HI, I'M MATTHEW,
BUT YOU CAN CALL
ME MATT
I’ve been in the design industry since 2018, crafting amazing digital products for equally amazing users.
Born & raised in Houston, TX, I've survived hurricanes, winter storms, and 290 traffic, and yet there's still no place I'd rather be. 🤠
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
Hello! I’m Matthew Stone, a creative designer and UX expert. I like working with technology, design, and communications to improve user experiences and inspire innovative products.
I learned the ins and outs of design while studying advertising at the University of Houston, and since graduating in 2020, I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some really amazing projects.
In my free time I love to explore! Whether that means spelunking through a cave, or just staying home and playing video games, I’m always ready for a new adventure.
BRANDS I'VE WORKED WITH
TREEHOUSE
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
ARCHER
INTEX CARS
CONTENT SONATA
VIÑALI SKINCARE
NSAC - ADOBE
MAMBO SEAFOOD
AAF
SANKOFA
HILTON COLLEGE
VALENTI INTEGRATED
LATEST
AWARDS
06
2020 AMERICAN ADVERTISING AWARDS - STUDENT SHOW
Silver
Logo Design: The Sankofa Program
Bronze
Printed Annual Report or Brochure: Adobe Plans Book
Bronze
Magazine Advertising, Single: Adobe Decision Maker
Bronze
Television Advertising: Adobe Ever Changing Media
Bronze
Magazine Advertising Campaign: Adobe
2020 NATIONAL STUDENT ADVERTISING COMPETITION - DISTRICT 10
1st Place
Adobe Campaign: University of Houston
MY
DESIGN PROCESS
I tackle each new project with a foolproof design plan. My strategy is to continuously review and iterate during every stage of the design process.
01.
DEFINE
In order to create a solution, you first need to clearly understand the problem. The first phase brings the team together to define the project’s goals and set the design and business expectations. This stage reviews the product outline, team structure, communication channels, and business needs. Additionally, it’s important to understand how the company’s brand values will reflect through the project. This will help create a strategy for design success.
STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEWS
VALUE PROPOSITION MAPPING
CONCEPT SKETCHING
02.
DISCOVER
Now that we know what problems need solving, it’s time to gather resources that can help us form our answers. Conducting research is the key to creating an informed user experience. It allows designers to understand user goals and how the product can best address them. This research will be the foundation of the product’s solution, and can be used to make innovative design decisions later on.
INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
FOCUS GROUPS
SURVEYS
03.
DEVELOPE
Next we’ll take a look at all the research we collected and extract insights. We’ll use these to distill the most important elements of our user’s problems. This is where we start brainstorming solutions, and compare them until we find the best option. We do this by identifying the pros and cons of an idea and then make the necessary changes to achieve the most effective results. After the user experience is clearly defined, we’ll evaluate our design concepts and see how they inform our user’s behavior and experience.
USER PERSONAS
USER STORIES
USER JOURNEYS
STORYBOARDS
04.
DESIGN
Now that we have a clear understanding of the user’s needs, we can start creating the information architecture and user interface. This phase can get complicated, and will require collaboration across multiple teams. There’s often a lot of back and forth, so it's important to remember: the premise of the design phase is to put ideas in front of users, get their feedback, refine them, and repeat. These ideas may be represented by prototypes or interactive wireframes, and are based upon an explicit understanding of users, tasks, and environments.
DESIGN SYSTEMS
WIREFRAMES
PROTOTYPES
05.
DELIVER
This phase is where the design is fleshed out, content and digital assets are created, and a high-fidelity version of the product is validated with stakeholders and end-users through user testing sessions. Then we’ll shift from creating and validating ideas to collaborating with developers to guide the product vision. It's important to remember that any UX project is very iterative, and as we learn more about the problem, the audience, the stakeholders and the constraints, it may be necessary to revisit some of the research undertaken, get additional user feedback, or try out new ideas. Revisiting past phases is a part of the process, and even the best concepts will fail if you can’t improve from your mistakes.
FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT
USER TESTING
SURVEYS
ANALYTICS