The second edition of Portfolio Squeeze is here! Here are all the amazing design portfolio websites from January and a freshly squeezed review of a portfolio website I found that I think does a great job highlighting the most important parts of projects that clients and hiring managers love to see.

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

How To Highlight Your Design Projects

Alex Lafaki

Alex is a design lead with over thirteen years of experience based out of the UK, and I think you could take away a few things from his project case studies.

Before we jump into his project pages, here’s a quick overview of the rest of his portfolio website. Alex has three pages outside of his case study pages: Home, About, and Contact.

Homepage:

Alex's homepage is simple and focused. At the top, he has his header with the headline:

"Hey I transform your ideas into great experiences"

Directly below is his work section, which I believe is curated. The thumbnails have thoughtful interactions/animations—some with animated logos on hover, others with simpler hover effects. At the bottom of the page is a simple footer with his name and social links.

About page:

Alex's about page is straightforward. His 13 years of experience speak for him, but it’s still helpful for visitors to learn more about him and his work.

Contact page:

Yep, a link to contact Alex. Fin.

Case Study Pages:

Alex’s case study pages are excellent examples of how to highlight the HOW and WHAT of a completed design project. He includes plenty of images to illustrate problems solved and solutions built. Descriptions between images provide context and explain his process. Each project ends with a TLDR summarizing deliverables, results, and data points that show impact.

Alex's design portfolio distills important pieces from his experience into a concise summary, making it easy for visitors to understand his work and impact.

Score: 8.3/10

Built with: Framer

View portfolio here

Squeezed This Month

A Super Clear + Honest Approach to a Design Portfolio Website

Rose Kuan

Score: 8.7/10

Built with: Squarespace

Read full review here.

Everyone Should Have a Playground

Alessandro Giammaria

Score: 6.3/10

Built with: Wordpress

Read full review here

Paint the Portfolio Red!

María Vargas

Score: 9.7/10

Built with: Wordpress

Read full review here

Your Design Portfolio Website As An Archive

Kevin Hoegger

Score: 8.9/10

Built with: Custom Coded

Read full review here

Review Rewind

Stand Out to Your Dream Creative Job with a Strategic Portfolio Website

Portfolio Review #125

• Positioning your portfolio to demonstrate your experience level.

• Telling the story behind your projects through detailed descriptions.

• Curating your best 3-4 projects to align with your career goals.

Watch full video review here

The Squeeze

What Are The Best Portfolio Website Builders?

Every year is a new opportunity to reinvent yourself. For a graphic designer, that often involves redesigning your portfolio website. I recommend starting with design/layout in Figma before deciding on a tool or platform. Here’s a list of portfolio builders to consider:

This list is in a loose order: a mix of tools I’ve used, seen in portfolio reviews, or plan to review.

1. Webflow – Love it; steep learning curve with class naming/reuse.

2. Framer – Currently my favorite.

3. Squarespace – Mixed reviews after updates.

4. Adobe Portfolio – Free course available; gets the job done.

5. Cargo – Been around forever; occasionally see awesome sites.

6. ReadyMag – Powerful with prebuilt elements.

7. Carrrd – Great for non-portfolio uses too.

8. Wordpress – Dinosaur of site builders; can be plugin-heavy.

9. Wix – Not a fan; portfolios on it can look messy.

10. Showit – WYSIWYG on top of Wordpress.

11. Carbonmade – Quick layout options; haven’t used personally.

12. Notion – DIY option; can publish interactive pages online.

13. Google Docs – Simple DIY; not visually pretty but works.

14. Dunked – Seen a few; fine.

15. Nicepage – Only seen one designer use it.

16. Pixpa – Focused on photography; looks fine.

17. Zyro – Interesting; never used.

18. Webflium – Never heard of it.

19. Duda – Looks cool; never used.

20. Fabrik – Looks cool; never used.

21. Strikingly – Canva-style approach.

22. Jimdo – Website builder, not portfolio-specific.

I’ll be working over the next few weeks to dig deeper on these tools and put together an in-depth article.

If I missed a platform or tool you know about, feel free to send it to me with a reply.

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