do's and dont's for a good design portfolio site

thevessels said:

im in the midst of puttin together my portfolio site . i do flash based web work . nothin crazy , pretty simple , but clean and functional sites . which is more or less the theme and approach to my personal design .

ive made a rough draft of my site , but if you were me what kind of things would emphasize , keep subtle , ect .

right now im just starting off and making sites for as little as $500 . but i want to do more . ive got 3 other sites , excluding my yet to be portfolio site , to give customers an idea . and i basically just want more work .

what would you include in your site if you were me ?

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Probably the best advice would be to make it as clean and as intuitive as possible, since in all likelihood that's what your clients are going to want. I've found that these things are best tried on people who aren't particularly web savvy. If my 66 year old mom can navigate a site, then it should be easy enough for anyone else.

You work should speak for itself, so make sure it's fast and easy for them to load and navigate your site. I've been turned off from too many sites because I had to wait for a 5 minute animation to play everytime I clicked on something.

And if you're going for a clean design, make sure to keep it clean, it's too easy to clutter it up (I've struggled with it too). Using a little bit of flash wouldn't be a bad thing since that's what you specialize in, just keep it within reason (sounds like you already do that).

Very good points above, I'll add a few here.

Don't put a quota on the number of portfolio pieces you NEED to show. I have seen a lot of student portfolios come to me with 15 to 20 print pieces (less for web work) because a teacher told them that's how many they needed. They may have only 7 pieces they feel strongly about and the rest is filler. I usually advise them drop the filler work and just show the good stuff. You can and will be judged by weakest work in your portfolio not the best. I know you said you have 3 to show now, that's fine, as you get more stuff keep the quality level consistent.

Speak your clients (or potential clients) language. Design your site to something your clients would want for their own. If there is a industry you want to design for, design to that industry.

Show work that reflects your quoted price range. If you say you can do a site for a little as $500 then make sure that you show sites that reflect that price. If all the work you show cost 10x that you may get people expecting all that for $500.

Keep it professional, leave the personal stuff to a personal site.

Good luck and hope that helps.