Where are they now? : Justin Mueller

We're going to try out another new thing on our blog where we take a peek at what Stout Grads are doing these days.
The first up is Justin Mueller, a Multi-Media Design graduate of 2008. I met him through mutual friends and he has been one of my favorite 'go-to' guys. He is full of tips and tricks and is always willing to share his knowledge. Visit his site too! Justin currently works at August Ash in Minneapolis as a web designer. He is not able to show what he's been doing for them but a few of his freelance projects are pictured below.

Dessert First is in Eau Claire. Check out the website here

Live Nocturnal was Justin's senior project which helps assist planning a night out on the town.
Check out Live Nocturnal here.

Justin's also worked on BDP's website and the Art and Design Department's website.

So here's the informal interview:

Who are you?
I am Justin Mueller.

When did you graduate?
I graduated May of '08 in Multimedia but took a good share of GD courses.

What was your favorite class at Stout?
I would have to say screen printing or exploring photography, just the process of creating a physical copy of my image was quite enjoyable.

What advice do you have for other GD students?
Everyone says to develop your portfolio, which is great and a major aid. But another thing is once you actually get an interview, make sure to talk well of your work. I have heard too many people, even in just this year, talk about what they could/would do better. Don't give to much focus to what you could do better in your interview, put the most effort in to what you do well, play your strengths, state eagerness to learn new things, and it never hurts to talk about wanting to build up and be an asset to their company. Also, if you have the slightest interest in web or interactive design, try it out. Quite a few design jobs are moving towards the digital era now.

How did you land your job?
I was working at a nice little firm in Eau Claire right after school but I was also cold calling firms in the cities just to get my name out there. I got a few interviews and offers but the most appealing was a smaller web firm looking to expand, being they had the most work coming in.

What type of work do you do there?
I started as a designer but quickly shifted to web development where now I deal a lot with planning solutions, user experience, and making back-end systems fit the needs of the client. My current project is a social networking site for people to help each other and themselves, but I can not go into much more detail than that yet.