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 addresses and tons of passwords to remember or
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boost your workflow and your security with no pass 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