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Creating an Online Portfolio – Killer Psychology Tips

Creative galleries or online portfolios are developed to help designers, photographers or other creative people to represent their works on the web. Portfolios can be used to support the process of collection, to reflect the progress of the professional development or simply to display works online.

There are various researches provided that allow to figure out user’s preferences according to various types of sites and content. All these results are based on the surveys that users themselves take part in. This post includes the information based on the user’s preferences of web portfolios. According to the scope there can be outlined three types of portfolio viewers:

Users who like to click on the images

Users who scroll and click thumbnails

Users who are click happy

This scope shows us how various people respond to different site layouts and navigation. According to this division you can refer yourself (as a user) to one of the following categories. We’re highly excited to know your type, so feel free to express your opinion in the comments section.

Users who like to click on the images

Everyone loves pretty pictures, but there are people that will definitely click on every picture hoping to see more (these examples include both existing portfolios and templates produced by TemplateMonster):

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Users who scroll and click thumbnails

Luckily most users know what they want, that is why when they visit your portfolio they are willing to see all content. Keep in mind that you need to use preview for the images for them to know where to click (these examples include both existing portfolios and templates produced by TemplateMonster):

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Users who are click happy

There is a special category of users who do not have much time, that is why it essential not to create too complete navigation, the best possible variant is to navigate through the site without moving the mouse and clicking all around the web page (these examples include both existing portfolios and templates produced by TemplateMonster):

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Creating a successful portfolio is much easier than you think. To succeed you need to keep in mind following tips:

1) define your audience, because it is a main point of your professional success;
2) make an emphasis on its usability as it is important for all users(if you have a complicated navigation nobody will even try to figure out how it works);
3) lessen the amount of works presented. If have tons of works shown there it may not be a plus for you, because the user may get confused while browsing through – that is why you need to present only the best works you have;
4) place your contact information on the most visible part of the page, the best choice would be to place it into the header.

After considering all these points you may get a bit confused, no need to worry, because it is even impossible to please all users, though you CAN make a perfect blend of your personality, prominence of work and simplicity.

P.S. After you’ve created your own portfolio DON’T forget to renew it! Nobody is interested to browse through the site that wasn’t managed for months. If you create and unforgettable viewing experience you will definitely become a prosperous photographer or a web designer. Good luck!

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