30 years in design taught me this: Your portfolio doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to exist.

After 30+ years as a designer, I’ve seen a lot. Trends come and go. Tools evolve. But there’s one thing that never changes: designers neglect their own portfolios.

I get it. I’ve done it too.

You’re deep in client work. You’re hustling on social media trying to get eyes on your business. You’re in the trenches, doing the actual work that pays the bills. Your portfolio? That’s tomorrow’s problem.

Or you do start working on it, but then you find yourself tweaking. Revising. Never quite satisfied. Another font choice. Another layout adjustment. Another animation tweak.

And it never launches.

Here’s the truth nobody wants to hear:

Your portfolio is your calling card. It’s how clients find you. It’s how they decide whether to reach out. And if it doesn’t exist — or worse, if it’s outdated — you’re invisible.

But here’s the good news: Your portfolio doesn’t need to be perfect.

It doesn’t need the flashiest animations. It doesn’t need every project you’ve ever touched. It doesn’t need to win awards.

It needs to be live. It needs to be fast. And it needs to show your best work — clearly.

Keep it fast. Keep it clean. Make them keen.

That’s been my philosophy for years, and it’s never let me down.

Rick Rubin said it best:

“Embrace simplicity. Sometimes the most powerful things are the simplest.”

Too many portfolio sites are overstuffed with heavy graphics, sluggish animations, and page speeds that make visitors bounce before they even see your work. Never cool.

Here’s what actually works:

Clean layouts. Give your work room to breathe. White space isn’t wasted space — it’s intentional.

Fast loading. Nobody waits for a site to load anymore. If it’s slow, they’re gone.

Show your character. Your portfolio should feel like you. Not a corporate template. Not a design trend. You.

Make it scannable. Everyone scans nowadays. Nobody has time to dig through countless pages to find your best work. Put it front and center.

Stop tweaking. Start launching.

Your portfolio doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to exist.

It has to load fast, look professional, and make it easy for potential clients to understand what you do and reach out.

Everything else is just procrastination dressed up as perfectionism.

So here’s my challenge to you…

Launch something this week.

Doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. Doesn’t matter if you only show three projects. Doesn’t matter if the about page is a single paragraph.

Launch it. Get it live. You can always improve it later.

But right now you’re probably invisible right?

And your work deserves better than that.

P.S. If you’ve been putting off your portfolio because building from scratch feels overwhelming, I built something that might help. Osaka is a collection of Framer portfolio templates designed to get you live fast — no bloat, just clean layouts that let your work shine. Check them out if you’re curious.

Thanks for reading,
Marc.

Your Portfolio Is Your Calling Card. Stop Neglecting It. was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.