Make Your Portfolio Pop With These InDesign Interactive Techniques
- Angelo Montilla
- Oct 9, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 10, 2025
Having a strong digital portfolio can be the deciding factor when landing a job or big client. In this tutorial, I'll walk you through four interactive tips you can add to your portfolio to make it stand out and strengthen your chances of getting work.
đź“Ś The four interactive tips we'll cover in this tutorial include:
Adding animation and work with Timing.
Adding audio with custom play and stop button controls.
Creating an interactive image slide in a pop-up window.
Add video with custom open and close buttons to launch in a pop-up window.
Before beginning, it's important to note that this tutorial focuses on using the Publish Online or Export HTML5 features. These methods WILL NOT work for Interactive PDF.
Click the link below to download the exercise files and follow along step by step. (Note: Assets and files in this folder should only be used for this tutorial).
The first interactive tip we'll focus on is adding simple animation. This is especially useful on a portfolio cover page. It adds a nice touch and engages those viewing the portfolio to keep looking.
For this part, we'll need to open the Animation panel, which can be located by going to Window > Interactive > Animation.
Tip 1: Adding Animation
On the first page of the InDesign document, click on the main image of the person and in the Animation panel, choose a preset of Fly in from Bottom.
Set the Duration to 1 second and the Event to On Page Load.
Click on the text frame in the title with the words Hey There! and in the Animation panel, choose a preset of Fly in from Left and the Event of On Page Load.
Click on the text frame in the title with the words I'm Jaxson and in the Animation panel, choose a preset of Fly in from Right and the Event of On Page Load.
Now that all animation has been applied, it's time to adjust the timing so the animation plays in the proper order.
For this, you will need to open the Timing panel, which can be accessed by going to Window > Interactive > Timing.
In the Timing panel, ensure that the image animation plays first in the list.
Click the Hey There! animation and while pressing Command on a Mac or Ctrl on Windows click the I'm Jaxson animation to select both.
In the bottom right corner of the Timing panel, click the Play together icon to play these animations together when the page loads.
Click the play button icon in the bottom left corner of any of the interactive panels to launch the EPub Preview window. This animation should look like this:
Next we will focus on the second interactive tip, which looks at how to add audio to a portfolio that can be played and stopped with separate buttons.
In the exercise files, there's a wav audio file called jaxson intro. For this part, we'll need to access the Media panel, which can be accessed again by going to Window > Interactive > Media.
Tip 2: Adding Audio
In the Media panel, click the icon in the bottom right corner to add a video or audio file.
Choose the wav file included in the exercise files folder and click open. (Note: You can also just drag and drop the audio file in the document).
With the audio file in the loaded cursor, drop it anywhere on the page. We'll go over how to hide it so the player is not visible on the page.
Place the audio frame over the image, then right-click the frame and go to Arrange > Send to Back to hide it from the page.
Now that the audio is placed and hidden from the page, we can focus on adding the button structure to play and stop the audio.
For this, we'll need to open the Buttons and Forms panel, which can be accessed by going to Window > Interactive > Buttons and Forms.
Click Play icon on the page an in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a button.
Rename the button Play Audio.
Leave the Event On Release or Tap.
Add an Action of Sound.
In the Sound dropdown, choose the Audio file placed on the page and under Options, choose Play.
Click Stop icon on the page an in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a button.
Rename the button Stop Audio.
Leave the Event On Release or Tap.
Add an Action of Sound.
In the Sound dropdown, choose the Audio file placed on the page and under Options, choose Stop.
Here is a look at the settings for the buttons as explained in the steps above:
The third tip we're going to look at is how to create an image slide with next and previous buttons. This is especially great if you have plenty of images of your work that you'd like to showcase but don't have the space.
For this part, we'll be once again using the Buttons and Forms panel as well as Object States to create a multi-state object – or MSO for short.
Before creating the image slide, have a look at the Layers panel where there are layers called Media Window 1 and Image Slide. Turn them both on to get started.
Tip 3: Image Slide
Click on the black background and in the Animation panel choose the preset of Zoom In (2D).
Rename the Animation to Image Slide Background.
Set Duration to 0.5 seconds.
Tick the Hide Until Animated option.
Lock the Media Window 1 layer and the Content layer.
Select all four images on the page and in the Object States panel, click the plus icon to create a Multi-state Object.
Rename the Object to Image Slider and rename the States to Image 1, Image 2, Image 3 and Image 4.
