50 Fresh Portfolio Websites for Your Inspiration
Creating personal portfolio website is probably the most challenging task for designers as it should reveal the talent and some special unique style of its author. Beautiful portfolio is like a good setting – it makes design works sparkle and grabs visitors’ attention immediately.
Look though this collection of stylish and exquisite portfolio designs to draw some inspiration for your own projects. Either through minimalist neat layout or via rich, color expressive design elements, each of these portfolios delivers an exceptional, truly inspiring visual experience to visitors. So this design showcase is worth seeing whether you are in a creative search or just looking for some entertainment.
You might also like the previous article:
Creative and Exquisite Portfolio Designs
Alexarts
Graphic designer Alexey Abramov featured his portfolio with a tilt-shift photo background and beautiful typo. As a result, you see a neat and original design.
Soyuzno
This portfolio belongs to Tokyo-based designer Soyuzno, so no wonder that Japanese laconism is the foreground theme of the design. Elegant solution, isn’t it?
thetoke
Flexible 3D gallery and stylish typography give some unique flavor to this site. You can choose the way of showcase display.
Hello Monday
Hello Monday’s portfolio featured with lovely chocolate color scheme and draggable navigation provides a memorable user interface.
magneticNorth
magneticNorth’s portfolio brings an extraordinary interactive interface to the visitors. Drawing shapes on the page discovers company’s projects.
Weberica
Scattered brushes, rich colors, subtle strokes of the paint brush – welcome to artist’s studio! This design is very attractive and tasty.
Beakable
Iain Hamilton’s portfolio is interesting and unconventional. Maybe funny characters in the header make up the core feature that singles out this design.
Ft
Background made in imitation of ebony, old paper effect in frames and ascetic typography make the portfolio of Alexey Chernishov look elegant and impressive.
Alastaire Allday
The main theme which runs all through Alastaire Allday’s portfolio is… Alastaire Allday. It makes sense as pure and sincere presentation arouses trust.
Daniel Gutierrez
Beautiful portfolio design with captivating color scheme, simple but neat grid-based gallery and charming paper kitten in the header.
Zupadupa
Romanian web agency Zupadupa offers visitors to take white or green pill to navigate the website. Doesn’t it remind you anything? No matter whether designers are quoting Matrix trilogy or not, this choose-a-pill-thing is something quite creative and interactive.
Charlie Gentle
Charlie Gentle implements perfect jQuery style in his portfolio. Nice sketch elements, clean typo and illuminated centered content accentuate the original nature of the design.
Go On Web
The following portfolio is created using HTML 5. Cloth imitating background that changes its color while you scroll is superb.
John Likens
Big typo, big showcase grid, big success.
IE Studio
IE Studio created their portfolio with unusual stylish approach. Interesting collage in the center of the home page is a highlight of company’s identity.
Inside Piet
With this portfolio Belgian Flash developer Piet Dewinjgaert gives you an access to his own brain! it’s difficult to describe what is going on there, so you’d better visit and see it!
Greydient
Another example of beautiful personal portfolio with draggable navigation and appealing interface.
M1 Design
Incredible Flash portfolio of German design studio M1 Design provides a unique interactive project showcase.
Kevin Lucius
This original portfolio is a good example of one-page website design. It brings a really personal look and feel.
Rikcat Industries
Rik Catlow’s portfolio is done in a simple minimalist manner. Neat layout and stylish black-and-white color scheme drive visitor’s attention exactly to designer’s works.
Loukotka Design
Here vintage style of portfolio menu and website background is combined with trendy typography and up-to-date image transparency. Quite successful design mix.
Dreamer Lines
Very colorful and expressive portfolio of Janis Godins provides a really unique and rich user interface. It’s just brimming over with life, truly inspiring design.
Midtone Design
Due to stylish typography, advanced carousel effect applied to project showcase and unconventional approach to “About” section, Jonatan Castro’s portfolio has an ultra-modern high-tech look.
Resn
The portfolio website of Resn Interactive Agency is like a magic box – it contains an inconceivable amount of various design techniques. Rich motion graphics, big typography, controllable 3D elements – this portfolio is very hard to forget.
