–Laura Tabbut
On my first day at Buchanan Public Relations as the agency’s first-ever Graphic Design Intern, I wasn’t really sure what I would be doing for the company. Of course I did my research on PR firms and discussed general ideas for what I would be doing in my interview, but I was still unsure how design would fit into the PR world. Now, after a couple of months working here, I see that design has a perfect place in public relations.
There are many facets of PR that greatly benefit from graphic design. Here are a few I’ve noticed during my internship.
- Social media posts – Making a memorable social media post often involves an image, especially with the popularity of Instagram. A graphic designer can make an original image that suits exactly what you want to convey (without using ugly clipart).
- Presentations – Whether it’s for a media training session, a potential client or internal meetings, a clean, professional, interesting PowerPoint presentation makes a huge difference in how the information is remembered.
- Websites – The first thing someone will do when researching your – or your client’s – business is scope out the website, so it must be perfect. Not only should it look nice, the user experience must be seamless, so the user does not get frustrated with the site. These are things graphic designers are always thinking about and could be overlooked by someone in a different field.
- And many more – While I’ve been at Buchanan, I’ve created animations and designed flyers and audit reports, all things that I didn’t expect to be doing at a PR firm. It goes to show there are many areas where design can be utilized for PR.
Graphic design and PR go hand-in-hand. With these two fields combined, there are many more options for you to offer to your clients, thus expanding and improving business. How does your company use graphic design? Let us know in the comments.