12 Designers’ Portfolios that will make you jealous
Shhh… I’m stealing their design ideas
I’m just stealing their design ideas don’t call the police, please xD
Why am I stealing their ideas?
It’s almost 8 months since I completed my UX design professional certificate course offered by Google on Coursera. Ever since then, I’m a bit struggling to make my not-so-perfect but good-looking portfolio website.
When I started building my portfolio, the first thing on my mind was, How can I make my portfolio website’s user experience better? I’m a minimalist enthusiast and I’d try to use that in my portfolio. Then I came across these designers' portfolios and I was amazed by looking at their design process & thinking and cool ideas. I have gone through their portfolio website thoroughly and you can also do the same.
Here I will share the portfolio websites of designers whom I admire a lot and also have learned from them and their portfolios.
My favorite portfolios(till now…)
Note: I’m in no position to even judge or rate their portfolios. These portfolios are randomly numbered without any preferences or predilections, I love their portfolio.
Along with sharing their portfolio website, I will share who they are & where you can find them, what they do, what I like in their portfolio, and which part of their design I’m going to steal.
1. Rachel How
About
Rachel is a self-taught Independent Product Designer & Entrepreneur. She’s on a mission to empower product designers to break free from the 9–5 grind and build thriving careers doing what they love. She creates inspiring, practical resources to help designers expand their skills, get better at UI/UX design, diversify their income streams and become more productive. Read more about her here.
A 9–5 job should be a choice, not a necessity. — Rachel How
What I like about her portfolio
Rachel’s website is very simple but admiring. Her work speaks a lot and I’m a big fan of her portfolio and also of her work. I have read all of her newsletters on her website. A few things that caught my eyes the most are,
- Gradient color of the navbar buttons.
- The gradient background on the hero page.
- The UX of her overall portfolio.
- The resources she has shared on her website
What I have/may steal from her portfolio
- The frosted background of the navbar.
- Gradient color of the navbar links.
- Sidebar navigation for each case study.
- I even liked the title font she used.
- The rounded corners on every image.
- FAQ Section is a great idea to put on the website.
Find her on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
2. Daniel Autry
About
Daniel is a designer, developer, and behavioral researcher hoping to further his career in the design space. Currently, he is a Senior Product Designer at The Washington Post. He lead design strategy for their suite of personalization products, and co-led product design for the 2020 Presidential Election. He also previously led the user experience for their suite of publishing tools.
What I like about his portfolio
The soberness in his portfolio and the use of minimalism are a few of the many things that I liked about his portfolio. His work is exceptional and I read through his articles in which he conducted some studies about students' mental health and behaviors. The other things are:
- His website’s loading animation.
- The contact info is at the end of every case study for collaboration.
- The use of tags for every project signifies a little bit of what the project is about.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The hero section is what I may steal as of now.
- I may use tags as used by Daniel for every project.
- The contact info is at the end of every project.
Find him here: Behance, LinkedIn, Medium, Dribbble, GitHub
3. Adrian Zumbrunnen
About
Adrian is a designer working on the Human Interface Team at Apple. His passion is to create emotional experiences at the intersection of art, design, and AI.
What I like about his portfolio
Ohh!! I couldn’t stop myself from playing with his website. The graphic he has used, the micro-interactions, and other things like:
- Ohh god, that cursor, it’s so amazing.
- The use of a dark theme with very cool-looking fonts.
- I noticed he has used a kind of grid that looks so amazing.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The grid lines may be.
- The way a message box opens when we click on the “say hi” button.
- The way he has displayed the color style guide.
Find him here: Twitter, LinkedIn
4. Jordan Gilroy
About
Gilroy is a British web designer based in Yorkshire, England. He creates forward-thinking and considered designs based on knowledge accumulated over 10+ years.
What I like about his portfolio
The use of a clock in the top right corner was something that I saw first time in his portfolio. A few other things are:
- The use of big fonts that almost cover the whole screen.
- The cursor looks amazing and it’s fascinating how it turns to white when hovers over black text.
- The horizontal scroll bar looks amazing without a doubt.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The idea of big fonts is what I liked the most on his website.
- Then the use of horizontal scroll is what I’ll use while making my portfolio.
You can email him on Email;
5. Daniel Vaszka
About
Daniel is a freelance digital designer dedicated to empowering forward-thinking companies to unlock their growth potential.
Expertise and individuality define me. I deliver exceptional results with passion and excellence. — Daniel Vaszka
What I like about his portfolio
The use of both gray and dark text on top of a white background is what caught my eye. Then:
- The parallax effect is quite eye-catching.
- Many of the buttons and tag tilts when we hover over them, which looks amazing.
- The delay transition effect when we scroll down.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The display of projects is what I may add to the list.
- The delay transitions.
- Tilt animation is one that I’ll add to my portfolio.
Find him on Awwwards, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter
6. Igor Sokoltsov
About
Igor is a product designer with over five years in the industry. He has deeply committed to developing and maintaining design systems that enhance user experience and ensure visual consistency for a wide range of businesses. His background includes working with both digital agencies and large international technology companies, giving him a diverse range of experience and skills.
What I like about his portfolio
The simple still aesthetic look is what I liked the most. The minimalism in the use of colors is the best thing that I admire. Other than that:
- I quite liked the loading animation
- The idea grid/table system is out of the box.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The use of minimal colors is what I’ll use in my portfolio.
- The font looks good which I may use in one of my projects.
