Why InVision should have a portfolio feature for designers.
I tried to do my portfolio with InVision and failed
I was curious to find out if I could quickly update my portfolio without coding it. It turns out. You almost can.
Why not do my portfolio as an InVision prototype? It initially worked so well, that I just sent out the prototype link to a couple of people. Afterwards, I even redirected my domain to the InVision prototype. Why the heck not?!
Conclusion
Well… It turns out, there is a couple of issues. Here is my first-hand experience.
I would be really happy if there was a sketch plugin, that would give me the opportunity to do a design portfolio straight out of sketch? I think this could be a really interesting idea to explore.
Yes, there is https://www.animaapp.com but I have to be honest here. It didn’t work for me. It could be because anima uses a very generalistic approach. I have tried to use it a couple of times and gave up. Maybe they could do more niche version just for creating a portfolio.
Maybe this problem needs a solution. Maybe not, you decide 👀. In any case I went back to my old Wordpress installation.
Here is a quick list for why this makes sense:
- No update required.
- Fully customizable.
- No server hustle.
- If you know sketch you can make a portfolio.
- Focus on the content.
- Stop Procrastinating because of the pain of your CMS.
Here is why it didn’t work.
- Too slow. (5–10 Seconds on first page-load)
- Password protection not artboard based.
- Mobile unfriendly.
Would you like to have this service too?
I would be curious about your opinion what do you think?
The journey
Let’s get to it.
So a portfolio in its simplest form is a landing page with information about what you do, who you are and what you have been working on. This translates to a set of artboards that need to be linked together.
I guess most of us know the Craft plugin from InVision. For a portfolio the craft plugin is mostly what you need. So this worked really well for me.
Upload
Okay so, really that is it. Copy the link and send it out. 👍
Loading Behaviour.
Okay, so here is the first problem. It could be cool, maybe even a statement I told myself — but honestly, it is not. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt to be able to able to customize the loading page. Even for prototypes. Anyways…
Loading time is terrible. It takes around 4–5 Seconds to load my page. For a prototype this okayish. I mean I am sure it is possible to tweak this a bit more. It wouldn’t hurt to lead each image by itself. Done.
After the loading screen, besides the bars on the right and on the left, you can definetely live with this. Don’t get me wrong. If you are looking for a high-end experience. Sure. This will hurt your eyes. But not bad for a couple of days, no?
I also wouldn’t mind being able to have a custom domain. But this would work too.
Password Protected pages
As many designers have NDA pending Project this actually really important.
It would be nice to have password protection on certain pages not just on the whole prototype.
It wouldn’t hurt either to be able to customize this screen by changing the background picture or the logo on the bottom.
