Beautiful portfolio homepages

Your portfolio homepage is often your first impression – long before you have an interview, before you send a cover letter or give a strong handshake, before a company even contacts you.

Someone lands on your portfolio, scans it quickly and if they like what they see, they dig in. If they don’t, they likely exit before viewing a single case study.

While I’m of the belief that your portfolio should not be a piece of art, I always enjoy seeing those homepages that go a step beyond your standard hero image + text bio. Some show a grid of their work, some have a nice animation, some are understated and others over the top. Here are just a few of my recent favorites, all made with Semplice.

Christina Michelitsch

The stark contrast in the header. The lovely hover effects in the grid below. The little customizations like the slider arrows and “back to top” arrow. All of it together makes Christina Michelitsch’s homepage visually compelling.

Felix Faire

A mesmerizing grid of dots swells and rolls on Felix Faire’s homepage, morphing or scattering as you mouse over it. The animation sets Felix’ work (focused on sound, code and design) up perfectly.

Perfect Strangers Magazine

The Perfect Strangers site is for a magazine, not a portfolio, but I enjoy it so much I had to include it. Made by Foreign Policy Group (who we once interviewed here on the blog) this homepage is quirky and confident and unexpected.

Cori Corinne

Cori Corinne’s homepage is just fun, with roughly photoshopped images of her face multiplying on page load. It’s an intriguing and memorable experience, which is all you could want for your portfolio homepage.

Studio HMVD

Maybe it’s that striking yellow, maybe it’s the nice choice of typefaces or maybe it’s the combination of the two together. Whatever it is, Studio HMVD’s homepage (including the great work below this header) sticks in my mind and has appeared more than once in our portfolio features.

Kurt Winter

Apparently, I’m a sucker for animated graphics on welcome pages. The gentle movement of the graphics as well as the tasteful colors and typefaces on Kurt's homepage are a welcome contrast to most UX portfolios I see, which typically focus on text, screens and devices.

Matteo Giuseppe Pani

Matteo’s homepage is beautiful simply because of his work. The best portfolios are the ones that focus on the work itself, and this one can’t help but do so. That perfect blue typeface on black and the crisp grid below are just bonuses.

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For more inspiring portfolios, visit our Semplice Showcase or read our other portfolio articles on the blog.

Cover image by Matteo Giuseppe Pani