Rich McNabb
Rich McNabb’s portfolio is shown as a business card which breaks up into website menu categories when you click on it.
Scratch 22
Zarne Dravitzki provides a nifty carousel user interface which decreases the need to scroll and allows design layout to stay compact. Old-school grunge frame is a tasty feature.
My Favorite Thing
Light and clean layout meets simple grid-based work showcase. However, a thumbnail gallery available on each single project page would be an advantage.
Siminki
Illustrations and crazy typography hints at the designer’s liking for experiments and most daring ideas fulfilling. Or maybe it’s just a little trick to keep visitors’ longer stay? In any case, this portfolio is worth viewing.
Teo Skaffa
One can’t help smiling while viewing this portfolio. This incredible piece of pixel art will allow you to make an exciting journey through time.
Elliott Kember
Another pleasant memories evoking website. You can play old-time “Snake” game while browsing Elliott Kember’s portfolio. But be careful – don’t forget the initial purpose of your visit!
Steve Mullen
Steve Mullen uses common “grid with lightbox” design technique for his portfolio. However neat frames, attention to details, beautiful typography and eye-catching recent work showcase, make this portfolio design exquisite indeed.
Serial Cut
These guys don’t waste valuable website space and use each page as a ground for project presentation. Project list is available at the right side of the page. Wonderful example of design creativity.
Sebastian Nitu
Perfection in simplicity. The portfolio of Sebastian Nitu proves this statement one more time. This website uses HTML 5 as well.
Form Troopers
Outstanding and stylish portfolio featured with flashing photo backgrounds and usable project showcasing technique.
Snopp Media
Truly creative and lively portfolio design which introduces Snopp Media in a sincere and outgoing manner.
Soft Whiteroom
Another beautiful minimalist portfolio. Grid-based project gallery shows colorless thumbnails, hovering over them will slightly revive images by filling them with color.
Chuck U
The portfolio of Chuck U delivers graphic design of inimitable beauty. This is what can be called a web design delicacy.
Fabrik Agency
Unique and usable interface, which shows portfolio as a stapled stack of cards, elegant typography and backgrounds provide a quite pleasant navigation experience.
Edelwwweiss
A bit muted colors give this portfolio a soft and friendly look. While recent works are showcased using a carousel effect, the main portfolio is displayed in light box grid.
Web Talents
Space related theme and nifty navigation technique make this portfolio worthy of being included to the collection of most beautiful and creative portfolio designs.
Sandrine Abraham
Clean and somewhat cartoon looking background together with simple and usable project showcasing make up a lovely portfolio design which brings a positive feel to visitors.
Jack Herbert
Great typography based personal portfolio. Jack Herbert simply laid his projects on the shelves (in literal sense only).
Josh Sender
This portfolio brings a fresh and young look and feel. Maybe that’s because Josh Sender is just 17 years old.
Sofa Surfer
A captivating personal portfolio with excellent structure. Again, simplicity and usability rule.
Area 17
Area 17 is an obvious trend-maker in the world of design. Perhaps the style of their portfolio can give you some tips and hints for creating an outstanding portfolio of your own.
Thought & Theory
It’s amazing how some absolutely simple and unpretentious designs can be so much attractive. Thought & Theory Portfolio is definitely among them.
Joe Nyaggah
Joe Nyaggah combines unobtrusive color scheme along with easy and usable navigation. Orange owl grabs attention straight away. This portfolio is clean, simple and featured with some spicy details – great design!
Jounce
Portfolio of M. Jackson Wilkinson has an appealing slightly gradiented background and quite simple but original header.
Also
This portfolio was created a while ago, but its unique creativity puts it beyond time limits. So it would be a mistake not to share such a design treasure with Smashing Magazine audience. Absolutely stunning portfolio. Bravo Also!
…and for dessert
Bio-Bak
A little bonus for everyone who enjoys laughing and likes a bit cuckoo design style which stands out of all rules. While browsing this portfolio, it becomes clear that Bio-Bak could appear nowhere but in Netherlands.
chaitrax
July 30th, 2009 2:05 amFirst to Comment…. Great List !!!!!
