Austin Carlson graduated from KU in May, 2012 with a BFA in Communication Design. He won the Don Breter Illustration Award. Lately he has been working at a supermarket near his home in Hanover, PA. That will all change in a few weeks when he flies to Denmark to start his new job as a designer for LEGO. I wrote to him to ask him to share some of the portfolio pieces that helped him land his dream job.
What is your new job title?
“I will be first working as a Junior Graphic Designer for LEGO and hopefully work up from there.”
What can you tell us about the interview?
“All I can say about the interview is that I doubt I will ever have a better job interview in my life! The LEGO Company paid for everything and I’m not overselling that statement.”
“They paid for my plane tickets there and back, my taxi rides, all my meals, two tickets for LEGO Land, plus about 150 dollars worth of LEGO sets. Also all the nine candidates that came for the job interview became quick friends. I still keep in touch with them and I will see two of them again real soon since they were hired also.”
How long have you wanted to work for LEGO?
“I’ve always wanted to work for the LEGO Company!” says Austin. “This is really a dream come true for me! Since I started building when I was 4, I always wanted a position at LEGO. I just had no clue what Graphic Design was as a kid. I thought you had to be a starving artist if you wanted a career in art.”
Austin shared a couple more curious images that look like two of his illustration classmates transformed into LEGO characters. He calls them Mini-Joe and Mini-Laura, see below. To view more of the artwork that impressed LEGO visit Austin Carlson’s portfolio site.
Illustration Concentration 
One thought on “KUTZTOWN to LEGOLAND”