From event poster designers to children’s novel illustrators, these graphic design portfolios set the bar high.
For graphic designers, a strong online portfolio is a must for showcasing skills and attracting potential clients. A well-designed portfolio that showcases your best work can make all the difference in standing out in a competitive industry.
From minimalist and sleek, to bold and playful, there are countless ways to design a standout graphic design portfolio. To get inspired and stay up-to-date on the latest design trends, check out these examples of graphic design portfolios created by talented designers from around the world. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your portfolio to the next level, these examples are sure to inspire and impress.
1. Julie Rocheleau
Julie Rocheleau is a French-Canadian illustrator and cartoonist who tends to combine aspects of the darker side of humans and nature with the vivacious. Rocheleau is best known for the Eisner-nominated graphic novel About Betty’s Boob, which is an uplifting wordless graphic novel about one woman’s journey with breast cancer and body image.
Rocheleau’s graphic design portfolio strikes a balance between professional and personal work while showcasing a broad range of illustrated work that evokes mid-century advertising aesthetics with a hint of Fallout retro-punk.
Format theme: Peak
2. Klaasz Breukel and Floor van Lierop
Klaasz Breukel and Floor van Lierop are the New Zealand-based, Dutch creative duo behind the next graphic design portfolio. Their specialties include book design, branding, and projection.
Their portfolio website is a great example of a graphic design portfolio with a plethora of well-organized design and work experience. Their bio is simple and creative, and their portfolios use a grid layout, showcasing a range of branded marketing merchandise including product labels, print materials, and product packaging.
Format theme: Amazon
3. David Alderman
David Alderman is a Boston-born, San Diego-based graphic designer. His portfolio showcases the ways he brings out the local color of beloved San Diego brands like Aquatic Brewing, Revolution Roasters, and Satchmo’s Throat Coat through brand building.
Alderman’s page is a great example of how using subtle animation can add a sense of play to an otherwise static graphic design portfolio.
Format theme: Peak
4. Steve Attardo
Steve Attardo is a New York-based art director, designer, photographer, and educator. In his current position, Attardo is the Creative Director for W.W.Norton and Company’s trade book division, where he designs and art directs book covers for best-sellers and up-and-coming authors alike.
Attaro’s graphic design portfolio is visually driven, presenting a catalog of book covers across genres with each one displayed with a color block tile acting as a spotlight to help it shine.
Format theme: Ora
5. Stu Chapman
Stu Chapman is an award-winning designer and visual storyteller who speaks fluently across a wide range of mediums. His specializations include graphic design, creative branding, project curation, photography, and video. Putting community and purpose at the forefront of his work, Chapman is highly passionate about connecting with like-minded humans.
Chapman’s seasoned graphic designer portfolio makes a large body of work digestible using a category menu on the left-hand side.
Format theme: Array
6. Jason Wood
Jason Wood is an Australian-based creative with a focus on graphic design and art direction. Wood specializes in brand identity, creative direction & development, print and packaging, but his portfolio speaks first and foremost to his current role as design director at Eskimo Recordings.
The square tile format and bold background are a perfect choice for showcasing vinyl and CD album covers on Wood’s graphic design portfolio which has an air of 90s minimalist flair to it.
Format theme: Slate
7. Kaylene Big Knife
Kaylene J. Big Knife is from the Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy Indian Reservation, located in Montana. She is a graphic designer and a digital illustrator with a love for comics, anime, manga, museums, video games, fiction, and Cree language revitalization.
Big Knife specializes in poster design and is passionate about Cree language documentation, which makes a horizontal scroll profile the perfect choice. Big Knife’s portfolio includes a Store feature with a list of holographic prints for purchase.
Format theme: Gloss
8. Sid Sharp
Sid Sharp is an illustrator and comic artist based in Toronto, Canada. Sharp describes their drawings as irreverent and “a little spooky.” Crossing into another visual medium, they have recently published the Junior Library Guild-recognized children’s graphic novel called The Wolf Suit.
Sharp’s graphic design portfolio is largely wordless, allowing the work to speak for itself.
Format theme: Peak
9. Basak Kilicbeyli
Basak Kilicbeyli was born in Moscow, Russia, and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. She holds an MFA degree in Studio Art from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and lives and works in Philadelphia. Her creative experience spans logo design, branding, page layout, illustrations, screen printing, textiles and 2D animation.
Kilicbeyli’s portfolio does a great job of organizing a broad body of work with a fully customized slideshow within categories like illustration, textile, and GIF. Her portfolio also features a contact page to capture leads.
Format theme: Horizon Left
Tips for building a memorable graphic design portfolio
Looking at these graphic design portfolios, one thing is clear: like two grains of sand, no two graphic designers are the same, coming from varied specializations and mediums of choice. In a competitive and diverse industry like graphic design, the best graphic design portfolio is one that stands out.
Here are some tips for making your own graphic design portfolio a cut above the rest:
- Tell a cohesive story. Try to strike a balance between showing a variety of work and telling a clear visual story about the type of graphic design you do. Above all, the work you’ve done and want to do more of should be the focal point of your portfolio.
- Own your creative style. Your portfolio should be an extension of your creativity, helping visitors get a taste of your artistic vision in the world. Take some time to think about your professional and personal ambitions when making creative choices for your portfolio, such as what types of templates best serve the work your portfolio will host.
- Stay current. Make a habit of removing work that is older than five years from your graphic design portfolio, and adding new pieces to appear relevant and active in your field. In addition, it is a good idea to rethink the visual story you are telling after adding notable partnerships or award-winning entries to your graphic design portfolio.
As the examples in this article show, graphic design portfolios don’t all stick to the same formula. It’s okay to start with a simple portfolio to see what works for your personal style and evolve it over time.
The good news is that creating your graphic design portfolio doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Format makes it easy to get started with a free 14-day trial and award-winning templates that look as stunning on desktop as on mobile. Try one today!
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