Most UK creative job adverts ask for one of two things: a PDF portfolio or a link to your work. A few ask for both in the same sentence and leave you guessing which one will be opened first. Neither format is better in the abstract. It depends on who is reading, what device they are holding, and how much control you need over the way your work is seen. Here is how the two compare, and how to decide in under five minutes.
Start with the brief, not the format
Before you export anything, answer three questions: who receives this, how will they open it, and what decision are they trying to make? A studio creative director flicking through work on a phone between meetings needs something different from a public sector recruitment panel working through shortlisting criteria on a desktop with the sound off.
The format usually answers itself once you name the reader:
- Design studios and agencies: a link, because they want to see process, motion and full case studies.
- Recruiters and talent teams: a PDF, because it attaches to an applicant tracking system and survives forwarding.
- Public sector and education employers: a PDF, often with a page limit stated in the person specification.
- Freelance clients: a short PDF plus a live site for the people who want to check you exist.
- Degree shows and graduate schemes: a PDF, because panels review side by side on one screen.
Formatting: the case for PDF
A PDF is boring in the best way. It looks the same on a five-year-old laptop, a phone and a printer. Fonts are embedded, so your carefully chosen typeface does not get swapped for Times New Roman. There is no cookie banner, no slow hero video, no “page not found” from a hosting bill you forgot to renew.
That predictability is why hiring managers trust it. But PDFs punish laziness. A 60MB file exported at print resolution will not open in a corporate inbox. Landscape pages at 16:9 read better on screen than A4 portrait, because nobody wants to scroll a tall page to see the bottom of an image.
A few habits worth keeping:
- Export for screen: sRGB colour, images around 150 ppi, no crop marks.
- Keep application files under about 10MB. Larger files get blocked or bounced.
- Use 12 to 15 pages for a job application; save the 30-page version for an interview or a portfolio review.
- Type captions as real text, never as part of an image.
- Name the file properly: sam-okafor-graphic-design-portfolio-2025.pdf beats PortfolioFinal3.pdf.
Where a website wins
Some work simply cannot live on a page. Animation, film, sound design, interactive prototypes, long-form research, anything that unfolds over time — a site gives it room to breathe and lets you order the story yourself. It also stays current. You add a project in March and it is there in September, rather than sitting in a folder called “new portfolio, update soon”.
The trade-offs are real. Sites break. Domains expire. A slow-loading homepage, an unreadable mobile layout or an obvious template can undo strong work in three seconds. If you build one, keep the structure shallow: a homepage, a work index, and individual project pages. Make your email address visible without a contact form. And keep a downloadable PDF on the site for anyone who wants to send your work onwards.
Accessibility: the part most portfolios fail
Accessibility is not an optional extra in UK recruitment. Many employers have duties to make reasonable adjustments during hiring, and candidates and clients increasingly expect work to be readable on their terms. If accessibility is central to your situation, it is worth taking proper advice — but the practical habits are straightforward.
For PDFs, use text rather than pictures of text, tag headings so screen readers can follow the structure, write alt text for every image, and check colour contrast on captions and labels. Avoid pale grey type on white. Never rely on colour alone to explain something.
For websites, use real heading levels, describe images, keep everything reachable by keyboard, caption your video, switch off autoplaying sound, and respect reduced-motion settings. Then test it: turn off images, zoom to 200%, tab through the page, and read it on a phone in daylight.
If a shortlisted candidate cannot read your portfolio, the strongest project in it does not exist.
What UK employers and clients actually expect
Agencies and studios usually prefer a link, because they will forward it internally and want your work to load instantly. In-house teams and recruitment agencies often prefer a PDF, because their systems strip attachments and links in unexpected ways. Freelance clients want clarity more than craft: what you do, what you have done, how to start a conversation.
One pattern holds across all of them. Portfolios are scanned before they are read. The first spread or the first screen decides whether anyone goes further. Put your strongest, most relevant project first, not the one you are proudest of from five years ago.
Building both without doubling the work
You do not need two portfolios. Build one master set of projects with images, captions and a short written summary for each. Then cut it twice: a 12-page PDF of your best six projects, and a site with three or four in full depth. Same photographs, same captions, different length. When a project changes, update the master and re-export.
That approach keeps the two in sync, which matters more than most people admit. A studio that sees a polished site and then receives an out-of-date PDF assumes one of them is not really you.
A practical sending checklist
- Read the application instructions twice and follow the stated format, even if you disagree with it.
- Send the PDF at screen resolution, under 10MB, with a sensible file name.
- Put the link in the first two lines of your email, not hidden behind a button.
- Check both versions on a phone before you send anything.
- Test every link in a private browser window where you are not logged in.
- Write alt text and captions while the project is fresh, not the night before a deadline.
- Keep one short paragraph ready explaining what you want to do next — interviewers ask.
Choose the format that serves the reader, prepare the other one for the interview, and stop worrying about which is objectively better. Nobody has ever lost a job because their portfolio came as a well-made PDF instead of a website.