Vanilla Man
July 30th, 2009 2:06 amWow! Really inspirational showcase! Thank you much!
Phoenixheart
July 30th, 2009 2:07 amTruly amazing!
Ömer UZUN
July 30th, 2009 2:07 amGreat list.
Glenn
July 30th, 2009 2:09 amSome pretty cool designs!
The biobak url is wrong.. It links to also-online :)
Dittrich
July 30th, 2009 2:10 amFantastic! Great list.
eleonor
July 30th, 2009 2:11 amgreat and inspiring showcase!
Loukotka makes me think of the design used in envelop
Bim
July 30th, 2009 2:11 amgreat collection! esp like Edelwwweiss.
deeworks
July 30th, 2009 2:12 amResn-Interactive is amazing. i love it
lime
July 30th, 2009 2:12 amvery inspiring!
Phil Tebbit
July 30th, 2009 2:15 amThere are some really good portfolio sites featured over at siteInspire too:
http://siteinspire.net/showcase/category/type/portfolio
Robin Parker
July 30th, 2009 2:19 amNice list – but one thing I’m getting fed up of seeing on portfolio sites is, “Hello, my name is … and I …” in really big type. It was a nice idea the first time I saw it, but come on, time to move on!
Timo
July 30th, 2009 2:28 amsome really great ideas and design!
J.C Harmon
July 30th, 2009 2:43 amreally great list, thats a million!
I found a site on cssmania.com that i believe should be on the list: http://sean-nieuwoudt.com
J.c
James Kirkup
July 30th, 2009 2:45 amIt’s all about the cargo collective portfolio’s – simple, elegant, easy to use/edit/update..
http://cargocollective.com/jameskirkup
Andy Shaw
July 30th, 2009 2:46 amHey you missed my new portfolio ;) http://andyshaw.me
Can Berkol
July 30th, 2009 3:03 amnice collection.
Timbronze
July 30th, 2009 3:03 amSome quality work here, well done to each of the respective site owners, very nice indeed.
Cheers for the Look See SM.
Muchos Gracias.
Tim
Maxime
July 30th, 2009 3:04 amCheck my website: http://www.smokingcow.com
SavJag
July 30th, 2009 3:06 amDoes a portfolio list like this exist for corporate websites? This would be extremely useful.
Tara
July 30th, 2009 3:10 amWould like to see less flash sites, but nice list.
karia
November 23rd, 2009 2:41 amCan we meet?
devpkj
July 30th, 2009 3:29 amamazing…!
Its really SAMSHING!!!!!
great work.
kibal4iw
July 30th, 2009 3:32 amBeautiful portfolio
Jônatan Fróes
July 30th, 2009 3:49 ammft is the best!
Spoof
July 30th, 2009 3:51 amGreat list. A lot of inspiration. Thanks
8207h32
July 30th, 2009 4:01 amhuge list inspiration!
Alex
July 30th, 2009 4:12 amHmmh, a little disappointed here.
It looks very much like the ones you did post during last year, so nothing very new…
Daphne Earley
July 30th, 2009 4:34 amYou have to be kidding me…. While some of these designs are interesting and push the envelope, many of them are closely if not completely unusuable. At the very least they leave the user thinking how do I see the site, what is this, and how much longer til this loads. Not the best list for clean elegant USUABLE design.
JC
July 30th, 2009 4:55 amAnother list of second-rate crap from one of the worst design related sites ever made. There is also some of the worst copy I’ve seen in a while.
Time to delete SmashingMagazine from my bookmarks.
David Platt
July 30th, 2009 5:09 amSome of these are good but most of these look like wordpress themes that have been modified just a little bit.
It seems web design has reached a weird phase. If you do a Flash site, your site is original and interesting but you are not taking advantage of social networking.
If you do a WordPress site, the usability is there but the site can look very cookie cutter.
What is a web designer supposed to do?
Tjda
July 30th, 2009 5:10 amamazing
The_Reveller
July 30th, 2009 5:15 am@Daphne Earley I hate to be negative but I agree many of them are quite difficult to use, though the post isn’t about usable portfolios but beautiful portfolios. My own site is very usable but it is not beautiful like many of these.
