You can communicate a great deal to your viewer about yourself in the choices you make for your print portfolio.įrench graphic designer Sarah Bourdin created hand crafted, stripped down portfolio using white as the overall color. The accuracy and attention to detail in the portfolio design is something that is mirrored in his portfolio work. The whole piece is elegant and each element is considered for its effect to the whole. All the sections are held in a manila box and are separately defined by different manila hues. It’s cleverly split into sections that describe his experience and interests, his print work, and his branding design. This highly personal portfolio by Carlos Robledo is a triumph of subtle design. What a fantastic talking point in interviews and meetings – to tell the viewer that this was something you designed and bound yourself! More importantly, it represents his creativity, resourcefulness, and skill as a designer. The results are amazing and his portfolio looks like it was expensively bound. After printing out a series of booklets that displayed his work, he gathered them together and bound them himself. Mario Gutierrez bound his work himself and created an actual book to present. This is another example of a do-it-yourself portfolio. On a further note, if you work primarily in print, then it’s important that you utilize this medium to show what you can do. It’s amazing what one could achieve through a simple booklet that has been custom-printed with your own artwork and design.

The use of color and white space shows the designer’s knowledge on design and print. The short notes he gave for each item provide a much needed context that a potential client needs. His typography and composition is sublime. There’s nothing complicated about Turkish designer, Emre Özbek’s print portfolio but there’s something absolutely brilliant about the execution of this booklet he created to display his stunning design work.

This portfolio is a perfect reflection of the creativity and conceptual thinking of the designer who made it. Allowed for a quick overview and a rich presentation in one book,” says Nathan on his Behance page. “Each ‘page’ was a window envelope that could display a project, and show more elements of that project. You wouldn’t know it, but the spine is bound with duct tape! The whole thing is ingenious and looks like a super expensive custom-bound item. Each page is a project envelope that contains printed examples of his work that the viewer can pull out and share. US designer Nathan Hinz went uber-crafty on his print portfolio to create something of standout quality. These print portfolios show work, design commitment, and serious creativity. The following graphic design portfolios and work samples are all excellent examples of what can be achieved when you put the effort into doing something imaginative and “cool” with your portfolio presentation. The best way of doing this is by presenting the unexpected and doing something different. In a highly competitive industry, you have to distance yourself from the rest of the field in any way you can. I would argue that if you are only using digital platforms to present your work samples, you are selling yourself and your work short. For many designers, presenting work is as easy as slinging a tablet in a bag!īut is the smart digital device becoming the modern equivalent of the black “faux leather” portfolio case? Are people already getting bored of seeing this presentation format? Nowadays, the black portfolio sample case has largely been replaced by a smart digital alternative. In a world of uniformity, graphic design portfolios have to stand out to impress and these black portfolios just didn’t cut it anymore.

They became so common and so run-of-the-mill that creatives just stopped using them. Do you remember the days of those black “faux leather” ring-binder portfolio cases with the shiny plastic sleeves? The slightly depressing look of a standard “faux leather” ring-binder case!

Graphic design portfolio layouts