Find him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Behance
7. Constance S
About
Constance S. has 6+ years of experience in front-end development. She loves working on smooth 2D animations and challenging layouts.
I craft websites with great attention to detail. — Constance S
What I like about her portfolio
The one thing that caught my attention was the use of huge buttons plus a big cursor. Other than that:
- The use of huge font size.
- I like how she has provided the links to websites that she has made so that we can get to see the live project instead of some mockups.
What I have/may steal from her portfolio
- I may use the big button style plus the use of a huge cursor.c
- The choice of the background color is one that I may prefer.
8. Daniel Gamble
About
Daniel graduated from RMIT Design School in 2017, with honors in Communication Design. Since graduating he has been working in various design & communications roles based in Melbourne, Australia. In 2019 he began working freelance and has been working remotely ever since.
What I like about his portfolio
Another portfolio with a great cursor. I love how the cursor has a smooth animation. Other than that:
- The use of text for the “menu” button instead of an icon.
- The horizontal scroll has made a space in my mind.
- I liked how when we hover over any project, it gives some details about what you should expect from the project.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- The use of horizontal scroll, which I think I have said almost 3rd to 4th time in this story.
- I like the idea of keeping the hero section as simple as possible.
- The use of minimal colors.
You can email him on Email
9. Olha Uzhykova
About
Olha is an LA-based award-winning design director and UI/UX design expert with 10 years of experience in design and management.
For me, design is about problem-solving, communicating an objective, and helping people. I believe that everything you can imagine is possible when you have clearly defined goals, strong design, strategy and assemble a talented team. — Olha Uzhykova
What I like about her portfolio
The animation in her portfolio made my day. I was playing and balancing some of the circles like it was a game. The website’s loading animation took me to the old days of playing that snake game.
Other than these cool features I liked the:
- Use of minimal colors and fonts.
- The idea of displaying an image of the work while we hover over any project name.
- The notion of displaying her in the top left corner along with the logo.
What I have/may steal from her portfolio
- The way she has described the articles and publications.
Find her here on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook
10. Shabnam Kashani
About
The world is constantly evolving thanks to designers centering their process around the user. Creatives design an experience through a series of touch-points that form the framework to have a meaningful interaction. It starts with understanding what the user needs, and ideating an innovative solution to fulfill it. — Shabnam Kashani
Shabnam’s portfolio website has a very deep memory inside my head because I found out about this during my Google’s UX designer professional certificate course where Shabnam was one of the instructors.
So from the first day of the course, I was wondering how the portfolios of the people working at Google would be looking. They must be with all those cool animations and stuff. But when they gave Shabnam’s portfolio as an example, I was amazed to see how simple but good-looking her portfolio website is. And that was the first lesson I learned that the content of the portfolio is more important than that of the outer part.
When I saw the level and the quality of her project which she had done throughout her career, I knew what I had to do in my portfolio. The way she has presented her work is mesmerizing. I just loved her portfolio and also started to create a rough idea about how will I make my portfolio.
What I like about her portfolio
Although I like the overall portfolio, there are still a few things that I like more:
- The way she has given links to all the projects at the bottom of every case study.
- The minimal use of colors and the consistency of fonts throughout the portfolio.
What I have/may steal from her portfolio
- I’ve already used the idea of giving the links to all of the work which I’ve done.
You can find her on LinkedIn
11. Ran Segall
About
Ran Segall is a designer working with startups to create great products & brands.
As a full stack designer I help early stage startups with everything from branding, product design, video and investor decks. I’ve had the pleasure to collaborate with top teams working across a variety of B2C & B2B industries in Israel and across the globe. — Ran Segall
Ran Segall is the person from whom I’ve learned a lot, from designing websites to developing them using Webflow. He is a designer as well as an entrepreneur who shares his years of experience on YouTube.
What I like about his portfolio
The things that caught my eyes are:
- The use of blur images creates a kind of depth effect.
- A short description of the project on the front page.
- Giving tags to every project on the home page to signify what to expect from the project.
What I have/may steal from his portfolio
- I may steal the idea of giving book recommendations as I read a lot and I’d love to share it on my portfolio.
You can find him on Instagram, Youtube
12. Michal Malewicz
About
Michal is a Designer with over 20 years of experience. He managed to work on projects for both Fortune 100 companies and small, agile startups. He also writes books, and articles, teaches, surfs, and skates. His website features lists of things that he does, or that he finds interesting. He listens to his music on an old iPod or vinyl, and his primary phone doesn’t run any apps.
Can any portfolio be like this? This simple? Yes of course when your years of work can speak on behalf of you. I’ve bookmarked his portfolio as I’ve all the above ones, not because of the design but because of the book recommendations he has given on his website. I want to know what this person reads because he is one of my inspirations as a UX designer. I’ve read 2 or 3 of his e-books and they are just as awesome as this guy is.
Not going to comment on what I like or what I’m going to steal. Sorry.
He’s everywhere so you can find him on Medium, Youtube, Instagram(HYPE4Academy), Twitter, LinkedIn, Dribbble
Now that you have come so far, I assume that this story was helpful to you in some or the other way. If you want, comment down the portfolio which you liked the most and from which one you have learned the most.
A clap will make me smile while a follow will definitely motivate me to write more useful stuff. I’m new to medium so apologies if I have made an error somewhere. I learn fast and I mean it.
Thank you for reading!!
See you soon on another story.