Joss
July 30th, 2009 5:19 amI think the people above me are being drama queens, this post offers some great examples of out of the ordinary sites.
@JC
If you are seriously that bothered by what goes on here then I’m puzzled what keeps you coming back, I think you have some pretty over exaggerated remarks, Smashing Magazine offers the design community a great deal, as proven by their top 10 Technorati rating.
bs.kishore
July 30th, 2009 5:55 amanother great post !
Mike
July 30th, 2009 6:02 am..
Some of the comments on here are from meat heads. Seriously.
Good Web design is finally starting to become standard on the web instead of ugly and boring. Craigs list and digg are the exception.
.
.
.
AnonyMouse
July 30th, 2009 6:16 amLooks like John Likens was heavily inspired by Delete London (http://www.deletelondon.com) just like Jane Fonda (http://www.janefonda.com/) was!
Shame on him, looks like he’s getting credit owed to someone else! :(
nim23
July 30th, 2009 6:16 amSome beautifully designed sites there, but the more impressive the less intuitive. I find some of them really difficult to get around.
Surely if you want to show off your work, then show it off simply, the work should shine for itself.
However, if you are a web designer then I can understand some of the interactivity.
Nick
Edward Palomo
July 30th, 2009 6:34 amFresh indeed!
HateThieves
July 30th, 2009 6:38 amWell done smashing magazine, featuring John Likens ripped website of Delete London. Muppets.
Marcel
July 30th, 2009 6:45 amPortfolio roundups are always inspiring. Thanks :)
BongoBox
July 30th, 2009 6:53 amMy envy is dancing with my awe.
So freakin’ awesome!
(And very interesting that many are non-U.S. people…)
Min Thu
July 30th, 2009 7:24 amThanks for the list. It is always inspiring to see other people’s work. You may also check more portfolio sites here.
samoth
July 30th, 2009 8:32 amBio-Bak is certainly one of my favorite ;)
antofa
July 30th, 2009 8:33 am@SM: could you please purge all these irritating “First!” comments again?
essenmitsosse
July 30th, 2009 8:37 amAm I the only one who thinks that a portfolio website should only be the frame for the content. And that it is the content whou should be amazing. I really don’t understand why the website itself has to overpower the content? Why is everybody mixing up the message with the messenger?
For webdesigners I know that they probably want to show what they can do. But what are they showing me what they can do? Make unusable sites full of eyecandy?
I don’t want to say, websites should be ugly, but they shouldn’t be made “look good” for the price of beeing pain in the ass un-fucking-usable. That’s not what good design is.
Jonatan Castro
July 30th, 2009 8:47 amThanks a lot for the feature guys.
Cheers, Jonatan.
Alastaire Allday
July 30th, 2009 8:50 amThanks for featuring my site. I just got a call from a client who said he’d seen my mug up here so I thought I’d stop in to see where my grinning face was being displayed…
My site was designed by a friend at http://youlove.us — I think you’ve featured their work before. I wanted a minimalist site that reflected my preferred writing style — clean and simple… and easy for a typewriter monkey like me to update.
I think when you’re a one man band making people remember your name and your face (especially when it’s as hard to spell as mine is!) is vital. I’ve blogged about a similar marketing campaign from the King of Shaves on my site.
I like the Area 17 and Rikkat Industries websites you’ve listed, too — I really think the high contrast black and white works well with high impact copy.
Thanks again for the feature!
Daniel Gutiérrez
July 30th, 2009 9:05 amThanxs for featuring!
Chris Robinson
July 30th, 2009 9:09 amNice roundup
matt
July 30th, 2009 9:25 amGive me a friggen’ break. You’re giving some guy shit for creating his site layout somewhat similar to a “popular” (I don’t know, are they?) design studio. OH NOES alert the internet police! He hardly “ripped” off their site. I don’t think “Delete London” is the first company ever to adopt a B&W colour scheme and have a header in large bold type. Oh yeah, and the diagonal lines splitting up the nav buttons…OHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO!
Relax.
Jourdan
July 30th, 2009 10:25 amGreat article! I really like the collection.
