain points
of potential clients and you'd be surprised by how many designers do not capitalize on this method as
designers we work online most of the day and if you're like me you probably have multiple email
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I'm going to reveal the techniques the designers have used so you can improve your very own
graphic design portfolio but before we view the Masterpiece portfolios let's quickly look at some
checkpoints that make up an effective portfolio now a running theme is crucial because it ties
the portfolio together visually speaking and it just looks professional and official next we have
the use of the same font Choice throughout the entire folio and again this just ties everything
together neatly the portfolio should be clean and easy to navigate for obvious reasons and less is
often more this applies to the work involved as well as the design layouts giving some context to
each project and a client is an absolute must and it's always a neat idea to add something unique to
your portfolio too now also it should go without saying that you need to put in your best work
but now we know what we're looking for let's take a look at those portfolios in today's video
in the first graphic design portfolio noticed right away the clean and open plan layout of
the home page we have a focal point here which is an example of a project and it automatically
Scrolls through this election now the focal point here is interactive because when you
roll your cursor over it there's a subtle and unique change and this just sets this portfolio
apart from 99 of other examples these small things really really do matter the navigation
is very simple with the designer's work on the left and the about page linked on the far right
now clicking the work link we see a list of projects displayed right here and you're
going to notice how this Sans serif font has been used throughout the entire portfolio also notice
how the color of the text changes as you scroll over it which again is another needs thought that
will impress viewers as well it also makes the experience a little bit more user-friendly because
you know which thing you're selecting now again take note of this simple yet effective layouts
of the up and down arrows at the top and the bottom and the other two links on the far sites
the design also features the project imagery in the exact same location that being the
focal point in the middle of the screen and this is seen throughout the entire portfolio
now I'm not too sure about the white text on a bright light background but that is one nitpicky
thing I have about this folio now here we have some context about the client and the
project which gives credibility to the project being a real thing and also completely official
you should always want to be adding this into your very own graphic design portfolio
now looking at this Sushi project we again see how neat everything looks on the screen with
lots of negative space being used also showing sketches adds the story to the project and shows
us some of the design process it's a handy little tip that you will want to add into
your graphic design portfolio so I hope you can see how this less is more approach in the
layout really works well and it gives the viewer comfort and also room to breathe visually speaking
so and finally we have here some more context with the same font and the same
layout of typography as the previous project repetition is really important in portfolios
we also see this font and this layout being used on the about page
and it should be noted that the style of having a pastel kind of color background has been
implemented in many areas of the portfolio yes the portfolio was well constructed and well laid out
but I think it could be designed better for CTR and just gaining more clients however they are
probably swamped with loads of clients because of their High notoriety what works for the top
0.1 percent likely will not work for me and you but let's take a look at another portfolio
so this portfolio is a lot more basic in the techniques used and also the formats
shown and we simply have projects running side by side along the page
with your portfolio you really don't need tons and tons of pages I would
suggest just having a work page a contact and an about page that's pretty much all you need
but also a graphic design blog would be pretty neat as well and also it helps for SEO
so this designer's work has a very specific style and you can see that it revolves around 3D almost
metallic kind of design and this is exploiting a niche it shows a design that is passionate and
professional in their desired Niche plus it ties everything together really neatly
now I do really love this style of work and I do have some pretty high profile clients here
also note how the project thumbnails change as you roll over them
the designer displays the project context very briefly here on the top left of the screen
and they also keep the theme of having imagery and rectangles downward throughout
everything is pretty clinical and has a similar shape and feel throughout
the entire failure keeping with that running theme point I keep driving home
now clicking the above page we again see a clinical black on white minimal layout
design and there is some info here on the designer and their background
having a contact page is essential because it allows potential clients a quick and an easy
way to get hold of you directly from your folio so do be sure to add this into your varium design
also this designer has neatly placed their social media Accounts at the bottom corner keeping with
that Black and White theme so yeah these examples are neat and they're really good to look at but
they have Authority or big Authority in this space already so I'm going to show you some tricks on
actually improving the user experience on your portfolio so you can gain more clients with ease
the technique that works so so well is something I call the user path in summary it goes from showing
what the user wants to presenting a problem and then presenting some solutions and finally
directing them with call to actions let's take a look at how this actually functions in real
life use so when somebody clicks onto a home page it isn't flashy animation or cool graphics that
will generate more sales and more clicks no no no no you need to understand first what a user is on
your website in the first place more often than not sales come from you adding value and solving
a problem that's why money is exchanged so if it's a graphic design portfolio it will be somebody who
needs a logo design or other graphic design services in my example today people click on
Logo designprocess.com because they are interested in getting a guide that will help them with their
logo design career and process so at the very top of my home page I have a short paragraph that
states the guide I'm selling will help the users create more professional and more effective logo
designs and that is of course true I've had only positive feedback on this guide but anyway that is
a first step in the user path next is arguably the most important and that is presenting the problem
as you can see next on my homepage I briefly talk about the problem at hand that being that many
designers find themselves confused when embarking on a logo design project and many designers
face rejection from their clients when showing their designs that is step two in the user path
now the user understands exactly what the problem is and they know what they want to achieve
next up is to present the solution in the next paragraph below I talk about how the e-guide
takes the user on a journey from start to finish along the logo design process and below that is
a snapshot of one of the pages on the guide to solidify the solution below that I have
six key points that show exactly how the guide will solve their problems and yes these are all
true and genuine I wholeheartedly believe my products and the feedback reflects that
the six key points here clearly illustrate how the guide was solve the user's problems
so you can see how when logging onto a home page a use of the website has moved through the first
three steps in the user path method the next and final step is to direct traffic to the conversion
location with ctas or call to actions here I have a buy now button directly below and yes I could
use a different bright color to make it stand out more and I might change this in the future
but you want to clearly present a CTA so the user notices them with ease this technique Works across
the board on any kind of home page if it's trying to get clicks and conversions but of course it
will look slightly different on each website it depends on what the goal is of the website what
they're selling if anything at all and what the main user base is made up of your portfolios you
should try and work into the home page a short hint at the kind of problems your Graphic Design
Services aim to solve and also a hint at the kind of solutions that you offer the actual
project Pages themselves will go deeper into this and at the end of each project try and have a CTA
that takes a user to a contact page where they can contact you for work the user path for a portfolio
is slightly different to my logo guide landing page but the same method kind of prevails yeah I
know that's a lot to digest today and if you want to actually book Midas website you can look back
at this in the future when you're revamping your portfolio website or making a new one but yeah
getting these clicks and conversions is all well and good but if you can convince your client that
your designs are effective and decent then you're not going to get very far so click the video on
screen to learn more about just that and until next time guys design your future today peace
thank you