You can find Jenn doodling and blogging, drinking beer, or running around Philly.

Designer Showcase: Alex Münch

Alexander Münch is still a student; a shocking realization once having viewed his website. It's clear that Alex is already an amazing graphic designer and will succeed tremendously!

Currently, he's a full time student in Germany, majoring in graphic design, typography and illustration. He's also keeping himself extremely busy by freelancing full time and interning at advertising agencies throughout Germany. Alex's impressive resume demonstrates a lot of big name clients such as Adidas, Audi, Nikon, and more.

We first discovered Alex's work on Dribbble and are excited to share some of our favorites with you.

Typography Installations

Typography installations are fascinating because of the mix of art, design, and dealing with the natural elements or restraints.

Connection

Alex's Connection piece is an impressive beauty in an unexpected bundle of tossed wires.

This is Type

This is Type shows tremendous creativity by making words out of odds and ends that you may find in your kitchen junk drawer.

Typecity Magazine

This magazine is about a city full of typographic adventures.

Other Favorites

We also love Alex's work on his Workbench Icons as well as some of his corporate designs for student work.

Chatting with Alex

What are the biggest challenges you face by freelancing, interning, and learning simultaneously? What are the biggest benefits? I guess that the biggest challenge I face every day is time management. When I'm at the agency where I work as an intern twice a week, I have to focus on the work that has to be done there. But my other projects that I have going on as a freelancer are always on my mind. Also, sometimes I work on so many different projects simultaneously that it's hard to finish them all in time and still meet the desired quality, so it happens quite a lot that I have to work through the nights. Free time is rare when you're a freelance designer because every day feels like a work day. I am mostly working from home so a Saturday can feel exactly the same as a Monday.



I think it is very important to take breaks in between and to always be very organized. I use different tools to do that for example apps like Todoist and Hours Keeper help me to always keep track of my work times and to update my projects. This makes it easier for me at the end of the month to create invoices and have an overview of how many hours I've worked and what I could improve to work more efficiently.



Also, I love to learn about new things every day and I try to educate myself in new areas of design, softwares and techniques. Gaining experiences as a freelancer and intern while still also being a full time student gives me the opportunity to explore what it is like to work in this business. It helps me decide in which direction I want to go once I'm done with university and have to start preparing for bigger challenges.



The biggest benefits are that I'm constantly learning more and more in every way. Working closely with clients as a freelancer is different than working at an agency where I support the art direction team in daily projects for bigger clients. So for me that is really cool because every day is different and I never know what I'm going to have to face and in what ways I get to challenge myself. ?

I guess that the biggest challenge I face every day is time management. When I'm at the agency where I work as an intern twice a week, I have to focus on the work that has to be done there. But my other projects that I have going on as a freelancer are always on my mind. Also, sometimes I work on so many different projects simultaneously that it's hard to finish them all in time and still meet the desired quality, so it happens quite a lot that I have to work through the nights. Free time is rare when you're a freelance designer because every day feels like a work day. I am mostly working from home so a Saturday can feel exactly the same as a Monday. I think it is very important to take breaks in between and to always be very organized. I use different tools to do that for example apps like Todoist and Hours Keeper help me to always keep track of my work times and to update my projects. This makes it easier for me at the end of the month to create invoices and have an overview of how many hours I've worked and what I could improve to work more efficiently. Also, I love to learn about new things every day and I try to educate myself in new areas of design, softwares and techniques. Gaining experiences as a freelancer and intern while still also being a full time student gives me the opportunity to explore what it is like to work in this business. It helps me decide in which direction I want to go once I'm done with university and have to start preparing for bigger challenges. The biggest benefits are that I'm constantly learning more and more in every way. Working closely with clients as a freelancer is different than working at an agency where I support the art direction team in daily projects for bigger clients. So for me that is really cool because every day is different and I never know what I'm going to have to face and in what ways I get to challenge myself. ? What's the most valuable design philosophy you've learned so far? ??“Never settle and never take pride in what you have achieved so far. Never be satisfied but always push yourself to a higher level.” (Jean-Remy von Matt). When first starting a project, sketching out an idea is very important so you don't lose yourself in too much detail before actually knowing how you're going to further develop the project. Later it's all about the attention to detail. First and foremost a design has to work and after that it has to look good.



I love to design stuff because I like that I always have a finished product that I can hold in my hand or that I can see somewhere. And this is what satisfies.

??“Never settle and never take pride in what you have achieved so far. Never be satisfied but always push yourself to a higher level.” (Jean-Remy von Matt). When first starting a project, sketching out an idea is very important so you don't lose yourself in too much detail before actually knowing how you're going to further develop the project. Later it's all about the attention to detail. First and foremost a design has to work and after that it has to look good. I love to design stuff because I like that I always have a finished product that I can hold in my hand or that I can see somewhere. And this is what satisfies. What are your biggest sources of inspiration???This always depends and is different with every project. Mostly when I do my research I'm looking for inspiration on sites like Dribbble, Behance or niice.co and so on. Sometimes I find my inspiration when skimming through books or listening to music.



I find that I get most of my inspiration and my best ideas when I'm not anywhere near my iMac though. I guess I'm the type of person that no matter where I am or what I do, I still constantly think about new ideas that I could try for certain projects and I always try to find other ways to keep improving a design. My work is just always on my mind.



I do believe though, that you can never do enough research and also distancing yourself from your work place from time to time definitely helps to get new influences and inspirations. Even if it is something as simple as putting on my headphones, starting Spotify and listening to good music. Small things like this definitely help me to get my thoughts and ideas started and then I just try to go from there.

Make sure to follow Alex on Dribbble and chat with him on Twitter!