Stephen
July 30th, 2009 10:45 amI really appreciate this collection. I’ve been brainstorming my portfolio design this week, and it’s been giving me brain cramps. This has given me some great ideas on how to narrow my focus. Thanks!
Toby powell
July 30th, 2009 11:02 amsome very inspiring stuff
Alexander Bickov
July 30th, 2009 11:05 amI like Web talents layout, very nice illustrations. Moinid of the day :)
Kelsey
July 30th, 2009 11:15 amI really like these. Some great inspiration as I continue to learn more about web design.
Josh Tummel
July 30th, 2009 12:03 pmIt might just be me, but all those portfolio sites with giant text saying “Hello, I’m (name). I’m a graphic designer” really irritate me.
Very nice collection here though.
Rob Loukotka
July 30th, 2009 12:25 pmAwesome!
Thanks for including my portfolio in this list! ( Loukotka Design )
This is my 2nd project to get featured on Smashing, it’s always great to read everyone’s comments. Really good stuff on here. I agree, some sites have bizarre navigation, but I think this list is about pushing design, and doing something different. All really cool, thanks for putting me on there, Smashing overlords.
psaico
July 30th, 2009 1:04 pmzupadupa made one of my projects (clujlife.com). good guys ;) congrats to them
maciek
July 30th, 2009 1:09 pmzupadupa in engilsh is souop-ass ;D
Rich McNabb
July 30th, 2009 1:29 pmThanks for the feature you have really made my day :)
joe
July 30th, 2009 3:01 pmAwesome possum! Thanks for featuring my sizzle.
Okibi
July 30th, 2009 3:43 pmNice list, thank you.
Glen
July 30th, 2009 5:52 pmTruely inspirational list, great for everyone
Abhilash
July 30th, 2009 10:05 pmcool designs!
E-thraki team
July 30th, 2009 10:55 pmOne more fresh website you might want to check out is http://www.e-thraki.gr
Fluid height drop down icons menu.
ardyonline
July 30th, 2009 11:37 pmawsome! thanks very inspiring!
Riccardo
July 31st, 2009 1:31 amSome nice designs in the list, I do feel a little inspired now…
Andrea Koll
July 31st, 2009 6:06 amI can suggest another one – http://graphicdesign.bg. I think it`s inspiring!
Louisa Nicholson
July 31st, 2009 7:14 amA commenter said, ‘Surely if you want to show off your work, then show it off simply, the work should shine for itself.’
Nicely said.
RedKoala
July 31st, 2009 7:42 amhey guys one of the links is broken
when you clikc on Webrica image you get 404
Liberation
July 31st, 2009 8:57 amRE: Greydient
Any designer that can pull off chicken feet on a home page is a genius! Love.
Daniel Pipitone
July 31st, 2009 10:05 amFantastic roundup! Great stuff here!
Sarah
July 31st, 2009 12:07 pmThank you for this article! “Fresh” is very appropriate– I’d gotten tired of seeing the same portfolio sites in showcase posts on blog after blog.
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com
August 1st, 2009 5:02 amSome of these sites featured are interesting from a graphic and design viewpoint, but for functionality???! No way.
I don’t want to spend time looking for where to click, to have to DRAW to find their projects.. WTF, seriously…
Hieu Vo
August 1st, 2009 7:37 amNice list ;)
Iain Hamilton
August 1st, 2009 8:22 amThanks for the mention, really made my day :)
Didier LAHELY
August 1st, 2009 9:39 amI feel exactly like essenmitsosse; I’m really lost and really don’t know what to do, as a creative director, mostly in print design area. I always thought that ONLY the work was important, not as much the “box”. I would think if you are a WEBdesigner, then you should show your hability and technics methods on your website, BY your website. But I think if you are a designer for identity, print etc, then your website should be clean, minimal design and usuable of course : it’s to show your work. I don’t know how to build a website so mine are WordPress and I’m not very happy when someone say “oh you have a beautiful website”; generally my answer would be “It’s not mine, it’s just a blog template, did you see my work INSIDE?”
My gosh, it become so complicated. We need from SmashingMag some ADVICE!! And not only a vague list of websites that are mostly the same. ADVISE us. What should we do, if you are a webdesigner, a printdesigner, etc? What if our website is for clients, HR, or to show our portfolio or anyone else? Should it be the same look? Same function?
