Stop 13 · Design Portfolio StrategyTopics · 5/7

Portfolio Platforms (Behance, Personal Site)

In short

Where your portfolio lives changes who finds it and how well you can tell your story. Most designers end up using both a community platform and their own site.

Behance offers built-in discovery and a design-focused audience; a personal site gives full control over presentation and narrative — many designers use both, with a personal site as the primary destination.

The jaadu stands between a busy fair stall and a neat little shop with a striped awning.

Think of it like this

Mela stall vs your own shop

A stall at the big mela gets lots of passing crowds, but it looks like every other stall and you follow the mela's rules. Your own shop on the main road takes more effort, but you choose the layout, the sign and the story.

Watch it happen

Behance vs a personal site

Behance

Built-in audience and discovery
Quick to set up, no code
Fixed layout, looks like everyone else

Personal site

Full control of layout and story
Your own domain looks professional
Takes more time to build and maintain

Make a personal site your main link on CVs, and post shorter versions on Behance or similar to get discovered.

The big ideas

What you need to know

One main link

Pick one URL for your CV and LinkedIn. Don't make recruiters choose between three.

No-code is fine

Builders like Framer, Webflow or Notion let you make a clean site without coding. Content matters more than the tool.

Check on mobile

Many recruiters first open your link on a phone. Make sure it reads well there.

Mind NDAs

For client or company work, check what you're allowed to show publicly. Password-protect if needed.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Spending two months coding a fancy site with no case studies on it.

Do this instead

Write your case studies first. A simple site with great content beats a flashy empty one.

Oops

Using a free subdomain full of the builder's ads as your main link.

Do this instead

If you can, use a clean custom domain, or at least a plain URL with your name in it.

Your mission

Set up both

~45 min

Quick check

What's the main advantage of a personal portfolio site over Behance?

Go deeper

1Set up a basic profile on at least one portfolio platform.
2Compare the trade-offs of a template-based platform versus building a custom personal site.
3Learn that the platform matters far less than the clarity and quality of the case studies themselves.