The best solution to this contradiction is to include portfolio entries where the illustration style and color palette matches the text but there’s a common underlying style too.Įxample: You could have an illustration for a mystery short story that’s black and white, dark, and has a more classic style as well as a children’s book illustration that’s bright and colorful. However, art directors also like to see a consistent style in a portfolio. The site uses parallax scrolling, full-screen video, thumbnails, and other contemporary techniques.There are large photos of past works of the agency. Pollen is a graphic design portfolio for a design agency. With editorial illustrations, the style choice is based on the text. This site is an example of how designers are using social media to promote their works. You want to show you can be given a piece of text and create an illustration that goes with it - not just create a random illustration that doesn’t really fit. This tells clients that you can match the tone of the text and tell the story visually. If your goal is to land editorial illustration jobs, your portfolio projects should include the accompanying text that the illustration goes with to put your work in context. Book illustrations are one of the most common forms of editorial illustrations, but they are also used in newspapers, blog posts, magazines, and anywhere text could benefit from more imagery.

Don’t be afraid to let your personality peer through.

Show off versatility with a range of different projects. Choose a format that complements your previous design projects. Editorial illustrations complement or clarify a body text. I’ll go into more detail later on, but here are some key factors to keep in mind when making a graphic design portfolio.

Graphic design portfolio projects