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LKCS takes cross-training and on-going education very seriously. We see it as the cornerstone of our company’s growth and success over the last 60 years. This post covers the personal journey of training one of our print designers to become a skilled web designer.

Since I’ve been employed at LKCS, I’ve dedicated most of my time on print projects. But within the last year I’ve began the exciting transition into web! My prior experiences with it included spending a decent amount of time brushing up on what I already knew about web design, and teaching myself some of the more basic coding like HTML and CSS. I didn’t have any opportunities to gain “real world” experience on the subject, so I was admittedly a little nervous about the change that was forthcoming. But I’m also someone that’s very eager to learn, so I was up for the task.

I also had the unfortunate obstacle of being trained remotely during a pandemic! We’d set up digital meetings for any step-by-step training that was needed, and I asked any questions I had over Slack. Web training was planned when I was hired, but I definitely didn’t anticipate that we’d be faced with the “work from home” challenges.

My training started shortly after the first initial work from home orders began in Illinois. They started me slow at first, to get familiar with some of the more basic tasks and the general process.

1. One of the very first things I learned was how to navigate and use the Tool Suite that we offer to our clients, where they can adjust rates and such for their live websites. I have so far only had to jump into this a few times, but I’m certain that will change over time.
2. I was tasked with putting together banner ads for some of our client websites. I actually enjoyed doing this, as it didn’t feel all that much different from the print projects.
3. I’ve sat in on meetings with clients about what they’re looking for in a website. Until very recently, it’s largely been a “listening” and “note taking” role during those meetings.
4. I’d help critique website designs my coworkers have worked on based off notes I’d taken during meetings, or anything else that may have caught my eye.

My journey would eventually take a turn, and I would get to jump into some bigger projects!

1. I was trained how to do page development for a client’s website. Not to be confused with the actual design – this involved building up the inside pages with content the client supplied.
2. I was tasked with designing a website template, based on notes I’d taken during a real client meeting. This process also involved some of my co-workers; they would critique my design much like I’d previously had to do for them earlier in my training.
3. Most recently, I had my first opportunity to be in a meeting as the project designer and I’ve been in the process of working on a website for a client.

I’ve had to juggle print responsibilities all during the journey too. And while I’ll still be focusing mainly on the print side of things, it’s actually been nice to be able to break away to do something different every now and then.