Looking at Portfolios:

DESIGN

Jacob Minkoff:

More detail, more content are quite a heavy website, it is a designer one, not a concept art one and this shows the large contrast between the two styles of website. More like a blog than a website. Wordpress site.

Sam Kaplan:

Strange website, not very nice layout, text heavy, possibly suitable for a designer but not an artist.

Both lighter website design.

ART

James Haywood:

Quite sleek, nicely done, not text heavy, barely any.

Dark website. Easy to navigate.

Jon McCoy:

Another dark website, makes it look sleek and polished. Simple, hardly any text.

Easy to navigate.

Richard Craig:

Simple, quite dark again, easy to navigate. Art is the only feature/main feature.

What Makes a Good Design Portfolio?

Easy to navigate, a well made website, not a naff one from a company with premade websites (I personally think) gets the vision across clearly, easy to see what the designer has done before, what they are doing in the future, upcoming projects? Shows the designer is still in demand? Not too ‘busy’. No need for lots of text, more than an artists, but not loads. Easy to get to contact info. Well written, possibly themed on the designers previous work?

What to Avoid in a Design Portfolio?

A messy website, hard to navigate, hard to find info. Clashing backgrounds/themes/font that make the website not nice to look at or navigate, hard to read. Mix message theme with the designers work, ie- cartoon layout with realistic work from the designer. A good balance between formal and informal wording, swearing for example would not be professional.