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jessdrizin
Community Member

What other online portfolios/websites do you use (and keep updated)?

Hi Design and Creatives!

 

I'm a User Researcher with Upwork, and I'm working with a product team to build out some new features for our sign-up and profile creation process.  In an effort to make the process a little easier for new freelancers, I'd love to get some quick feedback from our talented designers here!

 

My question for you is- what site(s) do you use to keep and updated portfolio?  A personal site? Behance? Dribble? Something else?

 

Also, do you use the same site to keep an updated work/client history? Or do you use LinkedIn (or something else) for that?

 

Thanks in advance everyone! Your responses help us build a better experience for freelancers like you. 😄

15 REPLIES 15
zk961
Community Member

Most of the freelancers here use Canva

jessdrizin
Community Member

Hi Zainab, thanks for the reply! Canva looks more like a tool that you create designs with- what portfolio site do you keep your designs in? Like if a client asks to see your portfolio, what site would you share with them?

kbadeau
Community Member


Zainab K wrote:

Most of the freelancers here use Canva


Really? I've never heard of someone using Canva.

 

I have a bare bones Behance/Adobe page and some samples on my profile but I also just have saved portfolio pieces saved to my computer so I can send specific examples depending on the project.

kbadeau
Community Member

I thought we weren't allowed to link to our own personal sites due to the Upwork TOS.


Kelly B wrote:

I thought we weren't allowed to link to our own personal sites due to the Upwork TOS.


If I remember well you can't link your personal website if it contains a link or a contact form to contact you directly, otherwise no problem.

dzadza
Community Member

well - you can't really say that most designers use canva - it's a template site used by people who are not  designers. 

I'd say probably behance and personal sites

mtngigi
Community Member


Sanja D wrote:

well - you can't really say that most designers use canva - it's a template site used by people who are not  designers. 

I'd say probably behance and personal sites


Yeah ... I wondered about that myself. It explains a lot of profiles, right?

 

In the end - it's just as easy to keep your best samples close at hand, and attach relevant projects to your bids. Clients don't have the time, nor care about seeing your entire design history - I've rarely seen RFPs where a client asks specifically for a link to a site, and most times I believe they ask because they're not aware that your portfolio is available on your profile.

 

Most times, clients only want to know that you can do the job you're bidding on ... again, relevant samples. No need to make them visit another site and have to weed through hundreds of samples looking for something that resembles their job.

mtngigi
Community Member


Jessica D wrote:

Hi Design and Creatives!

 

I'm a User Researcher with Upwork, and I'm working with a product team to build out some new features for our sign-up and profile creation process.  In an effort to make the process a little easier for new freelancers, I'd love to get some quick feedback from our talented designers here!

 

My question for you is- what site(s) do you use to keep and updated portfolio?  A personal site? Behance? Dribble? Something else?

 

Also, do you use the same site to keep an updated work/client history? Or do you use LinkedIn (or something else) for that?

 

Thanks in advance everyone! Your responses help us build a better experience for freelancers like you. 😄


I wish Upwork would refrain from making it easier, especially in this over-saturated category. There are many people who fill their portfolios with easy-to-steal artwork online, as well as from other freelancer's portfolios, and call themselves graphic designers by claiming the work as their own. Those profiles are always so glaringly obvious, yet they're accepted. The end result is a lot of unhappy clients who find out they paid for a clip art logo. I know this isn't what you're asking, but I'm taking this opportunity to vent about this because it's a problem.

 

As to your question. I keep organized work samples on my hard drive and attach relevant samples to my bids. I have samples in my UW portfolio, but I don't depend on it because it's truly awful in the way that it displays samples.

 

And I believe that now, if we want to edit our portfolio, we are being forced to create specialized profiles, which I have no interest in doing. I can't add new samples, I can't delete items I'd like to delete. Upwork has no business dictating how I want to present myself, yet that's what is happening.

aldywaanimusic
Community Member

I just created a question regarding Profile 🙂 here: Portfolio Video Upload

 

I work mostly on national TV Commercials, Music Videos, etc. all Video based files, showreels are not easy to share and upload publically due to copyrights, NDAs, etc. Some use personal website. But i prefer to stick on Google Drive and One Drive to store Showreel video files and share the link to the right person/clients 🙂  

 

I use LinkedIn too! Definetly recommend to have feature to connect with LinkedIn profile here in Upwork.

 

Cheers!

 


Aldy W wrote:

I just created a question regarding Profile 🙂 here: Portfolio Video Upload

 

I work mostly on national TV Commercials, Music Videos, etc. all Video based files, showreels are not easy to share and upload publically due to copyrights, NDAs, etc. Some use personal website. But i prefer to stick on Google Drive and One Drive to store Showreel video files and share the link to the right person/clients 🙂  

 

I use LinkedIn too! Definetly recommend to have feature to connect with LinkedIn profile here in Upwork.

 

Cheers!

 


You are not allowed to use LinkedIn - the option to do so was removed when LinkedIn introduced it's freelancing service.

You are not allowed to use LinkedIn - the option to do so was removed when LinkedIn introduced it's freelancing service.


Good to know, Thanks Virginia.

But unfotunately LinkedIn ProFinder feature are not available on my county yet :))

hbryantdesign
Community Member

Behance for my print work or flatwork.
Youtube for my videos.
Twitch for my live streams.
Google Slides for my portfolio (for ease of viewing and/or printing).



However, as had been noted in other places here, be aware of making it too easy. You don't want Upwork to end up like Fiver or Freelancer, where you have an influx of false freelancers who use stolen artwork to try and prove they are good, only to take money out of the hands of honest freelancers.

Remember whom your end clients are, and what their pain points are - besides the interface.
I do UX design as well as accessibility design - and to be honest I find that there are some things that get overlooked in UX design because they don't directly affect the interface. 

Sometimes its the service (service design) itself that needs work.


"You don't want Upwork to end up like Fiver or Freelancer, where you have an influx of false freelancers who use stolen artwork to try and prove they are good ..."

 

That horse left the barn a long time ago and is running free. There are thousands of them on Upwork, getting away with their fraud daily.

vsalinitro
Community Member

I use my own website for my portfolio (I would update my Upwork portfolio if I wouldn't be forced to add a specialized profile as well) and Linkedin for my work history.

I'm planning to create a portfolio on Behance but I can't find the time to do that.

robtboyle
Community Member

I really wish we could just link to our own portfolio sites. 

 

For many freelance designers, so much work goes into the design & build of your site. Regardless of the policy against including a link to your own site in your profile, that's always going to be the first thing I send a potential client.