As a growing profession, graduates in web design can look forward to plenty of employment opportunities once they finish their courses. Nonetheless, competition can be fierce, and with a crowded field of applicants, it can sometimes be difficult to gain a foothold in the industry.
Students enrolled in web design courses, such as those offered at AOLCC, participate in a number of in-class projects which give them professional examples of their work to show potential employers. However, it’s worth remembering that companies looking to hire will often look at several different portfolios at once, and no matter how good your work is, it needs to be presented well in order to stand out.
Fortunately, there are a number of websites designed to help you build a unique online portfolio that will get you noticed.
1. Dribbble: Share Your Work With Your Web Design Classmates
One of the great things about studying web design is that you get a chance to make lifelong friendships and forge professional links with other future designers. And when you’re looking to build an impressive portfolio, who better to turn to for feedback than your fellow design students? Dribbble is a networking community for designers, illustrators and developers to share images of works-in-progress. With Dribbble, you and your classmates can provide constructive critiques of each other’s work.
2. Wix: Easy-To-Use Platform For New Web Designers
Web design courses offer students comprehensive training in the web development and coding skills necessary for the job. However, if you are in the early stages of your program or you’re simply unsure about the technical side of things, sites like Wix provide a great platform. The website’s simple drag-and-drop interface doesn’t require knowledge of any HTML, providing a great foundation for novice designers to construct impressive sites.
3. Behance: Get Yourself Noticed
Behance is an online showcase platform for designers who can build portfolios using Adobe’s Prosite and then link it directly to Behance’s online community. The site regularly attracts people looking to hire freelance designers, and also integrates tools like Google Analytics to help you promote your work.
4. Coroflot: Helping Web Designer Graduates Find Jobs
Coroflot is another community site that helps web design college graduates to share their portfolios. The site’s user-friendly interface makes it easy to present your work professionally, and the community provides great opportunities to connect with other designers. Best of all, the site allows users to subscribe to job alerts so they can easily keep track of opportunities.
Coroflot notifies users when job postings come up.
5. Squarespace: A Popular Site For Web Design Portfolios
Many students pursuing a web designer diploma will already be familiar with Squarespace, which is one of the most well-known and highly regarded site builders available. It provides options for everyone—from simple templates for users with no design backgrounds to elaborate styling options for professionals looking to make truly unique sites. If you want variety in your portfolio, Squarespace provides practically everything you could possibly need.
Visit AOLCC to learn more about our training programs or speak with an advisor.
