Can I show client work in my portfolio?

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Only if your contract gives you the right to. If you assigned the copyright to the client, the work is theirs, and putting it on your website is a use of their property. If the project was covered by a confidentiality clause, showing it may breach that too. The fix is a single clause, agreed before the work starts, that lets you show the finished work once the client has launched it. Why it is not automatic Designers often assume that because they made something, they can always show it. That holds while you own the copyright. Once you assign it, you need a license back to display it, and the place to get that license is the same contract that made the assignment. Confidentiality is a separate problem: a launch that has not happened yet, an internal deck or a pitch that lost can all be confidential even though you made every pixel. What a good portfolio clause says You may display the final work in your portfolio, on your website and social accounts, and in pitches. Display waits until the client has made the work public, or a stated date. You will not show confidential material: unreleased products, internal documents, anything marked confidential. The client can ask you to remove a piece, or show it without their name, for a good reason. Most clients agree to this without a second thought. The ones who say no usually have a real reason, such as a white-label arrangement where an agency resells your work as its own, and it is better to learn that at the start than after you have posted the case study. What to do Add a portfolio clause to your design agreement and keep it in every new project. Wait for the public launch before you post. For white-label and agency work, ask in writing before showing anything. Keep a short record of which clients said yes, so you are not guessing later.

Can I show client work in my portfolio?

Why it is not automatic

What a good portfolio clause says

What to do

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