In 2024, the world is entirely digital. Going with the times, the process of applying and interviewing for jobs has also gone online.
A digital or online portfolio is essential for any career or industry in 2024. In fact, it has been essential for nearly a decade.
However, if you're just getting started with applications with your first job, or if you’re just beginning your freelance career, or if you're planning to update an existing digital portfolio, you could probably benefit from a little help. I know I certainly would have when I was starting out.
In this article, I'll lay out 10 online portfolio examples. Each portfolio is a great example of what employers like and expect from the candidates they intend to hire. Before you make your portfolio, take a moment to look at these best portfolio examples.
• Everything is digital in 2024, including job-seeking, interviews, and portfolios. You need a digital portfolio (besides LinkedIn) that stands out, reveals the right information about you, showcases all (or most) of your work samples, and allows for easy communication with potential clients.
• This may sound like a tall order, but not if you know what you are doing. The ideal digital portfolio conveys (but does not boast about) your achievements, substantiates the skills you claim to have with real-world results, and gives clients evidence of your past work for their own personal evaluation.
• Okay, but what does all that look like IRL? That is why we have examples. Check out the 10 examples of digital portfolios in this article. All of them are from seasoned industry veterans (some of them are award winners), and you'll know what kind of portfolio wins over clients (and gets you money).
• Last but not least, have a look at a tool that can help you create such a digital portfolio. Authory builds 90% of your portfolio for you. Check out the video on "How Authory works" — you enter the URL of the sites where your work is published, and Authory will import all your bylined work to its database. You can now display and look through all your pieces in a single location — a searchable, filterable portfolio.
A Quick Overview: What Is A Digital Portfolio & What Should It Include?
A digital portfolio website provides detailed information about your employability to a recruiter/employer. It conveys essential data and particulars of your professional experience, educational background, and work samples. For example, a writing portfolio will showcase published articles, web copy, email copy, blogs, or any other form of writing that establishes the writer's skills and industry knowledge.
Similarly, a graphic design portfolio will display the designer's previously completed visual works so that clients can judge the quality of the designs and evaluate if they fit their hiring requirements.
Generally, a digital portfolio includes:
A brief introduction, including a bio, educational details & testimonials
Keep things short unless you're a winner of multiple major awards or you've studied in two different Ivy League schools. Otherwise, briefly mention what you do, who you've worked with, and any outstanding achievements (awards, Guinness Book Record for deep ocean diving, etc.).
If you've got them at hand, you can also add client testimonials. Don't forget to add all relevant social media accounts — ones where you show your work or where the client can contact you.
Showcase your work in ALL formats (text, audio, video)
Gone are the days when your portfolio would include just your best work. Times have changed. Potential clients expect excellent work regularly, and your personal portfolio should convey that immediately.
If you're a writer or journalist, showcase all your articles. If you're a photographer, display as many of your photos as possible. If you're a graphic designer, exhibit videos, websites, animated elements, and still images you've worked on.
If you've produced content across different formats (text, audio, video), include all of it in your portfolio.
However, not every online portfolio builder lets you include work samples in all formats. A tool like Authory (and a few others out there), on the other hand, lets you import your work in different formats (text, audio, video, and social media posts).
Additionally, if there are any personal projects you're particularly proud of, show them off too.
Real-world results
Nothing speaks like real-world results. Writing portfolios that showcase some real-world results are usually the ones that get more attention.
If you've got a few years of experience, you should have some numbers to indicate your competence. For example, let's say you have written 50 articles in a year, which led to a 34% increase in web traffic to the site where said articles are published.
Information like this should be amply highlighted throughout the portfolio.
10 Awesome Digital Portfolio Examples For Inspiration and Goal-Setting
Raphael Lacoste
You've seen Raphael Lacoste's digital art in games like Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed. He was the Art Director at Ubisoft and won two VES Awards in February 2006.
Next, Raphael found himself in the film industry, working as a Matte Painter and Senior Concept Artist on films like Terminator Salvation, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Death Race, Immortals 2011, Repo Men, Jupiter Ascending, and more.
