“Politicians have quickly learned that the web is the fastest and most effective way to get their views out to their constituents,” says Julie Lockwood, a Full Sail Digital Arts and Design grad who, in the last three years, has helped more than 30 congressmen and senators enhance their web presence through the websites she has designed.

“Their websites are capable of more and more things every day. Our company provides the tools they need to stay up-to-date with web trends and new capabilities so they can consistently produce quality content and get their message out there in the most effective way.”

Sound tedious? Not at all, according to Julie. “I assume most people would think that the work would be boring. I mean, who enjoys politics? But it's really quite the opposite. It's my job to make a client's content more enticing, more interesting.”

Julie still finds it strange that she ended up in web design, having always thought she would apply her degree to print. But after months of job-hunting, she applied for the web position at GSL Solutions in Tampa and crossed her fingers. “I only had a couple web projects in my portfolio along with a ton of print work, but GSL saw potential in my work and got the sense that I could translate my print creativity over to the web. I got the job, and now it's three years later and I couldn't be happier with what I'm doing.”

Julie has worked on all websites for Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Mike Lee, and Senator Ron Johnson, as well as Senator Lisa Murkowski's, which won the Congressional Medal Foundation's Platinum award in 2010 for the best Senate member website.

And it’s not simply web design either; Julie and the GSL team help their clients with social media as well. “Social networking is huge now. Every client that hires us has a YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter account. They know that their constituents are using these services on a daily basis, and that if they really want to stay connected, this is how they're going to do it.” Additionally, GSL provides mobile solutions including the creation of apps that allow voters to stay up-to-date on the latest press releases and issue statements.

“It's certainly never what I expected to be doing - designing websites for senators and congressman - but I really enjoy the work that I do.”