My Favorite New Design Skill

I heard many horror stories about the Public Relations Style and Design course. The stories consisted of the difficult course work and the time commitment to creating a website. However, I have to say learning how to design a website has been one of the most interesting design skills I have acquired thus far in the course.

With my background in graphic design, I knew a lot about typography, color scheming, and balancing designs. It was unique to hear the lessons from a public relations professional’s point of view. But designing a website was the technique I was most excited to learn from the class. Building a website is the one skill I have always wanted to learn but never had the resources.

I believe the skill of designing a website is so essential in today’s public relations field because everything PR professional do is online. We are connecting online, informing audiences online, and posting updates online. Also, adding web design to a resume looks great to employers. They won’t have to hire anyone out of house to design a website, which is very expensive, when they can hire you and give you a bonus. You become a unique asset to their business. This skill adds value to your portfolio. Employers will recognize that.

There are many elements to designing a website. The first step included building a personal branding suite, which consists of choosing fonts, theme, and color scheme. The second step is to design a personal logo. This should follow your theming for your website, and, I believe, it’s a stronger logo when it includes your name. The third step is updating your resume so you can upload it onto your website. Fourth step should be collecting a variety of your work to put on your portfolio. Any writing or graphic designs should be including in this. Fifth step is designing the website to be as user friendly as possible.

A tip for designing a user-friendly website is to use a user-friendly website creating service. I have only ever used SquareSpace, but I didn’t create that one. I used Squarespace after the site was created, and it was a very easy to operate. Wix Website Creator is the site I used to build my website, and it has been straightforward and easily accessible. I would recommend this effortless resource to anyone starting a website.

With that being said, I must be completely honest. It is not the easiest skill the master. Like I said, there are many elements to designing your own website. You want to embody your personality and hobbies while appearing professional. My website is to be used for a resume and portfolio for future employers. It was difficult choosing the branding suite that would make me appear professional yet still encapsulating my feminine and fun personality. Nonetheless, the most difficult part was making the website user friendly. This was the most difficult section to me because what is easy for me can be troublesome for others.

The design portion of creating the website will always be my favorite and dependable asset I have gained.