This week, I’ve taken a look at other professional portfolios created by fellow journalists.
The main purpose of this was to see how other writers present themselves online and how they categorize their work.
A simple Google search returned plenty of results and some really nice blogs to take inspiration from.
Josephine Moulds
One of the first blogs I saw which I liked was Josephine Moulds’ (http://www.josephinemoulds.co.uk/) which I liked due to its simplicity and newspaper-like look. It’s kept clean and simple as opposed to having flash features and bright colours everywhere. However, this could come off as having no personality.
As soon as you go on the front-page of her portfolio, you can see that she’s written for a number of publications, from The Times to The Guardian, and she’s made this clear through four separate divisions,a few splashes of colour and the mastheads of the publications she’s written for.
Moulds has ensured that any visitors or potential employers can see her contact details straight away, with her phone number and email being set as a header on all pages, including the home page.
Meranda Writes
Meranda Writes (http://merandawrites.com/clips/) has gone for a totally different look to Josephine Mould. Instead ofsimple design with plenty of white space, Meranda has shown her personality more and taken advantage of the space provided but unfortunately has gone a bit far and it looks overly busy.
At the top of the website is a header image which includes a scrunched up piece of paper, a knocked over coffee cup, a stack of newspapers and a fallen over pen-pot. This looks okay, and it could portray her busy work ethic well, but one of the first things I thought when I saw it was that it makes her look unorganised with such a messy header image.
The portfolio is easy to navigate with four simple, obvious categories including: about, cuttings, contact and resumé.
One feature I do like is the ability to find a story by the date it was written. On the left-hand side of the page, there is an archive, allowing you to find stories by clicking on the month it was written.
Lam Thuy Vo
One of my favourite blogs that I found was from an American based multi-media journalist who works for Al Jazeera, Lam Thuy Vo (http://www.lamivo.com/index.html). Again, she has gone for a simple yet stylish look which is what I personally prefer.
Despite it being a minimalist design, Thuy Vo has added personality into it through fun photos of herself and galleries of her graphic design and photography work, alongside her written work. This is slightly more interesting than Josephine Moulds’ as it shows us a bit more about who she is and what she’s like as a person.
Charles' Professional Portfolio Blog 