Hello, my name is Matt Freed. I grew up in Indiana, surrounded by corn and soybean fields. In Arizona now, one might say I’ve gone from corn to cactus. Regardless of location, my passion for design, marketing, and art remains constant.
From corn to cactus
I used to watch my mom sitting at her wooden desk in the warm summers. With the windows open, and a slight breeze, she would dip her dip pen into India ink, and I would hear the sharp metal tip scratch against the rough paper. Over and over, dip and scratch, dip and scratch, for hours until the dark lines formed recognizable shapes. Later after the ink dried, she would go back with loose watercolor strokes to add depth and life to her work. She would frame her art and hang it on our walls. Those memories are vivid to me, and I knew I wanted to be an artist.
By fifth grade I was well on my way to becoming that artist ;-)
In eighth grade my art teacher, Mr. Rasp, encouraged me to submit this stippling work to a local art contest and I won. As the winner, I got to show my artwork on a local television show and was interviewed. This event changed how I thought about art – art could open doors.
Let’s skip high school – does anyone make good decisions in high school?
I was ready to prove myself when I got to college. I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer and needed to pass several art foundations courses to be accepted into the graphic design program.
I enjoyed the classes. Art history, design theory, and painting were all amazing, but my favorite was drawing. I loved the control of a pencil to get fine details and a large tonal range.
I left college before I got into the graphic design program, and I went seven years without creating art.
I was on the path to becoming a high school history teacher. Then in 2001, the opportunity to design presented itself.
A small technical college was hiring a graphic designer and I was able to get an interview. Panicked, I had about a week to create a portfolio of work from scratch. I went to that interview with a printed portfolio of all new work designed in PowerPoint. To my surprise, I got the job. I found out later that it was a sympathy interview; they had already hired someone for the job, but after seeing my work the hired me, instead. I spent the first two weeks working with Adobe textbooks in my lap learning software I had never opened.
My goal of being a creator began.
I have been designing, marketing, and creating ever since.