How Top Designers Make Their Portfolios Irresistible

Put yourself in the shoes of a hiring manager for a second. You're looking at two portfolios where both designers are clearly talented and their work is strong. You'd be happy to hire either of

strong. You'd be happy to hire either of these designers, but only one of their portfolios tells you who the designer actually is. And even though their work

actually is. And even though their work is equal, suddenly the decision is not.

Because when everything else is the same, people naturally gravitate to the designer they feel the most connected to. So, in this video, I want to show

to. So, in this video, I want to show you why the about page is the most underrated page in a design portfolio and tell you exactly what hiring managers look for when they read it and

how to turn yours into a page that builds trust and connection.

A lot of designers don't put much effort into their portfolio. Some even treat it like an afterthought where they have some sort of generic about me copy on their homepage or nothing at all. But

when hiring managers and recruiters open your portfolio, they're not just asking, "Can this person do the work?" Because

assuming your work is good, they're also asking, "Would I actually want to work with this person on a day-to-day basis?"

Because hiring managers aren't just trying to fill roles, they're trying to picture a teammate, someone they can collaborate with, and one that fits their team culture. And the about page

or the about section is usually where that decision gets made. It's where you go from feeling like another designer in a stack of tabs to feeling like an actual person. This is where recruiters

actual person. This is where recruiters and hiring managers get to know more about you. This is your space to show

about you. This is your space to show more of your personality. Talking about

things like why you do the work that you do, where you're located, what some of your passions are, if you've won any accolades, or some of the past companies you've worked for. Those details create

context and context builds trust.

Especially now in this age of AI, being human is a competitive advantage. A

strong about page helps recruiters and hiring managers understand more about you. And when it's done right, their

you. And when it's done right, their next step feels very obvious. They want

to reach out. Now, let's take a look at some examples of portfolios with great about pages. All right, so the first

about pages. All right, so the first portfolio example we're going to look at is from Champ Studio. I've shown this portfolio in previous videos, but I felt like it was worth showing again because

the about page here is just so good. So,

if we click the about page, we see this really cool animation that brings us to the main photo. And again, in this age of AI, it's just really nice to see

things that are human. We can see that there's a real human behind this studio.

And this photo immediately shows us his workspace. And just off of this alone, I

workspace. And just off of this alone, I kind of feel like I'm in the office with him. He has this friendly smile, and it

him. He has this friendly smile, and it just makes me want to know more about Champ. And as I scroll down, I kind of

Champ. And as I scroll down, I kind of get to see some of that information. So,

I can see that he's driven by a passion for abstract art and striking visuals.

And then as I continue to scroll through this page, I get to see what some of his studios core values are. And then a little bit further down the page, we see

some of their most relevant clients, which also has this really fun scroll animation. But one additional thing that

animation. But one additional thing that they do here on this studio, is on the team page, I really like the photos and the playfulness they use here. So, even

the way they talk about themselves, he'll be the first to tell you he has the best wife in the world. And then we go to a picture of the wife. And then we see more pictures of the family. Again,

it just helps you feel more connected to Champ and this family-owned studio. It

makes you just want to reach out and learn more about who they are and how they can support you on whatever project you're working on or if you're looking to hire them full-time on your team. The

next portfolio we're going to look at is from Leo. So, if we take a look at Leo's

from Leo. So, if we take a look at Leo's about page again, we see this really nice transition. And we immediately see

nice transition. And we immediately see that Leo is a Brazilian designer and illustrator freelancer. And we get to

illustrator freelancer. And we get to see the type of projects that Leo likes to work on. So, advertising, animation, and digital products. We also get to see

a little bit more about his style. And

again, coming down here, we see a real photo of Leo, which is really nice coming from the homepage where we sort of see an illustration of Leo. It's nice

to come here and see a real photo.

Again, it just helps with developing more of a connection with this designer.

And then as we scroll down, again, leaning more into building a connection, he talks about some of his personal lifestyle. So, we can see what he likes

lifestyle. So, we can see what he likes to do in his spare time, doing things like play Fortnite, which is really cool. We can see that Leo is into movies

cool. We can see that Leo is into movies and animes, which is really nice, especially if I'm also someone who's into anime and unique movies. And as we

scroll down, we see some social proof elements here. So, we see that Leo is

elements here. So, we see that Leo is highlighting some of the most notable clients that he's worked with. And we go down even further and see that he's highlighted some really cool creator

stats across some of his social profiles. And then we see some services

profiles. And then we see some services that he offers. We could read interviews that Leo has done over the past few years. And then we also see some awards

years. And then we also see some awards and recognition, which again builds a little bit of social proof for him as a designer. And then lastly, we can see

designer. And then lastly, we can see some events that Leo has participated in. So overall, really strong about

in. So overall, really strong about page. The next portfolio we're going to

page. The next portfolio we're going to look at is from Daniel Sun. This is a really fun portfolio. And if we click on story in the navigation here, it brings

us to an about section. And right off the bat, we get to see some of Daniel's personality. Just look at how he chose

personality. Just look at how he chose to write the headline for this section.

I don't have dark secrets, only bright ones. And as we scroll down, our eye is

ones. And as we scroll down, our eye is immediately drawn to this carousel of images here. I really like how he chose

images here. I really like how he chose to style the images with this retro vibe. There's this nice handwritten font

vibe. There's this nice handwritten font that adds a little bit of context for each image. And there's also these

each image. And there's also these really nice doodles that pop up for each photo. And to the left, we get to read

photo. And to the left, we get to read more about Daniel's story. We get to see that he grew up in Ukraine. He was into graffiti at one point. He has an

architecture degree. And him and his

architecture degree. And him and his wife now live in Porto, which is really cool. And then as we scroll down, we get

cool. And then as we scroll down, we get to see some of the services that Daniel offers as well as the types of companies

he's targeting. And if you notice, he

he's targeting. And if you notice, he doesn't have a list of speaking events that he's done. He's not linking to interviews. You don't really need to

interviews. You don't really need to have all of that if that isn't relevant to you and your story. So just these two sections alone are doing a really great

job of showing Daniel's personality as well as help build that connection around him as an individual. The next

portfolio we're going to look at is from Jay. And this about section is a great

Jay. And this about section is a great example of simplicity. And immediately

we can see that Jay's personality shines through the writing with things like I love design. Like genuinely I love it.

love design. Like genuinely I love it.

And then there's this fun chat bubble off to the side that says kind of vague obligatory about me. It has this fun, sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek tone. The

writing just feels human and not like something AI wrote. And then we could also see that Jay is spending more time in apps like Cursor than Figma these

days. We also see that he has a a fun

days. We also see that he has a a fun custom strikethrough with this handwritten font next to it which kind of nods to his creativity. Again, this

about section is fairly simple, but it's still very strong. The key message of this video is simple. When the work is equal, people naturally choose the

designer they feel the most connected to. But connection only works if the

to. But connection only works if the rest of your portfolio also feels professional and high quality. So, if

you want to know the secret sauce to make your portfolio look pro, check out this video.