Designer (graphic, interface, interaction & user experience)
Sydney Area, Australia
- Current
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- Designer at Self-employed
- Past
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- Senior Art Director at SinnerSchrader
- Art Director at sanmann, hammer & roske
- Education
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- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Recommended
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6 people have recommended Matt - Connections
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connections
- Industry
- Design
- Websites
Matt Balara’s Summary
Matt Balara is a user experience & interface designer, who “designed” his first web page in 1993. Matt’s strengths lie in user research & testing, rapid idea generation, presentation and visual design.
During 10 years living in Hamburg Germany, Matt was a Senior Art Director at one of Germany’s largest web agencies. He helped brands such as Volkswagen, TUI (Europe’s largest touristic firm), Microsoft, OTTO (the second largest online retailer worldwide) and the Danish shoemaker ECCO develop elegant, profitable, user-centric e-commerce sites that are today used by millions every month.
Matt returned to Australia in October 2008, and since then has worked as a user experience design consultant for clients in Germany, America and Australia. He believes that most the web is far less attractive and more difficult than it needs to be, and is passionate about improving it.
Matt also speaks and teaches workshops about agile design, rapid idea generation methods and e-commerce design at conferences around the world, and is a judge of the 2009 Australian Web Awards.
Matt Balara’s Specialties:
Creation of functional and enjoyable designs, presentation and explanation of complex ideas, development of interface concepts, and interface simplification.
Fluent in written & spoken English and German.
Matt Balara’s Experience
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Designer
Self-employed
(Design industry)
August 2008 — Present (1 year 4 months)
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Senior Art Director
SinnerSchrader
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; SZZ; Internet industry)
May 2001 — August 2008 (7 years 4 months)
Client consulting, interface concept & design development and presentation, team leadership. Clients include Volkswagen, TUI, OTTO, Plus and more.
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Art Director
sanmann, hammer & roske
(Partnership; 11-50 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)
July 1998 — February 2001 (2 years 8 months)
A small advertising agency wanted to get on the web bandwagon, like many others. I was their web department. My responsibilities included concept, design, HTML, CMS maintenance, client massages, i.e. everything.
Matt Balara’s Education
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Virginia Commonwealth University
BFA , Communication Arts & Design , 1988 — 1994
- Activities and Societies:
- Instrumental in the founding of the VCU Virtual Reality Lab.
Additional Information
Matt Balara’s Websites:
Matt Balara’s Interests:
Art, photojournalism, imaginative literature, cinema, Asian cooking, travel.
