Perfect Portfolio

Creating a portfolio to showcase your work in an online space makes it easier for potential employers and everyone who would like to see what you do to check it out! The following readings we were assigned touch on many helpful and inspiring points to consider when putting together content for the site as well as design choices.

Showcase of Case Studies in Design Portfolios  This site addresses the importance of portfolios and itself features more than 30 external sites (case studies) to should you what it could look like and what you could include. It is important to understand what a portfolio site is before jumping right into design, that way you can look at what you've done and based your design off of your current work.

Be sure to include multiple examples or screenshots of each piece of work you want to include in the site, as well as contact information, related links, etc.

Portfolio Design Study: Design Patterns and Current Practices More design oriented, this Smashing Magazine article focuses on aesthetics of the portfolio website. The article included topics like light vs. dark design, columns, an introductory block (or welcome statement), layout and navigation alignment and flash elements, among other things to consider. 

Can User Experience Be Beautiful? An Analysis Of Navigation In Portfolio Websites Third, this article analyzes some example website where the navigation is somewhat confusing. Although you may want to make your site different than everyone elses' by including a funky or fancy effect, make sure you think thoroughly about the usability of that effect. Is it going to make sense to an older audience? Will they be able to understand your thought process and why you chose to do it this way? Maybe they will think its just obnoxious and annoying and won't be willing to poke around as much to see what you've accomplished (even if your stuff is really cool!!)
69 Sexy Portfolio Designs To Inspire You And finally, the fourth reading. "Today designing a unique, compelling portfolio has become a crucial task for designers, studios, companies and everyone whose business is on the Web." ALL OF US CAN MARKET OURSELVES ONLINE! Using these suggestions can definitely help. :)

Make sure to poke around on some of these example sites! They're pretty inspiring.