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The Hire Me Portfolio focuses on getting you a job. If you are actively searching for a job then the current goal of your portfolio is to get hired. In this type of portfolio you can target the work you show to the type of company you want to work for. The Sales Generation Portfolio focuses on keeping a flow of work always coming in the door. The goal here is to generate leads. And move potential customers through your sales channel. The Reputation Building Portfolio focuses on building your name in the industry and online. This may take the form of an artist's showcase. Or tie your work together with a blog on your portfolio site. The Networking Portfolio focuses on building relationships. There are many networks that have excellent portfolio building tools. They have some advantages to placing your portfolio on their website. Chiefly among them is to leverage the site space for networking.

Likes: Good range of work showcased on the main page with the ability to choose between a variety of projects. Quality work, slightly unconventional layout. Dislikes: The black background on the text doesn't look good. Having all the images for each project load at once could be slow on some computers, although it is nice to be able to scroll through them all at once. It could be more designed. The background is rather generic.

Question: How do I choose an online portfolio layout? What do different layouts express about the designer? This website shows a number of Wordpress themes, and outlines the type of design work they are made for and the kind of feeling they present. Even if you didn't want to use Wordpress, I thought it would be useful to have examples of portfolios with different intentions. There are key words in the layout descriptions, like "elegant" or "artsy" that might tie in with the reading, which doesn't really say what these might look like. A few characteristics stood out to me. "Elegant" portfolio theme tended to have a simple, clean layout with understated backgrounds in neutral colors. The work showed well, but was often uninteresting because there was little wow factor. "Artsy" portfolio themes tended to be more colorful or include a decorative graphic elements, but the work was sometimes overwhelmed by the backgrounds. Work-focused themes tended to have dark backgrounds with a dimensionality to them, which makes the work almost "hung" in space. Text seemed a little awkward in these theme however, since they also "hung" above the background (perhaps if the image and text were in the same window above the background?). Photography had a layout reminding me of a magazine article, exciting and narrative, but more confusing if the information is complex. Some general comments while looking at sites: Some of the architectural portfolios tended toward neutral colors and crisp fonts, however, they often left little impression of who the designer IS, and what their approach is. Some of the graphic design portfolios were highly graphic and visually bold, but were a little "loud" and in the interest of being trendy or current, again left me wondering who the designer IS.