Knowledge Learned at LVC Leads to Career Success for Vania Hardy ’12 

Vania Hardy ’12 has put her Lebanon Valley College education to good use by becoming the first full-time designer at Mile 6, a web development and design company based out of Elizabethtown, Pa.

Hardy transferred to LVC after two years at Harrisburg Area Community College because she knew that she ultimately wanted to work in digital media after graduation, and LVC’s Digital Communications Program seemed like a natural fit. 

“LVC trained me to be a good collaborator,” Hardy said. “My major gave me a solid foundation and skill set that proved valuable where I work now.”

Working at Mile 6 has drawn on Hardy’s digital communications background of user-centered design, information architecture, visual storytelling, and project management. 

“As the first full-time designer at a company that was mostly centered on web development, I helped pioneer the design component of the company,” she said. “That included figuring out how design fits into our process. Having those skills from LVC prepared me for implementing and shaping my current job role.”

Hardy specifically referenced two recent projects with which she was involved. She worked on wireframes for an app for Turkey Hill, which involved mapping out user flows. Also, as part of a redesign for a local government website, she used her knowledge about information architecture to streamline information and content for the appropriate audience segments.

Given the breadth of topics covered by LVC’s Digital Communications Program, graduates are valued and sought after by numerous industries.

“Your skills can apply to anything from design, to management, to digital marketing, and more,” she said. “It does help to know what you’re interested in and good at, but the skills you graduate with make you marketable to most industries.”

Skill development needs to continue even after graduation. Hardy sees bright and exciting things on the horizon.

“I think the field will be even more centered on user experience, but in a broad sense that goes beyond a website or app. Our work will have to consider wearables, other Internet of Things devices, and possibly the worlds of virtual reality, so that the experience will be about a user’s physical context. 

“Overall, the field keeps evolving with new technology, so there will never be a shortage of skills to learn,” she said.

 

-- Megan Marron, Communications Assistant