“To me, creating a visual piece of design feels like the same thing in my brain as playing with choreography and music,” says Juju Stojanovic, who took a rather unusual route to her design education, which began in 2021. Before studying design, Stojanovic was pursuing a professional career as a dancer with the San Diego Ballet. “Combining all that together with the logic and puzzle-solving of an education in maths I think results in a beautiful combination of skillsets to transfer to design.”

Stojanovic grew up in a Chinese-Serbian-American household and feels that this, combined with her varied education, has afforded her a “multifaceted identity”. Having danced since she was five years old, Stojanovic studied a double major in ballet and mathematics at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2015. After graduating she accepted a full-time position in California and performed a repertoire of classical and contemporary ballets across the San Diego area and nationally.

However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Stojanovic says it became apparent that a career in dance was not sustainable – and she saw this moment as an opportunity to pursue her other passion. Currently in her fourth year at the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), she has very quickly made a name for herself. An ambitious type designer, last year she received a Type Directors Club Young Ones award for a student lettering project.