Minnesota Web Design Directory

The web designer's portfolio

The portfolio is the number one factor a potential client should take into consideration when deciding what designer to use for any given project. A good web designer should have an extensive portfolio with links to either live sites or copies of sites designed for past clients.

If you are considering hiring a designer who has only small, thumbnail screenshots of sites in their portfolio section, you should be sure to request links to the live sites those thumbnails represent before committing to a designer. Screenshots of web sites can be a good indicator of a designer's skill set, but they give you no real input as to the designer's sense of usability or functionality. You can't navigate through a screenshot, so make sure you see a designer's live sites.

Look for consistency in a portfolio. If a designer has twenty sites in a portfolio, and only two of them are good, the odds are not in favor of you getting the third good website.

Volume. If experience is a quality you desire in your designer, make sure their portfolio isn't only two or three sites deep. Most designers will try and put as much of their work, or links to their work, on their own web site as possible, so someone new to the business might be limited in what they can show you. This can work the other way around, too, as veteran firms can put only three or four examples of their work in their portfolio and get away with it (they are established and can get work off reputation and word of mouth).

Ask a designer who has a limited portfolio if you can see more examples of their work. An inexperienced web designer isn't necessarily something to avoid; often times you can negotiate a lower price for their work. Also, a lack of experience in this business doesn't necessarily make for an inferior website designer. There are plenty of high school students out there who can outbuild a vetern web design firm.