Senior technical theatre and design major Taylor Pope has dreamed about being a sound engineer on Broadway, and she hopes a personal website might help get her there.

“I have always been a technical person, but building a website was difficult,” she said. “Wix is an amazing web design software, and once I got used to using the controls it was easy.”

Pope presented the session, “Professional Website Design: How it Works” at the 2020 Piedmont Symposium. Having a personal website helps influence people and adds value by sharing one’s value. It helps recruiters find potential employees much easier when applying for a job, and is a first great impression to help secure that first interview, Pope said.

In designing a website, Pope said the key is to plan your design. Think of how to appeal to a particular audience. In web design you don’t want to use the same templates that everyone else is using. Designing a site that is unique to your skills and personality will attract users to follow through and use your service.

“You want to make sure your website represents your uniqueness by appealing to those who you want to attract,” she said.

Pope uses Wix as her design software. Wix is a user-friendly site utilizing a drag and drop builder to make it simple for users to create their own website unique to themselves, Pope said. Wix has a lot of features to choose from and they make it easy to market your website.

“One of the things I loved about Wix is they give you step-by-step instructions about how to do navigate their website,” said Pope

Building a website can get frustrating at times. Taking advantage of her experience and building projects has helped Pope navigate Wix. “Think outside of the box and try something that you haven’t done before.”

Things shift very quickly in the design world. When designing a website, you have a lot of creative freedom. Pope explains not to overthink about how difficult or impossible things are. Instead, think outside of the box. Trying things that are different have haven’t been done before has help Pope explore new things.

“It might not work out, but it will work at least once more than it will if you never try.”

Pope finished her project explaining how her website is organized and the purpose of the class. Learning what employers are looking for, she was very happy with the outcome of her website. She has already used her site professionally at the South Eastern Theater Conference in February.

“I really enjoyed designing my website,” Pope said. “It’s amazing to look back on the things I’ve done.”