Anyway, it’s not easy to make a useful website like SmashingMag for everyone! But you try your best and you must be thanked here…
Cheers : )
Dzinepress
August 2nd, 2009 12:52 amreally like listed portfolio websites. thanks
simone
August 2nd, 2009 2:18 amReally really inspiring list.
Thanks
Check out also mine!
confused
August 2nd, 2009 3:25 amWhat’s up with all these “Valid CSS” and “Valid XHTML” mini banners/links on many of these sites? I thought we got rid of such gimmicky turds of self-satisfaction back in ’97.. Clearly, I was wrong. Why not put up a “Written in Notepad” or an “Internet Explorer sucks” button/banner/whatever-you-wanna-call-it while you’re at it?
PS.. “Submit Comment” button only seems to work in IE for me at the moment. Now THAT is embarrassing :P
ronihind
August 2nd, 2009 4:51 amI need a tissue to wipe the drool off my keyboard. I love the selection – I feel so inspired to enter into my pahse 3 of my site ronihind.com getting close now. Thanks again SM!
Alex Abramov
August 2nd, 2009 10:16 amThanks for featuring me, guys!
aR
August 3rd, 2009 3:17 amWhat a collection!!
aR
Bangla Hacks
Techbray
August 3rd, 2009 8:58 amAwesome creations
Chris
August 3rd, 2009 6:10 pmJoshsender.com broken in Safari?
might just be my academy’s browser.
Really wanted to check it out :{
Neeraj Narkhede
August 4th, 2009 3:22 amGreat portofolio … very useful .. thankx a lot
Brian Lischer
August 4th, 2009 9:17 amTalk about an inspiring collection of portfolios! My favs are the Alastaire Allday, John Likens and Area 17 portfolios. Allday’s portfolio is beautifully simple, well organized and moves people to take action – an excellent example of what a personal portfolio should accomplish. Thanks for compiling this list, Julia.
imam-san
August 4th, 2009 10:36 pmnice portfolio soyuzno ;)
Tim Piele
August 5th, 2009 12:04 amThis is one of my favorite posts here on SM. I’ve been fussing over my own portfolio for two months, it’s such a daunting task to build what must be some of your best work. Maybe one day mine will grace this page!
Quakeulf >:3~
August 7th, 2009 12:25 pmLol, “snopp” is an euphemism for “penis” in Norwegian/Swedish. 83~
ohpreis
August 7th, 2009 4:51 pmTara you speak for me. Less flash would be great.
twittergrid.me
August 8th, 2009 3:00 amVery nice list! see a lot of hours hard work in some of these!
Steve Smith
August 10th, 2009 12:39 amNice list. I am also a big fan of this sexy one page portfolio:
http://www.designattik.co.uk
Marek
August 18th, 2009 4:36 amCool list, I am very fond of this site.. quick and easy to access. One of those one page ones, but with a cool interface. Webcentric
weberica
August 20th, 2009 12:42 pmThanks for featuring me, it’s a pity that my link is broken ( http://www.weberica.net/web-design-en.html )
Josh Sender
September 13th, 2009 10:28 amHey Chris, I’ve tested my site in Safari on vista and it works just as it should.. I’m sorry if it didn’t work for you.. Thank you very much though! :)
Sascha
September 21st, 2009 11:31 pmA great example of the website based on grid. http://brilliancy.eu
Lang
October 14th, 2009 12:52 pmSorry. Depend not on fortune, but on conduct. Help me! Need information about: About stock investing. I found only this – stock Investing for beginners. Orton quite showcases himself flew with strategies. You will double the shares you have to explain information. Thank :confused: Lang from Iran.
Pascal
October 18th, 2009 4:47 amNo flash , No IE , Just CSS3 and js (our’s dream)
Webmistress Anne
November 4th, 2009 4:12 pmLove the Alastaire Allday design, with it’s “straight to the point, no messing around, this-is-what-I’m-selling-you” style. Makes for a very clean and easy user experience. I also love that crazy magneticNorth ‘nothing there’ design – I just don’t quite know why!