5 Tips to Design Your Graphic Design Website

For a graphic designer, a website is an excellent platform to highlight your skills. For many, it’s the first sample of your work that a potential client will see, so having a professional website that shows off your design skills is an essential tool for any graphic designer. Here are five tips for creating your graphic design website:

Keep It Professional

While this website is going to be your very own, you need to target it for your specific audience. Usually that audience is potential clients, so you need to use the appropriate level of professionalism targeted toward the kind of clients you want. A cartoonish website with bright colors and silly sound effects might be great if that’s the kind of work you’re looking for, but it isn’t appropriate if the clients you’re looking for are serious business professionals. Make sure you keep that in mind while designing your website.

Show Off Your Unique Style

Graphic design is a very artistic career, and you bring something to it that no one else does: your style, your imagination, and the unique way you approach each project. Be sure to encapsulate that in the design of your website. Your website is one of your biggest forms of advertising, so do everything in your power to show your strengths. It’s what will make a potential client want to know more about what you can do for them.

Don’t Clutter

Don’t be so eager to show off your work and include all relevant information to the point of cluttering up your own website. If potential clients can’t easily navigate your site, they’ll get lost before they get to the good parts. It’s your job to make sure that doesn’t happen. The information on your website needs to be organized and easy to find. Doing so not only allows potential clients to see your work, but it also shows that you can arrange information to its maximum benefit.

Compare Yourself

While your website has to be uniquely you, it doesn’t hurt to see what other graphic designers are doing with their websites. Doing so can inspire you to show off what your talents are compared to theirs. Plus it lets you see who your competition is. Just for reference, check out 14 inspiring portfolios from famous graphic designers to see what you’re up against.

Include Related Skills

Graphic design doesn’t have to be the sole focus of the website. If you possess related skills, absolutely highlight them as well. For example, if you have a photography background, include some samples of your photos. Or maybe you can sketch or paint or code a website from scratch. These things are all related to the field of graphic design, and a lot of potential clients are going to want someone with versatility. That cuts their costs in having to hire fewer professionals and also gives you an advantage over other graphic designers who lack some of your related skills.

Concluding Thoughts

Remember, your website is your first and best marketing tool as a graphic designer. Few other professions are so easily advertised. A chef, for example, can post pictures of his creations on his website, but no matter how delicious they look, a potential client can’t taste them. This is not the case with graphic design because it’s entirely visual. Show off all aspects of your talent as a graphic designer and your website will serve as an excellent tool in bringing you new clients.

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