How many projects should a portfolio show?
People ask me how many projects in a portfolio is the right number. There is no magic count. There is a test each project has to pass, and the answer is however many pass it.
Is more work more convincing?
Rarely. A visitor does not study a portfolio; they sample it. They open the first project, perhaps one more, and form an opinion. If those are strong, the rest is confirmation. If the strong ones are buried among average ones, they may never be opened. Every weak project you add makes it less likely that the visitor lands on a good one.
Which projects pass the test?
Ask of each one: would I be glad to be hired to do this again? A portfolio is an advert for the next job, so it should show the kind of work you want more of. Then ask whether you can explain it: what was needed, what you did, what came out of it. A project you cannot talk about is only a picture.
Should I show range or one speciality?
Show range only where you want enquiries. If you take on stores, company sites and personal sites, one strong example of each tells the visitor you can handle theirs. If you want to be known for one thing, several projects of that kind do more than a mixed set. What confuses people is work that seems to come from several unrelated professions.
What should I say about each project?
A title and a screenshot are not enough. Give a few lines: who it was for in general terms, what the task was, what you were responsible for and, where it exists, a link to the live result. Be exact about your role. If you designed but did not build, say so. Claiming a whole project that was shared is the fastest way to lose a client in the first call.
What if I am just starting and have little to show?
Then show little, and show it well. Two finished pieces with clear explanations are a real portfolio. You can add self-initiated work, as long as you label it as such and do not present an imagined client as a real one. What you should not do is fill the gaps with template demos or with work copied from others. People check.
When do I take a project down?
When it no longer looks like what you would make today, when the live site has changed beyond recognition, or when it attracts the kind of job you have stopped taking. Review the portfolio whenever you finish something you are proud of: add the new piece and ask which old one it replaces. A portfolio that only grows slowly turns into an archive.
How I handle it
I have delivered more than 210 projects since 2020, and no visitor wants to scroll through all of them, so the same test applies to me. When I build a portfolio site for someone, I design the project page in Figma first and you approve it before the build. Then you get the dashboard and can add, reorder or remove projects yourself. Tell me what kind of work you want more of, and I will help you decide what the site should lead with.
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