18 Jun Craig Fergus – Website Submission
I chose to develop a simplistic portfolio website, www.craigfergus.com, in which I can display my work in an organised manner. I opted for a professional black and white house theme, whilst using a splash of yellow to stand out to employers – this is because yellow symbolises energy and joy, and that is the type of first impression I’d like potential employers to have of me. I chose to keep my theme simple as it resembles several of the publications I hope to work for as a freelancer.
I chose the theme Journo by Edge for my website, as I felt it most reflected the look I intended my portfolio to have, and then customised it in order to showcase my personal branding. On the homepage, I have my most recent website posts and the active feed of my professional Twitter account. The menu at the top of my homepage is present throughout my website.
I chose to keep the contents of my about page brief, as it was important to me that potential employers were not inundated with unnecessary information. I detail the types of journalism I am interested in pursuing, and also shed light on previous PR experience. I hyperlinked to each companies website, thus making it easy for the reader to see where I’m affiliated. I decided to include a small anecdote on my passion for travel, so the reader can get a sense of who I am.
Rather than publishing all of my written work to my website, I opted to only include the best pieces I believe I have written, and ones that reflect similar topics to those published in the media outlets I am interested in working for. All of my posts are in appropriate categories, and have the relevant hyperlinks and visual content. So the reader can understand that this is a portfolio website of content spanning 3 years, I altered the dates each post was published to what they were originally.
To keep a smooth running house theme, I used the template I developed on Canva for my personal logo to create titles for several pages of my website – I believe this will allow me to stand out to potential employers. For my editorial page, I decided to embed the 6 Journalism London live shows in which I played different roles, showcasing my multimedia abilities. Each video is embedded to begin at the part where I have been involved, so the viewer doesn’t have to search to find me.
To keep the house theme running across the entire site, I chose to create my own graphics on Canva for my social media pages, rather than adding widgets. I believe this keeps my website looking smooth and clean. I opted to have the graphics bold and large in size, therefore the reader immediately knows where they can find me. Each graphic is hyperlinked to the relevant social media platform, which opens in a new tab, so potential employers can see my online presence without leaving the website. The next step for my website is to continue writing posts and updating my portfolio regularly, ensuring potential employers that I am passionate about journalism and that I enjoy writing, even if the content is only for my website.
