how do i show my work? six projects, told properly

design · 2026-09-09 · 3 min

six projects, each with a photo, a sentence about the problem and a sentence about what you did. that is a portfolio. a grid of forty thumbnails without captions is wallpaper, and nobody hires wallpaper.

the temptation is to show everything, because everything took time. the visitor is not buying your time. they are answering one question: has this person done something like my thing, and did it end well?

the shape of one project

one page or one expandable block per project, with four things: what the client needed, what you made, what changed, and one photo. if a client said something useful, put the sentence there, not on a separate testimonials page nobody visits.

write the outcome in the client's terms. "the quote used to be a pdf, now it is a page you can fill in from the phone" beats "optimized the user journey". if you have no numbers, say what changed in plain words. invented percentages are the fastest way to look like everyone else.

choose the six

pick by resemblance to the work you want next, not by prestige. if you want kitchens, show kitchens.

keep old work only if it still represents you: a 2016 site with a carousel says something you may not want said.

two real projects and one personal one, labelled honestly, beat six stock mockups. a menu you designed for a friend's restaurant is a real menu.

photos and permission

ask before publishing. a written message is enough: "can i show these photos and your business name on my site?" some clients will say no, and that is fine; use the ones who said yes. blur the faces of people who did not agree, remove house numbers and plates, and do not publish a photo of a private home if the owner asked you not to.

if the work is under nda, describe it without the client: "a booking system for a dental studio in the province" is still a useful case, and it breaks nothing.

faq

how many projects should i show?

six to twelve is plenty for a small business. below three the page looks empty, above twenty nobody scrolls. if you have forty, show twelve and keep the rest available on request.

what if i have no clients yet?

show the work you did for friends, associations or yourself, and say so. a real project with a small client is more convincing than a fictional brand with a perfect mockup, because the visitor can check it.

do i need a page for each project?

not at the start. one page with six blocks and anchors works and is easier to keep updated. separate pages make sense when a project needs ten photos and a long story, which is rare for a site that has to bring work.