Graduates 2009: Rob Matthews

Date
4 June 2009

Rob Matthews has ideas to spare. Enthusiastic, excited, bright, witty and a little bit exhausting. He’s just graduated from Brighton’s Graphic Design course and the world is his oyster. A chap who likes to question things and will always endeavor to make sure his work has a strong idea behind it. He’s now looking to save up to go gain some experience in the Big Apple and it seems as though when he has his sights set on something, he more often than not achieves it. Watch out New York.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I always had a strong idea of what I wanted to be but it always changed.
When I was really young I wanted to be a snowman, as I though that meant I’d be able to fly.

In reflection, how bad was your work in the first year?

Some of it was pretty ill-considered, but there’s still bits I look back at and get excited by. I think although technically I knew very little, I was pretty enthusiastic and I was creating some interesting ideas. My work has definitely developed far since then though; Studying in Minneapolis was a big turning point for me, it helped me to realise to just go for ideas I believed in, instead of wasting time worrying over them. I was inspired a lot by one of my teachers over there, Tom McElligott, he taught a class called ‘Concepts for advertising’. I guess all in all, my ideas have become more concise and my attention to detail has developed.

If you could show a piece of your folio to one person, what piece would you choose, and who would you show it to?

There’s lots of people I’d love to show my work to. I’ve always wanted to meet Steve Jobs but I wouldn’t know what to show him! I’ve wanted to do something for the publication ‘Kilimanjaro’ for a while now, so I think I’d show ‘If Drawings Were Photographs’ to Olu Michael Odukoya.

If you had your own business, who would you employ and why?

If I could employ anybody, I’d employ Tom McElligott; Tom Founded Fallon along with Nancy Rice and Pat Fallon. Creatively, he’s the wisest person I’ve ever met, he has a natural tendency to look at what something could be rather than what something is supposed to be. He believes in working with ideas past the point where others would be satisfied and he feels strongly towards creating work which is original, that pushes the boundaries and will get noticed. I think he’d be amazing to work with.

If you’ve got any left, what will you spend the last of your student loan on?

I don’t have any left, but if I did I would put it towards moving to New York.

Where will we find you in 12 months?

Hopefully in New York; I want to go out there and do different internships and see what excites me. I feel that this is the best time for me to go out there and try and make something happen. I’m still not sure if I want to go into advertising or not, as at one point I was adamant I was going to be a creative, but I’d love to do an internship at Mother NY and see what happens…

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About the Author

Alex Bec

Alex joined as director in 2008 and oversees the commercial side of The HudsonBec Group which includes It's Nice That, Anyways, Lecture in Progress and If You Could Jobs. Contact him to discuss working with us on sponsored content, commercial partnerships, media partnerships and commissioning work.

alex@thehudsonbecgroup.com

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