Thank you for the creative spark!

Certainly out of the ordinary, and some are quite ingenious. But like no.e said, most seemed to ignore usability to increase flashiness. Potential clients trying to figure out hot to view your work equals high bounce rate.

I have clicked through all of the portfolios of the people who have posted and there is a reason why they are not featured here no matter how usable they are, and should be a bit careful of what you are saying. Usability is of course important, but obviously the 9 portfolios are doing something right to be linked here that you are not. I agree for most people that your work needs to be easy to access, but I think if you have gotten to a point where a portfolio is less of a job getter and more of a showpiece, you can start to experiment, and that really is what we should be doing anyway.

They do look very impressive, but the ones that are running totally in Flash can have problems. I personally only like using flash to give the website some extra charm or load an external element (videos, image sliders, etc). But the reason why I am down on the flash is based on the way it is developed, not if you use it. I always like to see flash done right, so that it is SEO friendly, even if it take longer to develop. Something like what 2advanced.com did with separating each element with URL tagging (mod_rewrite) so that each page can be indexed separately with a search engine bot. Now they are just hiding all that data with some new JavaScript code so that it can only be seen if you look at the DOM (thank you Firebug!).

That and I have to agree with Mave, that UI is key epically for a portfolio site. How many of your clients have troubles as it is trying to navigate even the very simple sites. Like I usually say in the gaming community (my off time), “what looks good does not mean it will be enjoyable to play”. In this instance it is a fine line of how much creative eye candy you show, and how well and easy it is to get to the information your visitors are looking for. I could go on about UI and design concepts but I know that there is more than enough designers in here that can even prove me wrong on some points so i will be quite….for now. =P

To be honest, I don’t think these are as great as the writer puts them out to be.

Please don’t be so quick to assume people don’t have great (or average, however you want to put it) skills like this. It might just be me, but the tone of the article seems a bit derogatory and unnecessary for a blog that is meant to support freelancers.

Comments like “You’ll never have a portfolio like these” and “Probably better than your’s” don’t sit well with me.

Nice to look at websites but like others have said before, some are not usable.

Many site visitors, including myself, do not have the patience to wait while the buffering occurs, or to work out which bit of navigation is of interest to me, or to locate my glasses so that I can read the small type.

I have no doubt that these portfolios do have a place and are enjoyed by a select group of people (who are hopefully their target audience), but for the rest of us they are an indulgence.

Truly inspirational examples and definitely food for thought as I’m in the middle of designing a new site and blog.

IMHO, The portfolio’s listed here look great. I even liked one of them so much I’m inspired to reproduce the Flash animation (some of it) of one website. In a sense, comparison shouldn’t be made as each individual has their own style (quality of the design, that’s a whole different story). Now, to all freelancers out there with some SEO knowledge would most likely think that a whole website made from Flash is just wrong. But that really depends who your target audience is for example: Virgin.com is a flash website, does this mean no one knows about the website? or maybe some kid at school won’t be able to view the website because Flash player is not installed by default (although most kids these days have a pc at home).

I guess what i’m trying to get at is (once again) it all depends on your audience. If your aiming to do freelance work big brand companies, then I believe you have to portray your eye-candy design skills. But you consider yourself more of an average designer, yes accessibility is the right way to go.

Now, I remember few months back when I was applying for Web Design jobs in Sydney. A lot of the recruiters were looking for eye-candy portfolio designs (not to mention top $$$ jobs going to these kinds of “glamorous” Flash Designers/Developers).

Finally, at the end of the day. Whether you’re not interested in looking at other people’s portfolio’s or just not interested, it’s your choice. But to those who keep up with the times and continuously improve themselves in Web Design overall are going to be the ones keeping their jobs and getting more work in the future (considering todays already competitive market & the number Web Design graduates each year).

Thank you all,
I hope I haven’t offended anyone (at least I tried not to).

Cool designs. Very inspirational.

Some cool sites, but they don’t really draw me in. I guess I don’t have a lot of patience for Flash.

In the above comment I was actually meaning CV’s (Resume’s) that people send out to agencies etc.

Very pretty, but I find it frustrating when a portfolio is in Flash and I can’t point my coworkers to specific projects or pages within the portfolio.

It’s also very irritating when someone’s site resizes my browser, and I restore my preferred browser size only to find that they’ve provided no way of scrolling through the site at smaller sizes.

David: I can see why you didn’t link your own site with your comment. A bit cowardly, though.

I want to second the suggestion for a feature on copywriter’s portfolios. I think that’s an area that just doesn’t get enough attention, yet there are some really excellent ones out there.

I see the artistic appeal of these, and think they definately have the flash to get some big clients. I can’t wait to have more free time and work more on my site which is pretty basic at the moment.

To be honest, I really don’t like most of them.
The portfolio of Mr Sato gave a a headache … I mean really, I thought my screen was having issues.

Simple = King

I am a photo guy, so #8 was quite insane.

I’m definitely in need of a new portfolio design, but I’m not crazy about the ones you listed. Most of the sites are too flash and take too long to load, which takes the focus of the person’s work. …not a good idea. …I think this list could’ve been better.

cool and great designs!!!

Ah Mave. Just love your forthright manner. I agree with you. What do the sites say in copy thats relevant and interesting? We would love to produce pure art stuff for our punters; objectivity gets in the way.
And Mave, there is a certain “wankiness”
The best sites out there are the ones that make fabulous money for the punters and get massive demands for the creators. Thank God ( no not God) we find ourselves in that category. The Baldchemist
http://www.thebaldchemist.com if your interested.
Thanks for yor efforts though; nice piece.

+1 Mave. Wankiness is the word. Some of the work in these portfolios IS in fact very good, but honestly, some is just pretty plain artwork wrapped in a nicer than average site full of effects you don’t need. I lost patience after a few clicks on each of them, and that has more to do with ergonomics than content. I totally disagree with Skellie that these portfolios are not for anyone. Most flash designers are able to make similar sites and you don’t need to work for Nike to be able to have it made. #5 is just a straightforward css/php setup with a flash component. Nothing complicated, although its nicely designed.

i got served.