Website design from the perspective of a communications person
In most small organisations - whether private, public or non-governmental - there are not that many people in the "communications department". Sometimes there aren't even departments and its often a one-person show. I've been there. Someone working on everything from PR to marketing to design to social media management, to content creation to video editing as well as web design, development, and more. You get the point :)
Over the years I've used so many different web design platforms and tools including Wix, Weebly, Bandzoogle,Framer, Figma, WordPress and Squarespace. I think its fair to say that all of have them have their advantages and disadvantages based on what is expected from the final outcome.
Now, ideally, when designing a website you have a visual designer, a UI/UX expert, a developer, and a communications person (perhaps even more people depending on the purpose of the site) working together to design something based on everyone's expertise. Sadly, most of the time that isn't the case.
Often, you as a communications person are left alone to take on the role of most of the above and that is where things get stressful and complicated - or where a lot of bottlenecks occur.
My personal solution to simplifying web design processes - and my absolute favourite platform (and I know many might not agree!) - is Squarespace. Since discovering this platform I honestly feel like all my prayers have been answered.
Not only can I start from simple templates, I can create pages from scratch, I can change my font pairings and colour themes easily with presets (I prefer to change them - but for someone who has no idea, this is a great option), I can design and edit the pages easily and intuitively, and from actual feedback I've received - it looks good and works well on desktop and mobile!
I wanted to talk about this specifically because I find a lot of small organisations often work with developers one-off and inconsistently. They hand over sites without proper training to the core team who will have to maintain it - and this then makes it difficult for a single communications person to continuously adapt and update the site.
It's for this very reason that for small teams or teams with low budgets, I would 100% recommend Squarespace - and if anyone ever wants to see what some of those sites may look like - please feel free to send me a message. I'm happy to walk you through.
P.S - I want to reiterate that ideally there is not one single communications person in an organisation. It is a mega job and you can't expect them to do everything all at the same time. Working collaboratively with experts either in-house or externally is the best, most fun and creative situation as long as its well planned, consistent and sustainable for the long-term.
