Those of us new to this field often have the bad habit of moving too fast. The portfolio goes out of date quickly. Simply put, it stops representing you. We keep searching for our place, defining what our style will be, and refining ideas that also show up in the portfolio itself.
The eternal portfolio dilemma
I’m not the only one who feels the portfolio is a task of stratospheric proportions.
You have to think about your goal, where you want to go, and how you want your target audience (recruiters and other designers) to perceive you.
What looks right today may not look so right tomorrow.
On top of that comes impostor syndrome and the self-pressure we put on ourselves because we always feel behind.
The build
Until now, I used Framer as my platform because it is easy to use and similar to Figma. The problem with Framer is that it gets expensive if you want your own domain.
With the rise of AI and my newly acquired front-end knowledge, I decided it was time to make the jump.
Before planning any design, I studied other portfolios, from people heading down the same path I wanted to follow: product design and design systems, with a little bit of code.
I’m still at an early stage of my journey in code, but you have to find your bearings.
One of the portfolios I looked at was Rachel Chen’s (rachelchen.tech). I like that she does things differently. You won’t find the typical end-to-end case study. New times call for reinventing yourself.
There are things from Rachel’s portfolio that I also implemented, like the side navigation menu, the immediacy of the projects view, and even the attempt to bring the projects to life so they are more visual and entertaining.
But this is about taking ideas, not copying. A portfolio should be yours and nobody else’s.
That means giving it personality. Sometimes, in an effort to give projects visibility, we end up with a blank, neutral page, Inter-style typography and done.
That kind of presentation is not for me. Usability has to be kept, but it needs an identity. Your portfolio is also your product and your work.
From my old portfolio I decided to bring over the marine look I liked. The sea is calm and elegant. Warm sand colors combined with a deep blue. Two opposite colors that work very well together and make it possible to have light and dark modes while keeping contrast, and therefore accessibility.
Once I was clear on what I wanted, I started giving it shape.
As you can see, there has been a lot of work and iteration between that first version and the one you see now.
It took quite a bit of QA to make sure the AI did things the way I asked.
The result
The portfolio that came out of that vision is a little piece of me.
My style, my personality and my projects (some are missing, I know) are part of it.
It is meant to be my showcase. It will keep evolving and changing as I do.
It is a good step forward from the Framer version and faithfully reflects my values.
I hope you like it.