Thanks so much for helping me stick with it!

I had almost the exact same experience putting together my newest portfolio site. From the time I started until the time I finished it took me a full 12 months, 98% of which was me struggling to come up with something “perfect” rather than just building something really good, really quickly like I normally do when dealing with regular paying clients.

I definitely learned my lesson though, any time I need to do work for myself, I need to treat myself like a client, otherwise I’ll waste another year trying to get things “perfect.”

Great read, glad to know I’m not the only one out there who’s struggled, makes me feel a little better.

Your advices are really helpful and motivate me a lot. As soon as I’m done I’ll tell you.

Having something out there is always better than nothing. If you feel you don’t have time, or are frustrated with your own web design work, then go with a template. But I agree, left-hand navigation isn’t ideal, and those sites are pretty minimal.

If you know you can build something better, then go for it. But don’t force yourself to learn web design overnight if you can’t or don’t want to. Having a simple site with your work on their is enough for a lot of print designers and photographers. I obviously can’t get away with that as a web designer, but it works perfectly well for other people

You could always take the middle ground, and use a pre-made template (they’re relatively cheap), but edit with your own ideas/branding. What’s important is that you end up something you’re comfortable with, and that gets you results (job interviews, clients, followers, whatever you’re after).

Thanks for your reply! I’ll definetly take a step back and see if there are some things or trends that I like.

In fact I don’t have a background in webdesign so I’m trying to find the right strategy for setting up my site, too.
I was thinking of WordPress plus Vimeo plus Thesis Plugin. WordPress for keeping the website up to date easily and for blogging issues of course. Vimeo for an easy Video administration. And Thesis because it might help setting up the basic layout of the site – I am not a webdesign expert. I just don’t have that ‘technical background’ concerning HTML/CSS and so on.

Then there are portfolio sites like indexhibit or cargocollective… which I doubt. Every website over there looks the same: Minimalistic navigation on the left side. Photos and designs on the right side. Ewww.

Do you have a quick word of advice?

Totally! I think this sort of anxiety and trashing of designs is really normal for personal projects. Sometimes you have have throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But in effort to save time and not go crazy, I’d definitely suggest looking back at the work you got rid of, and see if there are some trends. Maybe the next time around you’ll avoid those mistakes, and then get your site up!

I’d love to see it when you’re finished!

I am currently planning my first own website. I am thinking of a online portfolio which is connected with a blog.

Two Months ago I thought I found a good name but I trashed it. Three weeks ago I thought I had a good design but it was not exactly what I wanted. So I trashed it. During the last weeks I spent hours in developing ideas for a new name and design. Guess what: I trashed it all. So, today I felt, well… a little stuck.

Half an hour ago I tried to get some inspiration via gsg.com and saw your avatar in the comments of the new ‘Five Second Project’. Yellow. Such a nice yellow. Instant click. And bam! I saw this blogpost. To cut a long story short:

I just wanted to thank you for these tips. It really cheered me up and gave me some good advice!

Greetings,
Tinderbox