Best Personal Portfolio Website Examples

Whether you are a freelancer looking for clients, a full-time job seeker, or a creator looking to showcase your work, a personal portfolio website is required to help get your name out in the world. Ultimately, portfolios are a way to showcase your talents through your work. In this article, I will discuss some key information about portfolio websites, uncover best practices as you create yours, and showcase some of our favorite examples from across the internet. 

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Why you might need a personal portfolio website

Broadly speaking, a personal portfolio website is a collection of visual work that is presented to a potential client. They often enhance or replace entirely things like resumes or CVs. The goal of a portfolio website is to quickly establish the particularities of the way that you work, be it a design philosophy, a method of communication, or a kind of creativity in your approach to things. In this way, the most important element of any portfolio website is uncovering a compelling way to communicate who you are to a visitor, ensuring that they can quickly learn enough about you to believe that you are qualified to do whatever you are offering them. 

There are many industries for which a portfolio website is not only beneficial but expected. Web developers, for example, often need portfolio websites to showcase previous designs they have created (in terms of style and functionality). Freelance content creators, particularly photographers or videographers, need portfolio websites to show potential clients the quality of work they’d be creating. Performers, actors, or musicians might need portfolio websites to showcase their talents to scouts. The common thread in all of these cases is that they are highly visual and skill-based, and so they require some way to present an individually distinguishable product.

What should be in a personal portfolio website? 

The anatomy of a good personal portfolio website is defined by its deliberate departure from the expected. It’s not enough to simply display a grid of past works. To truly stand out, a portfolio must be a curated experience that showcases your unique approach and breaks free from predictable templates. This means structuring your content not just as a gallery of finished products, but as something reflective of the unique approach you have to client challenges. To achieve this pattern-breaking and narrative-driven approach, consider including:

• In-depth Project Case Studies: Go beyond surface-level descriptions, offering detailed accounts of challenges, solutions, and outcomes.
• Process Insights: Show the 'how' behind the 'what' by documenting your workflow, methodologies, and creative journey.
• Personal Passion Projects: Demonstrate initiative, creativity, and unique interests beyond client briefs, showing how you went above and beyond. 
• Client/Collaborator Testimonials: Build trust and credibility with authentic social proof of your skills and professionalism.
• Authentic "About Me" Narrative: Let your personality shine and connect with visitors on a human level by sharing your story and values.

Don’t be afraid to be a little weird or quirky. More often than not, a visitor to your site would prefer to see something interesting or entertaining instead of something that is purely informational. Finding that balance between personality and function is the ultimate goal (and maybe the hardest part of the whole process). 

10 Best Personal Portfolio Website Examples 

Here are some of our favorite portfolio website examples, ranging from simple CV websites to highly advanced sites that make use of 3D rendering and complex animations. 

Bruno Simon (bruno-simon.com)

Why It’s Great

Sometimes, the best use of a portfolio website is to communicate to an audience something extraordinary about the kinds of services you offer. This example from Bruno Simon does just that. It provides an experience that is so unique (and which showcases such an incredible grasp of the technologies he’s offering to provide) that it is almost inconceivable that anyone who visits will not, at some level, be intrigued. The lesson in this template is that weird and unique can often be a winning strategy. Try to break the pattern of other portfolio sites in favor of something different. 

How To Build It Yourself

While making something that is exactly like this example will be challenging, the core technology used Three.js, a JavaScript 3D library that is becoming increasingly popular on many kinds of websites. If you’re curious about Webflow templates that integrate this technology, check out this page.