Matt is a digital strategist, user experience designer and web developer. He's been self-employed for the past 12 years and has worked on digital projects for a range of companies from big brands to individuals. Outside of work, Matt has a healthy obsession with photography and in particular capturing the amazing objects that appear in our night sky. This year, Matt is moving to add his passion for photography into his service offerings and connect the dots between content and execution in the digital space. Most recently he's teamed up with Amanda from Ways We Work to create a new series called "A Day With..." where they tell stories about how great people work together.
What do you do?
Currently, I’m a bit of a digital nomad. I’m a solopreneur, freelance web developer and photographer. I plug into existing teams at agencies or businesses and support them with strategy, user experience design and development. My day varies quite a lot from week to week as different jobs require different hats. When I’m developing a web site for a client I’m found hammering away at the keyboard in the basement of my house. When I’m consulting or helping with user experience I can be found in the offices of my clients or in various coffee shops around town.
Most recently I’ve made a bit of a shift in my career moving away from the design studio I co-founded 10 years ago with a good friend Luke Canning. I opted for a more simple approach to business rather than one with scale. I really love the idea of being able to work in flexible and unique ways and try to strike a nice balance between it and the rest of my life. Moving away from my previous business allowed me the freedom to explore all sorts of creative avenues and work anywhere geographically. I also love meeting new people and finding out how they go about making everything work in life and business. My new nomadic approach has already afforded me the chance to meet some great people, so it’s already paying off.
I’m also moving to strike a better balance between digital work and the real world outside of the computer screen. I found that making things that exist only in 1’s and 0’s can leave me feeling a little empty. To combat this I took up photography to get me outdoors, away from my desk and the virtual world. Photography has evolved further into a passion for telling stories, rather than being about capturing the perfect frame. Much like you can use JavaScript to make a great website, you can use photography to tell a great story. I’d love to move my career into a 50/50 split between web and storytelling but it’s going to take some hard work.