He returned to games in 2009 as a Senior Art Director for Electronic Arts Montreal and Ubisoft, as Brand Art Director on the Assassin’s Creed Franchise.
Currently, Raphael has joined the Franchise at Haven Studios Inc. as the Artistic Director.
Abigail Larson
Abigail Larson creates mixed-media illustrations using watercolor, pencil, ink, and Photoshop. Her work has been shown throughout America as well as in galleries in London, Paris, and Madrid.
Her illustrations have been featured in v ImagineFX, Clip Studio, Spectrum Fantastic Art, Art Fundamentals, The Graphic Canon of Children’s Literature, Rue Morgue, Digital Artist, etc
Her employers include DC/Vertigo, DC Kids, Universal, Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Titan Comics, Pelican Books, SYFY, Sideshow Collectibles, Netflix Animation, and Disney Books. In 2016, she published her book, and he teamed up with Universal Pictures and Desert Owl Games to create a game — The Huntsman: Winter’s Curse.
She has also released tarot decks with authors Sasha Graham and Minerva Siegel.
Abigail’s tarot deck with author Sasha Graham, The Dark Wood Tarot, was released in June 2020, and her latest tarot deck
In 2021-2022 Abigail worked as a character designer on Netflix’s original animated series, Blue Eye Samurai.
Scott Matthewman
Scott Matthewman has worked in both editorial roles and software development. He is primarily a Rails developer with ample experience in iOS development (including a former Apple Staff Pick), React.js, PHP, and other programming languages.
He is also an award-winning blogger (Political Weblog of the Year 2004, The Guardian) and has been a theatre reviewer for over 15 years.
Anne Midgette
Anne Midgette is a writer and critic. She covers music, opera, the visual arts, and more.
She was the chief classical music critic of The Washington Post for 12 years and has also contributed to The Wall Stress Journal and The New York Times. Beyond her online portfolio on Authory, her personal website also includes links to her book, a book talk, and social media.
Mark Riechers
Mark Riechers is a digital content editor for "To The Best Of Our Knowledge," a nationally syndicated radio program discussing ideas and culture. For more than seven years, he has been managing the digital content pipeline for the show, developing, assigning, and writing pieces based on the interviews heard on the air.
He also produces interviews for broadcast and podcast exclusives and adapts multimedia and web technologies to help with the show's storytelling and improve audience engagement.
His portfolio website shows that he has written for The A.V. Club, HuffPost Code, and Isthmus, covering film festivals, DIY music venues, steampunk conventions, and virtual reality. He has also translated complex research topics in engineering and economics into accessible and compelling stories for academic, public, and policymaking audiences.
Mark is a video and photo editor who stays keen and updated on new media tools and platforms to sharpen his craft.
Merete
Merete writes about the unique relationship between people and horses with the intent to,
… deepen our understanding of the unique relationship between humans and horses, promote well-being, and foster greater empathy and connection with the natural world.
Having traveled to more than 70 countries and earned a degree in special needs education, Merete has extensive experience in caring for horses and children. She is especially interested in equine-assisted learning.
As she puts it on her portfolio site,
Horses have a way of helping us understand ourselves better and develop a compassionate way of communicating.
She also works with Red Cross Relief Preparedness and has gained significant experience in teaching, marketing, and public speaking.
Adeyemi Adegbesan
Adeyemi Adegbesan is a Toronto-based multi-disciplinary artist. He intends to "examine the intersectionality of Black identity" through his art by taking inspiration and lessons from Black cultural ideologies spanning pre-colonial, colonial, present-day, and future timelines.
His portfolio page states that he,
… examines the dichotomy of the richness of Black experiences with the imposed societal homogeneity of ‘Blackness’
His portfolio showcases work based on design principles outside the mainstream ambit of fine art, which is more than enough to convince potential clients that they're dealing with a real free thinker here. Don't miss the use of plenty of white space.
Adeyemi is a self-taught artist who uses photography, mixed media collages, murals, and assemblages to express his ideas. His design elements and art have been exhibited in Canada and the United States. He has worked with brands such as HBO, Instagram, and the Toronto Raptors.
