My final portfolio is not too far removed from the original Wordpress theme, but I liked the simplicity of their design enough to keep many of the stylistic techniques in my own site. I did do a few major edits, like change the photo of the header to an artistic-looking shot of me at the Mississippi River. I liked how the photo brought attention to myself (being that this IS my portfolio) but it's also a scenic image. I actually photoshoped the photo a bit because there were a few people off to the side who I didn't want to be in the picture.
This finished version of my portfolio does a nice job wrapping up not only the work I've completed for english 202, but for a number of the projects I've done as a senior here at Mary Washington. I was able to include links to my personal blogs - my track blog for english 202, my environmental science blog for Global Environmental Problems, and my blog from my internship at an art studio last semester. Including each of these sites was really important to me because they demonstrate different facets of my education.
I imagine the primary audience for this site being prospective employers. During this summer when I'm looking for a legitimate job, I will probably be including this portfolio in the resumes that I'm sending out to people. I am also planning on going to graduate school after a year or two of working/interning, and I think this portfolio would be a perfect addition to my application. I am toying with the idea of going to grad school for something new-media-related (advertising, communications, publishing, etc.) so this portfolio will really serve me well in my explorations of those fields.
I am pleased with a majority of the work that I've done for this class. I'd have to say I'm most pleased with the blog I've kept and the most recent projects I've done; it definitely took me a while to get into the mindset of how to create all of these projects. Also, as the semester went on, I gained a lot more insight on how to use the programs I've been working with, so that has helped a lot.
If I were an employer, I would definitely hire myself! And I'm not just saying that because I'm about to graduate from college without any real plans for what comes next. I think my portfolio does a nice job conveying who I am as a person and what kind of work I do. It's clean and organized as well, which makes it easy to navigate through. I am very happy with how this portfolio turned out and I am excited to see how it can work for me.
I started with the basic Wordpress theme "PressRow" by Chris Pearson. I then edited it in the following basic ways:
1. Created three different menus across the top row.
2. Made one of the menus a parent to three descending topics: Blogs, Writing Through Digital Media, and Digital Storytelling.
3. Made grandchild topics for each of those three topics.
4. Changed the photo that is displayed on the header.
5. Changed the font of both my site title and my menus to "Arial Black".
6. Added the widgets "text," "links," and "search," to my sidebar.
7. Changed the font of my side bar to "Arial Black".
8. Edited the link colors from blue to black.
9. Edited the link hover color to white.
10. Deleted the Wordpress link in the bottom bar.
11. Made one static page for the homepage of my portfolio.