PORTFOLIO & RESUME HELP
WHAT YOU WILL FIND
Making a portfolio is one of the most important parts in job hunting for creatives and can be super stressful with no guidance. So I've put together a list of helpful sites where you can find inspiration or recommendations for popular portfolio building websites, as well as ways to add non-school related work to your collection - which can really strengthen your skills and the look of your portfolio.
★ = my personal favs :)
PORTFOLIO SAMPLES
A website of copywriters portfolios regularly updated with new portfolios from ad professionals and students across the world. Jobs are occasionally posted as well.
Cargo is a site where you can build your portfolio with their templates and fonts as well as view the websites created by others creatives.
This website hosts the portfolios from the VCU Brand Center students which can be used for inspiration for your own.
BYU's website dedicated to sharing their student's portfolios across disciplines. It's great for people who are not creatives to see ways they can structure their own porfolios.
This website hosts the portfolios from the Miami Ad School students which can be used for inspiration for your own.
This website hosts the portfolios from the Denver Ad School students which can be used for inspiration for your own.
This website hosts the portfolios from the Creative Circus students which can be used for inspiration for your own.
Recent grads talk to AIGA on the portfolios that got them into tech jobs. This has a lot of good advice and sample portfolios to look at.
PORTFOLIO DESIGNERS AND GUIDES
Pimp My Portfolio is a website of designers who will help you build out your portfolio from scratch for a fee.
Squarespace has a marketplace of designers available to hire for designing a portfolio website. These tend to be a bit more pricey than DIY or Pimp my Portfolio but they are usually experts in the Squarespace platform.
Website set up is a great resource for learning to design your own website It has tons of guides for simple website set up as well as in-depth reviews of hosting sites and platforms so you can pick the one best suited for your needs.
PORTFOLIO BUILDING SITES
Cargo has tons of really unique templates but has a bit of a learning curve when it comes to manipulating and editing the templates.
Squarespace is one of the most popular and easy to use portfolio creators although some complain it's limited and less flexible than other options.
Adobe Portfolio is free with a creative cloud subscription so is the most cost effective if you already have CC. It's also very similar to Squarespace so is generally easier to learn.
Webflow is increasingly popular and has a ton of flexibility but overall has one of the steepest learning curves. It takes the most time to learn.
Fairly customizable portfolios with a ton of options but is a bit pricy, however it is a one time purchase.
Wix is great for people with absolutely no web design experience and has a drag and drop method of creating a site. It can be finicky sometimes though and is slow if you have too much on the site.
Wordpress is an old classic that is generally easy to learn but it may take you time to sort through templates or you may want to get someone to help you code a custom design.
MMM is a drag and drop, easy website building similar to wix. Their website also has samples of websites made by others that are good for inspiration.
Krop is a very design focused portfolio builder meant for visual artists such as photographers, designers, illustrators, etc.
RESUME BUILDERS
This website helps you to build your resume from scratch for free. It's great for people who are intimidated by design software.
Canva is a great resource for people who don't want to use professional design software but appreciate more modern and customizable resume templates.
PORTFOLIO BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES
A mini advertising award show created by and judged by young professionals in the industry meant to help young people connect and build out work in their portfolio
Advertising competition for young people that takes place over 8 months with 8 briefs that are judged by industry professionals.
Advertising competition for young people that takes place over 8 months with 8 briefs that are judged by industry professionals.
A site that helps connect young professionals with others in the industry looking to collab and find partners for work
Another award show opportunity to kick start a career in advertising and design with an competition for students, graduates, and aspiring creatives.