Click the Next Arrow icon on the page and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a button.
Rename the button Next Image Btn.
Add an Action of Go to Next State.
Tick the Hidden Until Triggered option.
Click the Previous Arrow icon on the page and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object to a button.
Rename the button Previous Image Btn.
Add an Action of Go to Previous State.
Tick the Hidden Until Triggered option.
Click the X close button in the layout and in the Buttons and Forms panel convert the object to a button.
Rename the button Close Image Slider.
Tick the Hidden Until Triggered option.
Click the Multi-state object - the stacked images - and in the Animation panel, ad a preset animation of Fade in with a 0.5 second duration.
Rename the Animation Image Slider.
Tick the Hide Until Animated Option.
Now that the actual photo slide has been set up, let's go over how to how to open it and close it. First, go to the Layers panel and hide the Image Slide and Media Window 1 layers.
Click the media icon in the bottom left corner of the layout and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert the object into a button.
Name the Button Image Slide Trigger and leave the Event on Release or Tap.
Click the + icon to add an Action of Animation.
Set the Animation to Image Slide Background and the Option to Play.
Click the + Icon to add another Action of Animation.
Set the Animation to Image Slider and the Option to Play.
Click the + Icon to ad another Action of Show/Hide Buttons and Forms.
In this Visibility, Show Next Image Btn (eyeball), Show Previous Image Btn (eyeball), Close Image Slider (eyeball) and Hide the Image Slide Trigger (eyeball with slash).
That was a lot to consume, however this is how the button settings for the Image Slide Trigger should look like using the steps as explained above.
The final step to complete this interactive image slide is to add close and reverse actions to the close button.
From the Layers panel, turn the Media Window 1 and Image Slide layers back on.
Click the X icon and in the Buttons and Forms panel, add an Action of Animation.
Set the Animation to Image Slide Background and the Option to Reverse.
Click the + icon to add another Action of Animation.
Set the Animation to Image Slider and the Option to Reverse.
Click the + icon to add another Action of Show/Hide Buttons and Forms.
In the Visibility, Hide Next Image Btn (eyeball with slash), Hide Previous Image Btn (eyeball with slash), Close Image Slider (eyeball with slash) and Show the Image Slide Trigger (eyeball).
That is it! The interactive image slider with pop-up window is complete. Here is how the image slider with open and close controls should function.
The final tip we'll cover in this tutorial is adding video to a portfolio.
As a first step, in the Layers panel, show the Media Window 2 layer. Then click on the Video layer because we'll be adding the video to the layout next.
Tip 4: Adding Video
Open the Media panel and in the bottom right corner of the panel, click the Add Audio or Video icon.
Locate the video with the lesson files, which is an mp4 saved as Vitawell Video.
Click and drag the video to place it on the page and center it with the Media Window 2 object.
With the Media Window 2 object selected, open the Animation panel and apply a preset animation of Zoom in (2D).
Set the Duration to 0.5 seconds and tick the Hide Until Animated option.
Click the video on the page and in the Animation panel, apply a preset of Fade In.
Set the Duration to 0.5 seconds and tick the Hide Until Animated option.
Click the X close icon and in the Buttons and Forms panel, convert this to a Button.
Name the button Close Video Btn and tick the Hide Until Triggered option.
In the Layers panel, hide the Video and Media Window 2 layers.
On the main page, click the play icon and convert the object to a button.
Name the button Open Video Btn.
Add an Action of Animation and set the Animation to Video Background with the Option to Play.
Add another Action of Animation and set the Animation to Vitawell Video with the Option to Play.
Add an Action of Show/Hide Buttons and Forms.
In the Visibility section, show the Close Video Btn (eyeball) and ignore the Open Video Button (x).
In the Layers panel, show the Video and Media Window 2 layers.
Click the X close button and in the Buttons and Forms panel, add an Action of Animation.
Set the Animation to Video Background with the Option to Reverse.
Add another Action of Animation and set the Animation to Vitawell Video with the Option to Reverse.
Add an Action of Show/Hide Buttons and Forms.
In the Visibility section, show the Hide the Close Video Btn (eyeball with slash) and ignore the Open Video Btn (x).
There's another important step to ensure the animations don't load when the project is launched. Click the Video Background and in the Animation panel, under Event(s), de-select On Page Load. Do the same for the Vitawell Video.
Here is a final look at how the video player will appear using the steps as explained above.
