Higher Designs

Michelle Adams has a new mission in life: to bring better Web design to churches and nonprofits. Thanks to some focused coursework and practical instruction, she's on her way.

Michelle Adams knows a good Web site can inspire life changes. After all, surfing the Web was how she found Saint Paul College's Visualization Technology program, which inspired her to move from McMinnville, Ore., to St. Paul in 2005. When she graduates this spring, Adams will apply her A.A. degree as a full–time Web site designer through her new business, MichelleAdamsWebDesign.com.

Adams came to Web design accidentally. After earning her B.A. in religious studies in 2004 at Linfield College in McMinnville, she took a job as an administrative assistant at a local church. "One of my jobs there was to make a weekly bulletin, which involved lots of graphic design and layout," she says, adding that the church also had a poorly designed Web site. "I was embarrassed to tell anyone about it."

So Adams redesigned the site herself—and was immediately hooked. "It's funny because I didn't have an art background," she says. "I just thought, 'Wow, this is really fun.'"

Adams says she'll focus her Web design services on the underserved niche of nonprofits and churches. "I'm passionate about that because I try to find everything first online," she says. "And because so many churches and nonprofits have such sad–looking Web sites, if a person like me finds it, they won't go there."

To help her target audience reach more people, Adams knows her Web designs must be attractive and user friendly. But when she was looking at college programs, she was surprised to find that many focused either on aesthetics or the more technical–oriented elements of HTML coding. "The Saint Paul College program had a good balance between the technical—how you code a Web site—and the more artistic side, or what a site might look like and how a person would use it," she says.

The program also provided her with plenty of hands–on practice. As soon as the instructor demonstrated a concept or technique, Adams could try it herself at a state–of–the–art workstation. Even better, the courses also addressed practical topics such as finding clients and drawing up work contracts. According to Saint Paul College Instructor Darren Pearson, the goal is to provide students with skills that will be equally useful if they go out on their own or if they plan to get a corporate job. "A lot of companies have ISO 9000 processes where they have to document everything, and they're putting everything on the corporate intranet," he says. "So they need someone who knows about, for example, HTML and Web hosting."

Small class size was another plus in attracting Adams to Saint Paul College's program. With just 10 to 20 students in each class, her instructors got to know her and could help her tailor course projects to meet her professional goals, Adams says. "Tell people what you're planning to do," she advises other students. "Because they might be able to help you in ways you wouldn't think to ask."

Instructors have even lent a hand outside of class with job leads, or by directing her to additional resources. For example, when Adams needed to create a banner for a client that would redirect traffic to another Web site, Pearson helped her out. "That's definitely a benefit of a small campus like Saint Paul College," Pearson says. "I know all my students' names, plus a little bit about their hobbies or what they do, and I can help them with job placement or internships. You just can't do that in a class of 100 people."

Adams credits the work she did in her Visualization Technology program with helping her launch her business while she was earning her degree. In her Web Fundamentals/HTML course, for example, she created a personal Web site that led to business from half a dozen customers. She looks forward to building on that success. "I love looking at a Web site that is not very useful to people and turning it into something that a church or nonprofit can be really proud of," Adams says. "I'm opening up new possibilities for my clients, and knowing I helped them get there is really rewarding."

Sara Aase is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer.

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