Welcome to the very first edition of The Portfolio Squeeze in 2024! I am super excited to get this newsletter off the ground after much patience and hard work. After launching Creative Juice, I noticed that the Portfolio of the Week section was growing in popularity, so this newsletter is focused solely on design portfolio websites and how you can improve yours as we analyze the best. If you have any specific questions about anything from this newsletter, please do not hesitate to reply to this email.

The Portfolio Squeeze is a monthly newsletter focused on helping you improve your design portfolio website. It includes examples of top-notch design portfolio websites from around the world, video reviews, and deep dives into the art of the portfolio.

If you would like The Portfolio Squeeze sent directly to your inbox every month, you can subscribe here.

Extra Juicy

A Design Portfolio With Buttery Smooth Animations

Rishad Amarkhel

Do not underestimate the power of a simple 'on view scroll animation'.

Rishad is an art director and designer from California who has masterfully employed the 'on view scroll animation' throughout his portfolio website. With over 9 years of experience, he has a simple and effective portfolio with two main pages: the homepage and individual project pages.

Homepage:

• Selected projects

• Playground/blog

• Quick about me

• Testimonials

Project Pages: Individual pages for each project.

• Header: Clear about what he does and who he does it for.

• Selected Work: Beautiful, high-quality thumbnails with interactions. Some link to live sites.

• Playground: Experiments and exercises that don’t require full case studies.

• Background & Contact Info: Clearly organized.

• Testimonials: Important for both freelancers and full-time designers.

Rishad uses Framer, and elements appear on view as you scroll, which enhances the experience.

Rishad's portfolio keeps things simple and lets the content speak for itself.

Score: 8.3/10

Built with: Framer

View portfolio here

Squeezed This Month

He's A Smooth Animator

Chris Kalaftis

Score: 9.6/10

Built with: Webflow

Read full review here

The Proof Is In The Pudding (or Portfolio)

Félix Péault

Score: 9.1/10

Built with: Custom Coded

Read full review here

The Only Sidebar I'm OK With

Daniela Muntyan

Score: 8.8/10

Built with: Framer

Read full review here

The Power of Social Proof

Kurt Winter

Score: 7.2/10

Built with: Webflow

Read full review here

Review Rewind

How to Inject Your Personality Into Your Design Portfolio Website

Portfolio Review #122

• How to add more personality through color, fonts, etc.

• What to include in a portfolio website header

• Methods of presenting project imagery

• How to prioritize your design projects

• What you need for project descriptions

Watch full video review here

The Squeeze

My Wishlist for Adobe Portfolio in 2024

Over summer 2023, I explored Adobe Portfolio extensively, wrote articles about themes, best examples, hacks, and created a free mini-course.

What Adobe Portfolio Does Well:

1. Easy theme selection reduces guesswork

2. 2-way sync with Behance

3. Mobile-friendly across devices

My Wishlist for 2024:

1. Interface Upgrade: Modernize and simplify navigation

2. Improved Style Guide Process: Make style guide setup a first step

3. Interactive Elements: Carousels, sliders, video backgrounds, etc.

4. Customizable Video Player: Adjust size, autoplay, hide controls

5. New Theme Templates: Fresh modern designs to compete with Framer, Squarespace, Wix

I’d love to hear your thoughts—reply to this email with suggestions and maybe we can nudge Adobe into action.

If you would like The Portfolio Squeeze sent directly to your inbox every month, you can subscribe here.