AC&M graphic designer Matt Dees

Team Member Spotlight: Matt Dees, Graphic Designer

Matt Dees, Queens Alumnus with a Bachelor of Arts in New Media design, began his journey at AC&M three years ago when a friend told him the company was looking for a graphic design intern. Within three months, Dees’ passion for design and creativity was undeniable and he was promoted to full time.

A quick learner, constantly pushing himself to create exciting new pieces, Dees is extremely dedicated to his work. He is involved with each of his projects from brainstorming to the finished product.

Get to know a little about one of our fave graphic designers!

Who are some of your design heroes?
Aaron Draplin, I love his retro and simplistic style. Von Glitschka does simple but brilliant illustrations.

[youtube width=”475″ height=”394″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx4dNGh0l5M[/youtube]

How do you stay on top of current design trends?
I use a browser plugin called Muzli, it shows amazing projects and trends every time I open a new tab.

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Walk us through one of your favorite projects.
I recently designed the front end of a website. I loved it because it was challenging. Consistently I was on my toes making sure the site looked great aesthetically and was functional for the user.
( See some of Matt’s other great works below) 

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Matt and Walker prepping for a photoshoot.

 

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Which skills/applications do you use daily (versus occasionally)?

Almost every day I am creating some sort of graphic in Illustrator. Whether it be a simple button for a digital ad or a logo proposal for a rebranding project, I am constantly using it hand in hand with other applications. Occasionally I am using Premiere Pro to edit video footage, I would love to do more in the future. I always made home videos growing up and working in that media brings out the kid in me.

Working on infographic

See the final result: 100 years in the making, Copa America will touch U.S. Hispanic’s most valuable passion point: Soccer

What does a day in the life of AC&M Desginer Matt Dees typically look like?

7:45-8:00am // First alarm goes off and I decide if I really need to wake up to make breakfast. Today I am craving my favorite b-fast item, egg, bacon, sausage and cheese burrito, can’t forget the Frank’s RedHot sauce…

8:50am // I hop on my bike and I am off on my trek through Uptown Charlotte to the office.

9:00am // Walk in to the office and do my daily lap of “good-mornings” to my co-workers. Turn on my computer and resume any projects left over from the day before or start the next project on the agenda. I plug in my headphones to live stream to the Friday Show on KEXP Seattle.

11:45am // It’s Friday and lunchtime! That can mean only one thing for the AC&M crew, carpool and fights for shotgun as we make our way to Harris Teeter for $5 subs. We are pretty much on a first name basis with most of the employees here (Raymetta makes the best subs and our boy Kevin is always killin’ it on the express checkout).

12:45pm // Back to work (as long as I’m not in a food coma). I normally turn on podcast at this point, looks like today Snap Judgement is on the menu.

4:00pm // Last hour of work for the day means putting on the EDM and cranking it to 11!

5:35 pm // Work is wrapped up, files are on the server, hours are logged and time to hit the gym before any weekend craziness happens.

6:45 pm // Bike ride home back through Uptown and it is either time for Food Truck Friday or making plans for the night.

What is one piece of advice you would give to an upcoming designer?
Never stop creating, sure you are going to get burnt out on illustrating if you do it 24/7, but there so many aspects to being a designer today, you can always move to and learn something new. Also, stay positive, projects are going to have hiccups, some small some massive, stay positive and problem solve your way out of it. See your challenges as adventures.

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Make sure to follow Matt on Twitter @mattdeesdesign for more of his work, ideas and inspiration!

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Manolo Guajardo
manolo.guajardo@acmconnect.com