Hi, my name is Lauren. I'm a professional graphic designer, and I have a confession: it’s been WAY too long since I last updated my portfolio.
I know for a fact I'm not alone, so I’m turning it into a live 4-week class that’ll help other portfolio procrastinators get it done alongside me in the new year.
As creative freelancers, we all know how important our online portfolios are to our businesses.
- Your portfolio acts as the digital storefront for your small business.
- Your portfolio communicates (and dictates) the type of work you’re available for.
- Your portfolio sells potential clients on your work and gives them a way to contact you.
…but even knowing all of that, many of us continue to kick the ‘update portfolio’ task further and further down our to-do lists ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Portfolio Procrastinator was made for you if:
- Your Instagram contains way more current work than your actual website (oops!)
- You're tired of telling people how outdated your portfolio is before sending them the link.
- Your current website isn't an accurate representation of the work you'd like to be known for.
- You want to apply to new jobs but an outdated portfolio is getting in your way.
- Procrastination is one of your core personality traits, so external deadlines are gold to you.
- Updating your portfolio in a group sounds more enjoyable than doing it alone.
Join me and a group of like-minded creatives in taking advantage of our inevitable burst of new-year motivation and finally updating our sh*t together.
"Eep! So I finally finished my design portfolio. This has been YEARS in the making, but I finally feel like I’m at a place to be able to show it off. It’s never perfect, and I’m my own worst critic, but I’m so excited to apply for jobs and finally say “I have a website!”.
I think every designer gripes about their own portfolio or hasn’t updated it in years. Portfolio Procrastinator really helped me organize things to finish the damn thing."
This 4-week class begins on January 17th, 2025. Here's what to expect:
- Every Friday morning, you’ll receive an email with a video lesson (aka a recording of me working on my portfolio and walking you through my process) and links to any additional resources I mention.
- Every following Wednesday from 11am to 12pm ET, I’ll be available for live office hours where you can ask me questions about that week’s lesson, get feedback on your progress, or simply use the time as a work session. Replays will be uploaded and available to watch immediately after streaming.
Week 1 · PORTFOLIO AUDIT
As much as I hate planning, it’s a necessary first step whenever I update my portfolio! We’ll assess our current, outdated portfolios and make a plan for what we want to add (and what we want to delete). We’ll identify our main goals for our websites, which will inform the design and curation choices we’ll make moving forward.
Link to lesson emailed on January 17th + Office Hours hosted at 11 AM ET on January 22nd
Week 2 · PREPARING THE WORK
After we make a plan, we’ll gather and create all of the best work we want to add to our portfolios. I’ll be doing a mix of mocking up my work digitally, taking photos manually, and honestly just using JPEGS of artwork (and I’ll walk you through how I make those decisions). This week also includes writing descriptions of each project, complete with basic templates to help things go faster.
Link to lesson emailed on January 24th + Office Hours hosted at 11 AM ET on January 29th
Week 3 · PREPARING THE OTHER STUFF
If only updating a portfolio was as simple as uploading new work, right?! This week, we’ll be talking ALL THE OTHER THINGS: copywriting for the rest of your website (hello ‘About Me’), updating your artist headshot, revising your client list, and curating your homepage. I’ll provide copywriting templates for your Homepage, About Me, and Contact pages for those who are stuck.
Link to lesson emailed on January 31st + Office Hours hosted at 11 AM ET on February 5th
Week 4 · UPLOAD & GO LIVE
This week, we’ll upload all of our shiny new assets to our portfolios and put the finishing touches on our sites. I’ll show you how to promote your updated portfolio to your current online audience, and we’ll finish strong by making a game plan for the future. We’ll identify goals and gaps in our updated portfolios that will inform the kind of personal work we do moving forward (aka getting you closer to landing your dream projects and aligned clients).
Link to lesson emailed on February 7th + Office Hours hosted at 11 AM ET on February 12th
Access to all course materials will expire on February 17th, 2025 at 11:59pm ET to mimic the experience of an in-person class. I find that real-life deadlines like these are helpful for procrastinators like us 😉
"Hooray! I've updated my website after months of telling myself I should do it but never making the time for it. This course was EXACTLY what I needed, and I didn't think twice about signing up. I'd taken Lauren's Passion To Paid course before (also excellent if you ask me), and I knew it was going to be good. But I'm also biased: I love Lauren's work, her teaching style, and her vibe.
Anyways, she delivered once again! Updating my portfolio has honestly never flowed so easily. And the thing I dreaded turned into something I actually enjoyed doing and got excited about. There are still a few things I'd like to tweak and add, but this is good enough for now, and now I have a system for planning the work."
Your Instructor
I’m Lauren Hom, a designer, letterer, and muralist with a knack for marketing. I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember, and I discovered lettering while studying advertising in college. I loved it, and it quickly became a passion project. After I landed -- and subsequently burnt out at -- my dream job at an advertising firm, I knew that I had to figure something else out. It took a rock-bottom moment that included eating raw cheese ravioli on my kitchen floor at three in the morning for me to decide that I would make a living with my art - no matter what it took.
Since then, I've worked with clients like Google, Target, Adobe, and TIME Magazine, won almost every major creative industry award, and grown an audience of 280K+ around my work on social media. I don't think my grandma quite understands what that means, but she says she's really proud of me.
Frequently Asked Questions
“It’s amazing how much I got done over the last month because of this class!”
- Angelika Piwowarczyk, floraillustration.com
Updating your portfolio site can seem like an overwhelming and daunting task...because it is!
Especially if it's been months (or even years!) since you last worked on it 😬
Especially when you're so close to the creative work you're supposed to curate.
That's where joining a class like Portfolio Procrastinator can make all the difference:
- Gain momentum from working alongside other creatives with similar goals.
- Avoid getting stuck in your own head by receiving real-time feedback from your peers and me.
- Be accountable to class deadlines due to expiring access to lessons.
If you're finally ready to check the ‘update portfolio’ task off your to-do list in 2025, I'd love to have you in this upcoming class.