10 best portfolio website themes for designers

An online portfolio is an essential self-promotion tool for any freelance designer. Often the first thing a potential client sees, it's a shop window to show off your work, as well as yourself – and you need to get it right.

A professional-looking layout is a must. If front-end web design is one of your skills then you should practice what you preach here and create something bespoke. But illustrators, graphic designers and photographers have a wide array of off-the-shelf designs to choose from that can be customised with a little CSS tinkering.

Read on for our pick of 10 of the very best portfolio themes to choose from, representing five of the most popular portfolio website platforms...

01. Adobe Portfolio: Andreas portfolio website theme

One of a fine selection of portfolio website themes for Adobe Portfolio designed by big-name creatives, this template by Andreas Levers really lets your work shine.

Its minimal layout is ideal for photography as each piece of work is shown large, and alternates between being left- and right-aligned, giving each image space to breathe.

Given that Adobe Portfolio is bundled with Creative Cloud, existing subscribers may well find the option attractive. But there are many other platforms out there...

02. Squarespace: Flatiron portfolio website theme

Flatiron is a Squarespace template with a particularly eye-catching gallery display, which locks together images of different aspect ratios in a visually pleasing grid.

The site navigation is simple and unobtrusive at the top left of the page, making sure your work is the star of the show.

03. Wordpress: Helium portfolio website theme

As a platform, Wordpress gives you plenty of versatility when it comes to customisation – particularly if you have some coding skills. Helium is a strong choice for a portfolio website, as it's much richer in features than many of the other examples on this list. 

The theme costs $48 (around £34) for a regular license, but the developers have thrown in various premium-rate plugins as part of the package. It includes a built-in blog, as well as the option to add a fully functional online store if you choose. 

04. Cargo Collective: Betelgeuse portfolio website theme

A common problem when presenting images of your work in a simple grid format is how to tackle different aspect ratios, as well as how to create hierarchy.

The Betelgeuse template for Cargo Collective enables you to make individual thumbnails double the size, to vary the layout and emphasise particular projects.

Inside each project page, images and videos automatically scale down to fit the template, but never scale larger than their original size.

05. Wix: Urban Photography portfolio website theme

Another stylishly designed gallery-style homepage, the Urban Photography template for Wix is minimal and elegant, giving most of the screen real estate over to large imagery.

While it's particularly effective for showcasing photography, this theme is versatile enough to display any kind of creative work, particularly illustration, and has built-in social sharing.

06. Adobe Portfolio: Marta portfolio website theme

Another Adobe Portfolio offering by a well-known designer, this stylish theme comes courtesy of Amsterdam-based art director Marta Veludo.

Its fixed navigation can change colour when you scroll, and keeps your core details visible while visitors browse the site.

Your logo is centred, with navigation options to the left-hand side – and the whole site is built on a responsive grid with fixed gutters. It's a slick, colourful and eye-catching option for any creative.

07. Squarespace: York portfolio website theme

Created specifically with designers in mind, the York template for Squarespace is refreshingly minimal compared to more thumbnail-led approaches.

The main area above the fold is reserved for a large, punchy introductory statement, while large project images are either full-width or half-width.

It's a simple layout that exudes confidence, and you need the work to support it. It's all about picking a handful of killer projects and letting them shine.

08. Wordpress: Throne portfolio website theme

Another ultra-versatile Wordpress template, Throne is as suitable for a freelance creative as it is for a fully fledged design studio. It's particularly well suited to those with a deep and broad portfolio across multiple disciplines, as the navigation filters your work by category.

Like Helium, it'll set you back $49 (around £43) – but it comes equipped with plenty of widgets, CSS3 animations, video support and a wide range of page layout options.

09. Cargo Collective: Cassiopeia portfolio website theme

Cassiopeia is a responsive portfolio template for Cargo Collective that fills the width of your browser window with columns of thumbnails. Like its Cargo stablemate Betelgeuse, Cassiopeia automatically scales project images by width, and you can also opt to do so vertically to fit a browser window.

The template supports Sets, as well. The function enables you to easily organise your projects by category, discipline or type of client, for instance.

10. Wix: Emma Brewer portfolio website theme

Many of the portfolios themes available for the Wix platform are pretty versatile in terms of end use, but there's usually a suggested discipline that each would suit best.

Pitched at art directors and graphic designers, this Emma Brewer theme features large, half-page-width thumbnails on the homepage, which click through to expansive project galleries.

Each has a killer screen-filling hero image at the top, a paragraph of info, and a selection of secondary images beneath – an ideal way to show branding and design projects with multiple touchpoints.

Related articles:

• 7 innovative ways to photograph your portfolio
• 5 unusual uses of colour in logo design
• 6 ways to save money as a freelancer

Contributer : Creative Bloq