Hey there!
My name is Jessica Miller; web designer, trekkie, and all around scifi nerd. I have more than 15 years of professional design experience, and I’m a co-founder of the award-winning web agency, Corvus Design Studio.
I have a passion for creative presence and digital aesthetics, and enjoy making the internet just a bit more beautiful and inviting. My expertise includes frontend web design and development, UX and UI design, and Wordpress design. I also design complete brand and print collateral design for cohesive, alluring consumer experiences.
Check out my Portfolio to explore my design and development work.
Origin
I was raised on the Central Coast of California, and received my education and professional training in Silicon Valley.
I come from the small, picturesque beach town of San Luis Obispo, California. The weather is perfect, the beach is fantastic, and the art community is amazing there. But, it’s a small town and I really wanted to experience the city. So, after high school, I decided to relocate to Silicon Valley to attend university in a more urban environment.
I really do love science and scifi. My original major at San Jose State University was Bio Chemistry, and I completed more than 90% of a bachelor’s in this field before switching to Computer Science. It’s weird, right? Well, a chance internship at Philips Electronics ultimately led me to choose a career in the tech industry. I don’t regret it at all, but I never left the natural sciences behind, either. I still enjoy studying and learning about all kinds of science related stuffs, from zoology to astronomy.
During my second year at unversity, I was introduced to assembly language, C and C++, TCP/IP protocol, and, eventually, HTML and Javascript. I really took to web design and, after reading a book on HTML, created my first website way back in 2000. It was atrocious. Grass green textured background, animated gif logo, in-line Javascript rollovers, tacky fonts, a hit counter, sound effects… A laughable website by today’s standards, but apparently not all that horrific for the time.
A friend showed the monstrosity to his manager at Philips Electronics, and shortly thereafter I was offered an interview for one of four internships as a general computer engineer. I still wasn’t planning to pursue a career in the computer industry, but I was struggling to afford college and the pay was irresistible. So, I jumped on the opportunity and, much to my delight, landed the job!
The internship evolved into a contract job that lasted several years. I started off in the R&D lab programming robotic chip testers, creating virtual software interfaces, and developing browser-based frameworks for home servers. Our group was one of the first in the industry to utilize XML schemas for designing and developing user interfaces, a concept made mainstream by Apple’s revolutionary OSX. I had also experimented with SVGs (scalable vector graphics) for creating non-Flash, animated effects; a technology which floundered at the time, but today is a core element of web development.
Having acquired skill in HTML, DHTML, XML/XSL, Javascript, and VBscript, I eventually moved out of the R&D lab and into the web development department at Philips Headquarters. It was here that my career was solidified in web design. At first I was solely a web programmer, and along the way found that I had an affinity for graphic design. My design work gained some recognition among the heads and my responsibilities thereafter became equal parts graphic design and web programming. During this period I worked exclusively on web design projects, including Philips’ internal intranet and their US consumer electronics website. I designed and created interactive Flash content and branded graphic artwork, and also implemented the programming necessary to streamline online publication for multiple departments. All of my spare time was spent taking courses in web development, graphic design, communication, and marketing to enhance my skill set. I had become a bona fide web designer – crafting engaging interfaces, and coding the backend to bring them to life.
After several years at Philips, I decided to explore new opportunities at other companies, which led to contracts with Sony, HP, and Sun Micro. I very much enjoyed being a designer, but wished to work in a more artistic environment. This desire led to the founding Corvus Design Studio.
My life experience in both a small beach town, and the bustling tech mecca that is Silicon Valley, has allowed me to understand all sorts of business entities, from mom-and-pops, to startups, to fortune 500s. My work experience is well-rounded, encompassing employment at huge tech corporations, independent contractual projects, and within a creative team environment.
Retrospect
In retrospect, I realize it was inevitable that I would do something in the field of design. Even as a kid I was always more concerned with aesthetics than my peers; an early tendency toward design, I suppose.
In Junior High I took a hands-on industrial sciences elective, where we experimented in several different areas, including drafting and rocket design. I was super into the drafting project. We were only required to draft a simple, single-story dwelling, but I took it a step further and designed a detailed three-story mansion, complete with a hedge labyrinth, blackroom and photography studio, indoor pool, and arboretum. My dream home! After the drafting project, we built functional rockets – one of the highlights of my entire adolescent education. Mine was quite the spectacle as it blasted into the sky, with its glossy black-to-red gradient, bursts of red stars fading down the sides, and the words “TO THE MOON” stenciled in metallic gold, lighting bolt lettering. Upon observing the plain cardboard and white rockets from my classmates, I remember a fleeting thought about how I was only one who decorated the rocket shell so elaborately. I think that was my first conscious realization of the importance of form and function in design – an ideal I’ve since made a point of cultivating throughout life.
That about sums up my path into the world of design and development
