Hello readers! This article covers the topic of important design and layout of portfolios. Here is a list of ten portfolios that I believe to be creative, with a brief description of each to explain my thoughts and basically say why they are listed here.

Dave Werner seems to have an eye for cool graphics and catchy layouts. His portfolio shows his coding skills off, as well as his wonderful ideas. The main page gives an overview of all of his projects – something that I like, and the mouse-overs from black and white to colour work extremely well at drawing the eye in and making it a site to remember. The fonts used all work well and the layout is extremely easy to navigate. When you click one of the projects, not only are you greeted by some lovely animations, you get the layout of beautifully strong images on the right, with the links for the information and a small video about the project on the left, perfect.

First off, what a great colour scheme and wonderful idea for the layout. I absolutely love the fixed footer, with its quirky design and beautiful graphics. I feel as though the use of the Kiwi bird is hinting that he is the kind of designer that is hard to come by. The use of the single moving page also works extremely well, with the arrow in the footer tempting you to explore for yourself, rather than just click the menu links. A great font choice for the header too, with the darker overlay of the header working extremely well to draw the viewer towards his name, one of the most important things about a portfolio.

Now this site really drew my attention. Foxie has managed to make the site look like a wall with all her bits and pieces arranged on shelves, making the site instantly make the viewer feel at home. The use of books as links for the different pages is excellent, symbolizing an archive of her work. The use of the phone as the link to the contact page is a great idea, and it makes the site very personal. Each piece of work is represented by a thumbnail image in a photo-frame, showing the viewer exactly what it is at a glance, and also a good use of space.

This site is simply oozing with creativity, definitely something I love! The use of space is fantastic and the layout is really eye catching. Each of his works is represented by a thumbnail image below the main content strip. When you select a different thumbnail, the content changes wonderfully with the page moving, keeping the main focus of the viewer on James’s work, and his name. The brush work on the background makes a nice setting for his layout, with the main focus being the strip of content, aided by the different colour and less texture. The watermark half hidden by the image just subtly reminds the user of his name. A great portfolio, creatively executed.

What a stunning site. It may not be the most full featured site that I have listed here, but it is definitely one of the most usable. The idea of the one large page that scrolls is wonderfully creative, and the fish tank idea works a treat, with the side bar titled ‘new to the tank’, instantly labeling itself as the first place for a first time viewer to go to. The footer is great and continues the theme of the fish tank, with the nicely placed fish complementing the great use of open space. The soft gradient fixed to the right border makes the transition from one section to the next seem fluid. This site is definitely unique and creative, as he states, and the design of the portfolio page is simple and straight to the point. http://dojo.codegreene.com

To start with, this site is obviously heavy on the use of flash, and it is clearly a key element to the layout of this site, simply because it does not have a definite layout! Readers are able to jumble up the projects by clicking the mouse anywhere on the page, allowing the user to be creative and meaning there are many possible layouts for this portfolio. This makes it a site to remember and makes it very intimate. His idea of using keys to navigate the site reinforces its intimacy with the reader and just pretty cool in itself to be honest! Each of the works pops up very nicely when you select it, with its description to the left and numerous fade in/out images on the right – pretty tasty if you ask me!

Sid Lee have basically got it sussed. An amazing use of space and a fantastically creative layout make this site one of my definite favorites. When you first open the site it basically punches you in the face. The HUGE image and great typography literally come off the screen at you, ready to draw you in to the delights of his portfolio. Not only that, but the image and title changes every so often when he gets a new project, making readers come back because they know they’re gonna get something different next time! The site just works, that’s basically all I can say, the links on the left, entice you as to what they can reveal, and the bar on the right pushes the page across to reveal a whole other world of video content.

This site has a great kind of pompous feel to it, symbolizing the content of the podcasts well. The site is set out in a kind of blog feel, with all of the episodes listed in order. I absolutely love the graphics and their layout, and the thing that is especially creative about this site is the use of layered images in the footer. That is that when you resize your browser, the parts of the footer move at different rates to give a real sense of depth to the design. The three streaks of light draw the eye down to the main area of the page, the podcast content, and this works very well. The colour scheme most definitely suits the style of the page and I like how the site is from ground to sky – footer to header.

My first impression of this site was quite simply ‘wow, how creative’, and that still is my thought exactly. Simple.Art definitely has a good idea of what makes a creative site. The images seem to have a real vectorish feel to them, and the footer confirms that you are looking down into a room, with the perspective working perfectly. The use of the items on the desk as links to the relevant areas of the site is extremely creative, and definitely a good use of the design idea. The animation of the draw is a nice touch, and the textured carpet feel is really great, with the crisp logo sitting on top of it very nicely.

Last but most definitely not least, WallSwaps. Now this site is just plain cool. The site is a cork pin-board, and the content just sits on it very nicely. I love the idea of the user being able to navigate their way around this lovely little world. The images are all really great and eye-catching, and the layout suits the idea of the pin-board, with each project randomly but also carefully placed, so that the viewer’s eye flows from one piece to the next. Don’t forget to read the instructions!