New Portfolio Who Dis?

Why change it?

As previously mentioned, by April 2024, my portfolio had gone completely untouched for almost an entire year. I graduated with my BFA in Graphic Design in May 2023 and have done so much since then that my portfolio didn’t show it! I knew at the very least, I had to put in work to update the content to better reflect my current design skills. Additionally, in my previous role, I had gained a new skill: Web Design. Through my work, I was able to get a grasp on programs like Webflow and Framer and wanted to put those new skills to the ultimate test. For all those reasons, I decided to start redesigning my website, and I knew it had to be done ASAP.

My old website in it’s former glory, she will be missed

Research & Planning

Before I jumped into Framer, I had to organize my thoughts and goals for this redesign. I already outlined the reasons why it’d be a good idea but how should I go about redesigning it. There’s a billion different ways to set up a portfolio and so I started with research.

I like to use Raindrop.io to keep track of all my links and articles, even before this project I had a running list of portfolios I liked and started storing even more here.

Another thing I had to consider when looking for inspiration was the type of designed I wanted to be. I had recently found a strong interest in UX design but I’m not quite ready to make the leap. So for now I decided to present my portfolio as a Multidisciplinary Designer, in the hopes of getting a job at a design studio or agency where such versatility would be valued. I looked at product design portfolios and graphic design portfolios and wanted to try and find a nice balance of both of them. I liked how expressive graphic design portfolios could be with color and type. I also enjoyed how product designers outlined their projects to really highlight their process and thinking which is something I felt was lacking in my old site. With these two takeaways in mind I started work designing the look and feel for my website which included a bit of a brand refresh.

I knew I couldn’t changed my look too much especially because I largely think it still works for me, but I think toning things down a bit could help bring a bit more sophistication. I also think I got a little color crazy and ending up with a palette that was too busy and difficult to use due to contrast issues. For those reasons I decided to tone it back and stick with three primary colors that all worked nicely together with good contrast.

I updated my color palette to include a pale yellow and deep burgundy to offset the intensity of the bright orange. I also chose typefaces like Alike Angular as my display typeface because I loved how it gave off a classical feel whilst still being quite modern in texture.

The Grind Begins

From here it was a lot of experimenting, testing, and asking for feedback to get a decent outline of how all the pages should look.

After completing all the page designs, it was time to finally put stuff in them! Organizing all the content for my site was actually the largest hurdle i had to face. Kylie from a year ago wasn’t exactly stellar at file management so finding certain projects proved to be a very time consuming activity. Outside of finding the right content I also had to plan out each story to give more insight into my thinking.

I utilized Notion, Arc Browser Easels, and good old fashioned pen and paper to plan and test different flows for each project.

The Finale & End Notes

After a couple weeks of working at it, I finally finished my site in its MVP form and hit publish. I was extremely proud of what I had achieved and think this site much better reflects the designer I am today. I also have a ton more ambitions for the site specifically starting up this blog! So stay tuned for more articles to come! I also made a silly little video announcing the site's completion.