Kate Pfeilschiefter
Kate Pfeilschiefter is a concept artist, illustrator, and 3D character/creature artist for film, games, and publishing. She conceptualizes creatures, characters, and fantasy worlds.
She has worked with clients like Coast, Paizo Publishing, 3D Total Publishing, Ember Lab, North Star Games, Dark Horse Comics, Vergeous LLC, and Digital Double. You can find her work on 3DTotal.com, io9.com, Fantasy Artist Magazine, Somethingwelike.com, Creaturespot.com, ImagineFX, Fantasy Artist Magazine, and 3D Artist Magazine.
Dan Knauss
Dan Knauss has been a writer, teacher, and open-source solutions consultant since the late 1990s. He began programming in Grade 4 and is currently a Senior Technical Architect at Multidots. Previously, he held the positions of Technical Content Generalist for Liquid Web and the StellarWP family of brands and the former Editor of Post Status.
He writes blogs discussing neuromuscular disease on his personal website. This web developer portfolio actually boasts an entirely different skill: writing. This portfolio is a perfect example of something that potential clients would immediately love.
Rex Weiner
Rex Weiner is an award-winning investigative journalist, author, and reporter on contemporary culture. Not only has he been featured in multiple American and European publications, but he has also been an editor, stage, and screenwriter, a publisher (fine art photography books), and a co-founder and co-creator of a Writers Workshop in Todos Santos, Mexico.
In 2019, he broke the story on Britney Spears' legal issues as well as the #FreeBritney campaign. He has served on the board of trustees of Beyond Baroque, a celebrated literary center in LA.
In other news, Weiner also founded and published the New York ACE, which was partially funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He is also one of the founding editors of High Time Magazine, an authoritative tome in cannabis culture.
Rex is a living example of "don't be afraid to break the mold and do your thing."
Why choose Authory as your portfolio website builder?
Thankfully, you don't need web design classes to create your portfolio's UX design. You can use a tool like Authory to create the homepage and design the UX (user experience) as you choose. You can keep your portfolio minimalist by utilizing ample white space and placing only the essentials for digital visitors to scroll through.
Authory provides a Squarespace integration as well, so you can simply make a portfolio and include it on your website — good design plus a complete repository of all your work.
As the video explains, Authory automatically finds and imports all your bylined content. It literally does over half the work: finding all bylined content you’ve ever published, importing it automatically, saving it permanently (again, automatically), and enabling you to organize your pieces into different collections.
Once all your work is imported, you can simply select the right pieces and slot them into a one-page portfolio. The effort you need to make your portfolio is minimal.
When you sign up for an Authory account (for free), you get the following:
A self-updating portfolio (make a portfolio automatically)
I already mentioned how Authory will automatically import a copy of every bylined piece from every site into its database. What I didn't mention is that Authory will keep updating your portfolio with newly published bylines from the same URLs.
So, let's say you've entered the URL for The New York Times, and Authory has imported all your existing articles on that site on Jan 1st, 2024. Additionally, the tool will continue to automatically import all pieces on the site with your byline, even after Jan 1st.
In other words, you don't have to keep updating your portfolio. Authory does that for you. You also get an email notification every time Authory adds a new content item to its servers.
Automated backups (never lose your content, ever)
All the content that Authory imports from different sources is saved permanently. You'll never have to worry about losing any of your published work. Even if the original website goes defunct for any reason, you'll always have a copy safely
You can also:
- search through both your portfolio and your content database to find articles/audio/videos based on keywords,
- create a custom domain with a click,
- look at in-built analytics for real numbers on content performance (engagement, readership) across the web and popular social media sites every 30 days,
- create newsletters with a couple of clicks; after setup, Authory will automatically send your newly published content to subscribers,
- display your Authory portfolio on other sites with widgets,
- and get a responsive & SEO (search engine optimization)-aligned portfolio that will show up on every search engine (with the right keywords).
The best way to figure out Authory is to take our 14-day free trial, create your own personal portfolio website, and see how much of a difference it makes to your professional life. Why not give it a shot?
