How can I make a design portfolio PDF with a black page background instead of white?
Keep the Colored page background option on and pick a charcoal black such as #111111 in the Background color field, with a margin of about 15 mm. The color fills the margins and shows behind transparent PNGs, so each piece looks hung on a gallery wall. Use Fit inside so no artwork is cropped.
Why a dark background for a portfolio
Colorful designs and bright photos look stronger on a dark page, and white edges inside a piece do not melt into the paper. It is common in photographer, brand identity and interface portfolios. It is not a rule for every kind of work, though: designs with large white areas, such as stationery and menus, can look better on a light page.
The settings, step by step
- Export your work as JPEG or PNG and lighten heavy files with the Image compressor so the PDF stays easy to email to clients.
- Open Images to PDF, add the pieces and lead with your strongest. People judge a portfolio on its first two pages.
- Choose A4 and leave orientation on Follow the image, so a landscape piece gets a landscape page and a portrait piece a portrait page.
- Choose Fit inside and set the margin to 15 mm.
- Colored page background is already on, with white. Click the Background color field and choose black or a very dark grey.
- Build the file, page through the preview, then download it with a name that carries your name and discipline.
What the frame looks like in numbers
A 1600 × 1200 px landscape piece on A4 with a 15 mm margin gets an 841.89 × 595.28 pt landscape page and is drawn 680.32 × 510.24 pt. The dark frame is 15 mm above and below the piece and wider at the sides, because the piece is less wide than the page in proportion. A 1200 × 1600 portrait piece gets a portrait page and is drawn 510.24 × 680.32 pt, the same frame turned on its side. Every piece gets roughly the same presence whatever its orientation.
Why charcoal rather than pure black
#111111 is a soft black with each channel at about 0.067 of full white. On screen it reads as black, but it is less harsh than absolute black and lets designs with black shadows separate slightly from the page. Try two or three shades and compare them in the preview; your eye decides.
Checks before you send it
- Printing: full dark pages use a lot of ink. If a client will print the file, make them a white background version.
- Dark PNG logos on transparent backgrounds disappear on a black page. Put them on a light background inside the image itself before converting.
- One color applies to every page, so you cannot have one black page and one white page in the same file. If you need both, build two files and merge them.
- The tool does not add titles or captions. If you want the project name under each piece, add it to the image before converting.
Common questions
Does the dark color show behind JPEG images?
Only in the margins around them, since JPEG has no transparency. Behind a transparent PNG it shows in the transparent areas too.
What does a 0 margin with a black background give?
With Fit inside, black still fills wherever the piece's shape differs from the page, but without an even frame around it.
Does the background color change the file size?
Not noticeably. The size comes from the images themselves.