For some time now I have been working on redesigning my portfolio site. Like many designers, I have found it extremely hard to narrow down one direction and have completed more than four developmental versions of the site that have all been scrapped. In an effort to finally get it right (On the fifth try) I have been doing some extensive research into what makes a successful and visually interesting portfolio site. So lately I have been searching the web in search of the most inspirational portfolios I can find, and rather than keep all the results to myself we find ourselves at post number three in my Sources of Inspiration Series (Number One & Number Two).
In addition there have been a number of great articles written on how to design the perfect portfolio site. Each one has helped me to define what the actual goals of my new portfolio will be, something that I had thought of in the past, however for some reason forgot along the way.
edit:
Somewhre along the way I forgot to mention that these portfolios have been selected for the quality of their work, and their effective presentation. While I understand that some people may not find them to the the most appealing websites themselves, that way not the main criteria I was using to select a site for inclusion (even though it is a factor).
Freelance Switch: 9 Insane Portfolio Designs to Make You Drool
Smashing Magazine: Creating A Successful Online Portfolio
Astheria: Portfolios That Accomplish Goals
Astheria: My Last Portfolio Sucked, Yours Might Too
Grand People
http://www.grandpeople.org/
SEA Design
http://www.seadesign.co.uk/
Isabelle Gehrmann
http://www.isabelle-gehrmann.de/
Think Dust
http://www.thinkdust.com/
Corey Holms
http://www.coreyholms.com/
En Bloc
http://www.en-bloc.co.uk/
Company
http://www.company-london.com/
One Twenty Six
http://www.onetwentysix.com/
Albert Folch Studio
http://www.albertfolch.com/
F. Chimers
http://www.makemakemake.org/
AssociaDirect – The Association Agency
HellYeahDude.com
WordPress theme's for designers
Digg for Designers
Barackas.com – Barack Obama Maraccas
Flash Components
3 Months $20 
March 6th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Is this a joke? These portfolios, as sites, are fucking common, mundane, and shitty.
INSPIRING?
Please. Keep moving, nothing to see here.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I don’t agree with the above me user, but i do think mine should be in there (sp330.com)!
hahaha
just joking it’s a quite nice collection. s
March 7th, 2008 at 4:54 am
A nice collection of links, although I do think that the examples you found and posted as pics are not exactly incredibly well made (although I do like their work).
Have you tried browsing through http://onepagefolios.com/ by any chance? It’s links aren’t always the greatest, but they have some amazing, like the link states, one page folio’s :)
March 7th, 2008 at 5:45 am
Maybe I should have stipulated that these portfolios have been selected for their work and their ability to showcase the work without getting lost in extraneous features, not the overall quality of their websites.
There are enough articles and inspiration sites devoted to website design, this is about the designers themselves. As for your comment, unnamed foul mouth commentor, your comments are very rude and insensitive to the work of these professionals. I also see that you did not share a link to your website… I wonder why?
March 7th, 2008 at 6:20 am
I would like to see websites without Flash. I appreciate the examples given here, but in some cases I feel as if flash based websites are almost cheating the web standards. All show a good navigation with great content, but in order for a site to be exceptional, I feel it needs to have things optimized for good search, structure and some other things not necessarily capable in flash itself.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Joram: Yes I have been to One Page Folios and have found some great examples on there in the past, thanks for your comment.
Daniel: You have a very valid concern, however for this series I tend to pick on the strength of the work within the portfolio first, and then take the actual portfolio into consideration second. I have been thinking about your comment Daniel (and the others as well), and on the next installment of the Sources of Inspiration Series I will do a round up of the best built / coded portfolios not in flash that also feature amazing work. I may make it a smaller grouping of portfolios because I am sure they are going to be a lot harder to find, but I will discuss why each is so well done.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Ahhh, in that case… nice list ^^
March 10th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Very interesting choices. For comparison, I invite you to review our portfolio as well as design, http://www.ardis-creative.com