Me
I’m a user experience and visual designer for the web. I also develop and test websites and applications. I can write and manage projects, too. Basically, I’m well-rounded.
This Site
jmmueller is a platform for discussing creative expression and what I love to do professionally. It also showcases examples of my work and allows me the opportunity to discuss innovation and trends in the industry.
My Work
I’ve been working in technology for 11 years. I first started in quality assurance, testing rich media advertising for a leading search portal. It was interesting and taught me the basics: setting up work and test environments, basic HTML. To me, the most important thing about QA, is learning to anticipate what people do and letting other people know why that is important.
Design is what I’ve always wanted to pursue, however. There’s just something about breathing life into an idea. Giving it form and function. And then seeing how people respond and appropriate what I’ve made as their own.
So I switched gears in 2002, started freelancing and probing deeper into what makes the web work for the people who use it. This meant digging much deeper into HTML and CSS, learning how to use applications like Photoshop and Illustrator and programming in JavaScript and PHP.
It has also meant asking users a lot of questions. How can you develop answers to people’s wants and needs if there are no questions to start things off? And who is better to ask than the people who actually use what you create? In this key interest of designing for users I’ve conducted contextual inquiries, usability tests and applied research to actual solutions.
Since 2002, I’ve worked as a webmaster, a web producer, and user experience designer I’ve touched a number of industries including: banking, advertising, education, healthcare, commercial construction, retail, software development and the arts.
