Steps towards improvement
--
Over the past year, I have been trying to develop my own personal website that showcases everything that I do in an aesthetically pleasing and cohesive manner. I recently reached out to two people, Kemma Collins and Esai Saenz, because they are currently working in industries related to entertainment and design. Both of them understood the professional world from a company standpoint both they also looked at my site from a freelance standpoint as well.
Kemma Collins is a graduate of the University of Winchester in England with a degree in Digital Media Studies. She works as a freelance designer currently but has worked as a web designer with the design agency Studio Republic in the past. I looked to her advice for the layout of my page, aesthetics and how user-friendly it currently is.
Kemma stated that overall my website seemed very clean and professional. She appreciated the use of minimal colors and distracting media. She also stated that everything on my site was easy to navigate which made the UI work nicely.
One thing she suggested was making sure I’m linking to other websites on every page of mine because it will help with Google’s algorithm if my site isn’t closed off. She said having the YouTube links was a start but adding in hyperlinks to other websites will do a lot of good as well.
She also stated that she feels the website is very professional but she doesn’t get a lot of my personality outside of just work. That is something I also struggled with on my website because I honestly don’t do a lot outside of working and even if it is a hobby it is generally related back to one of the subjects of my work. When discussing that with her she stated that I should just make sure to constantly update my portfolio with the new things that I am doing and build up a solid web presence across platforms.
The second person that I interviewed was Esai Saenz, a content creator who has worked in a variety of different entertainment mediums such as documentary and narrative filmmaking, vlogging and music production but he has found success recently in film and television — working on shows for Netflix and he will have a new show coming out on HGTV soon. I asked for his advice on what people in the entertainment industry are looking for and how likely someone would be to choose me if they saw my website. I knew he would be a good choice for this because he also does so many different forms of content creation.
Saenz focused a lot on the content that I was promoting. He agrees there is a lot of stuff on my portfolio tab which can be overwhelming but liked that I have it all put into sections that can be easily found. He believes I should add a specific page dedicated to my influencer work. He said having my influencer Instagram hooked up and showcase the type of photography and product posts I’m capable of doing will only help me, despite it not being the specific job I’m going for.
Saenz stressed the importance of having consistent branding across platforms if I am going to continue promoting my work in so many different outlets. He doesn’t think it’s an issue because then people won’t tie your name down to one thing and it shows you are always improving but I have to make sure that I am putting up only high-quality pieces from now on.
With their advice, I hope to re-evaluate the layout of my website to make it more friendly. I will also add in more personal interests to make myself more approachable. As I am still in school, I currently have no plans to get a regular job so the freelance industry is where I will need to focus. I also don’t have a set focus on what I want to do for my full career.
I plan to graduate from Missouri Western in the spring with majors in convergent journalism and performance and cinematic studies and minors in strategic communication, entrepreneurship, digital media and theater. From there I plan to get two master's degrees in digital media management and global media communication and then hopefully move onto my doctorate. Since I have degrees in several fields and am qualified to do a variety of work, I am really keeping my options open.
I aim to make my website a reflection of who I am and showcase the work that means a lot to me. Although it may seem a bit chaotic and overwhelming to have it all on one site it does showcase my diversity which could be a major plus in the long run. I am grateful for the help that they both gave me and will use their advice to continue to grow.
