Thoughts on Portfolio Websites

Posted by Laura Brunow Miner on 23 January 2008.

Hi JPG!

I spend a lot of time looking at photo portfolio websites. A LOT. Many JPG members have their personal sites listed on their profiles pages, and we JPG staff members do our homework by looking at the larger bodies of work when we can.

That said, I feel like I know what makes one of these sites easy for me to navigate:
1. Photos shown as large as possible
2. BACK/NEXT buttons to navigate through photos, in the same position from page to page
3. HTML rather than Flash navigation (so that I can send a link to a specific photo around, etc.)
4. I find it easier when all the photos are all in one "back-next" stream, rather than under different links on the site. The different projects can be differentiated by color or title rather than by navigation.
5. I prefer as little else as possible other than the photos. (Contact/Bio/Press/Awards type info is great, but that can be under one link)

Here's a great example from JPG contributor Jon-Paul Douglass.

That said, there are always sites that break the rules and still turn out great, like this one from Matthew Mahon. (don't forget to click on the photos with a person icon: a video of Matthew comes into the frame and explains the photo)