101 Portfolio Tips

1. Mindset

1. Your portfolio is never finished.

2. Different employers have different portfolio preferences.

3. Ask for specific feedback.

4. It’s not just a personal website.

2. Audience

5. Define your target audience.

6. Show how much effort went into the work.

7. No one will read every single word.

8. Summarize for them.

9. Avoid slow animations and too many transitions.

10. Backgrounds should never distract.

11. Recruiters won’t spend more than 15 minutes on your site.

3. Platform

12. Behance and Dribbble are useful, but not enough.

13. Focus on content first.

14. Make it easy to read, easy to update, and fast to load.

15. Writing matters as much as images.

16. Don’t force people to download files.

17. Name your portfolio PDF properly.

18. Use Google Drive with organized folders.

19. Consider Notion, Framer, Typedream, Webflow.

4. Quality

20. Portfolio quality = first impression.

21. That impression sets the tone.

22. Add subtle extra delight.

23. Never use Comic Sans.

24. Keep it visually appealing.

25. Use a scannable format.

26. Optimize container width.

5. Writing

27. Simplicity is thoughtful reduction.

28. Avoid large text blocks.

29. Make key points stand out.

30. Use a storytelling framework.

31. Focus on copywriting.

32. Show personality through tone.

33. Avoid overly formal, robotic, academic style.

34. Balance casual yet professional.

6. Credibility

35. Typos kill credibility.

36. Add testimonials.

37. Make your digital footprint easy to find.

38. Don’t claim work that isn’t yours.

39. Show leadership qualities.

40. Avoid giving off “junior vibes.”

41. Be honest.

7. Homepage

42. Don’t start with your homepage.

43. Make it memorable.

44. Show logos (clients, companies, projects).

45. Don’t include every single project.

46. Forget the “perfect number of projects” myth.

47. Make thumbnails & titles catchy and clickable.

48. Hyper-target your future employer.

49. Don’t organize by most recent.

50. Lead with your best work.

51. Show projects you want more of.

52. Use tags to highlight skill breadth.

53. Remove redundant skill tags.

8. Call to Action

54. Don’t send readers away.

55. Add a clear CTA.

56. Always link your email.

57. Stick to one primary CTA.

58. Make it easy to contact you.

9. About Page

59. Make your About page personal.

60. Avoid buzzwords.

61. Don’t overload with personal links.

62. State clearly what you want.

10. Images

63. Show complexity simply.

64. Don’t force users to zoom.

65. Optimize loading speed.

66. Don’t drop a Figma file with no context.

67. Use GIFs.

68. Find creative ways to showcase work.

69. Don’t present final UI as “the process.”

11. Case Studies

70. Case studies don’t have to be only products.

71. Structure them well.

72. Don’t make the reader scroll endlessly.

73. Place impact and metrics at the top.

74. Avoid heavy marketing language.

75. Case studies should complement your portfolio presentation.

76. But they’re not the portfolio itself.

77. Show your process.

78. Don’t detail every single step.

79. Highlight only the key parts.

80. Be selective.

81. Avoid cookie-cutter case studies.

82. Write it as a hero’s journey.

83. Don’t educate the hiring manager on UX basics.

84. Don’t dump every UX artifact.

85. Break content into digestible chunks.

86. Connect your solution to the problem.

87. Explain how you got to the solution.

88. Don’t waste the reader’s time.

89. State your assumptions.

90. Acknowledge constraints.

91. Add possible next steps.

12. Other

92. Keep everything aligned.

93. Get inspiration from great landing pages.

94. But don’t copy them poorly.

95. Don’t password-protect your portfolio.

96. Ask for permission when needed.

97. Blur or mask sensitive info.

98. NDAs matter less than you think.

99. A custom domain is nice-to-have.

100. Define your success metrics.

101. Remember: your portfolio will never be “perfect.”