Hey! I’m Russ and I’m a front-end developer and motion graphics designer. I’ve helped world-class museums bring their collections online, crafted websites for leading non-profit organizations, and built online communities for the world’s largest toy company, LEGO.
I currently work freelance from Alexandria, VA, ably assisted by my wife Jennifer and three growing kids.
I write sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Visit my author’s site at www.russellstoll.net.
For relaxation, you’ll find me digging up weeds in the garden or building wooden furniture in my home shop. A good cappuccino and a Netflix subscription make me smile.
I’d love to learn more about your project and how I can help. Send me a note and let’s work together to bring your vision to life.
The very talented Peter Mack of Templar Studios wrote, “Nonetheless, there was a real visionary at LEGO behind the whole [LEGO Bionicle Mata Nui Online Game] project: a creative director named Russell Stoll, who really believed in our abilities as story and game developers and saw an opportunity with this project to do something no one had done before. It’s not easy to get a big lumbering company to do something new, and we’ll always be grateful to him for getting folks there to take the risk on us.”
Stuff I know something about:
Front-end Development: HTML5, CSS3, WordPress, jQuery, Javascript, Mobile First Design, UX & UI
Motion Graphics & 3D: Adobe After Effects, Blender
Design software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Figma, Sketch
Places I’ve worked:
Forum One Communications (Arlington, VA), Web Developer – crafted front-end pixels on many high-profile non-profit and educational websites for Virginia’s leading web communications firm.
The LEGO Company (New York, NY; Billund, Denmark), Creative Director & Executive Producer – spearheaded online community development for LEGO Mindstorms, LEGO Bionicle, and many other LEGO brands.
News Corporation (New York, NY), Managing Editor, iGuide Net Reviews – managed six editors at one the first website review hubs.
Places I’ve studied:
Columbia University (BA-Liberal Arts, BS-Biomechanics, MBA-Marketing)
Interaction Design Foundation (online courses in UX/UI)
benmarriott.com (online courses in Motion Graphics)
And one U.S. Patent:
Method, system and storage medium for generating virtual brick models – Patent filed in 2003 during my seven year tenure at LEGO; granted in 2009.