Janet de Vigne is a highly skilled professional with a rich, eclectic background spanning three distinct “strands”: academia, performance (acting and singing), and music composition. Having recently completed a 10-year PhD exploring negative lived experiences in secondary education through a Deleuzean lens (focusing on the justices of affect and serendipity), Janet had a wealth of valuable ideas to share. However, her digital presence was fragmented. Approaching her 62nd birthday, she sought a cohesive digital home that wasn’t merely a selling tool, but an authentic extension of her identity—reflecting her philosophy that “anything could happen in the next half hour.”
The Challenge
Janet needed a way to seamlessly present her diverse career paths without the site feeling disjointed. Her requirements included dedicated spaces for a podcast, a blog, and media recordings (including her Equity/Spotlight acting profile and classical/jazz singing). While she initially envisioned a dynamic turning animation to switch between these streams, this posed significant accessibility and mobile compatibility risks.
Furthermore, Janet faced technical hurdles in her day-to-day work. She struggled to manage multiple university accounts (alumnus and staff), lacked a professional digital infrastructure (such as a domain name and custom email), and simply did not have the time to navigate complex website development alongside her teaching, marking, and upcoming exhibitions.
The Solution
I engaged Janet through my “Personal Website & Branding” package, acting as both a web developer and an operational IT consultant. The project was structured as follows:
The Results
The collaboration successfully translated Janet’s multi-faceted career into a unified, professional digital home.
Conclusion/Takeaways
The success of this project reinforces that making a website is only part of the challenge; the true value lies in the deep thinking required to make that digital space feel like an authentic, accessible extension of the client. By simplifying Janet’s digital infrastructure, guiding her towards intuitive hardware, and providing clear brand direction, she is now perfectly positioned to share her academic insights and creative talents with a wider audience.
“Working with Charlie has been an excellent experience. He was always quick to respond to my questions, queries, and any problems that came up, often resolving things within just a few hours.
That level of responsiveness made a huge difference. It built a real sense of trust — I felt respected and listened to, which meant I was comfortable asking for help whenever I needed it.
That mutual trust is incredibly valuable, and it’s what really stood out to me about working together.”
