Matt Cram

Of the sky and the sea

or Between hope and regret What does the ocean know of a squid, always looking behind as thoughts oscillate? What can the…

Being wrong right

Being Wrong Right Better to be wrong with an open ear Than to be right, never bent to hear. The path that’s worn by prideful tread Leads not…

Matt’s Manifesto

These are very much a work in progress. Not only am I open to changing these, finding they are foolish, etc, but I expect to. Also, I don’t live up…

What is a brand?

A brand is not a logo, though a logo is part of a brand. It’s not a viral post, a catchy slogan, a perfect typeface, or a great color palette,…

It’s the kind of failure that matters

In graphic design education, we talk a lot about process, critique, and iteration but not always about failure. That’s a mistake. Fear of failure…

Lessons from culinary school

When I was in grad school for design, we shared a space with a culinary school. Every day, they cooked our meals and every day, I watched how…

Comfort’s Cost

We speak of freedom as if it were flight, but forget that wings come with wind, and the sky offers no shelter. We crave a trail…

Student questions: AI in design

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping many fields including (especially?) graphic design. It brings a lot of important questions for anyone…

Business card mockup

Show off your business card designs in a clean, realistic mockup completely built in Figma. No photos, just vector work that looks sharp and…

Simple Guide to File Formats

Source files are the editable versions of your work and the most important to save. They let you make changes, updates, or reuse designs in the…

Thinking about agency owner vs. solo designer

I saw a post on X from Oykun comparing agency life to freelancing, with freelancing appearing to have the edge. My gut tells me freelancing fits me…

Student questions: Design career

Recently, a student reached out to me with some thoughtful questions about what it’s like to be a graphic designer. While these questions came from…

Creating a design resume

Download: Sample Resume Docx Creating a resume as a graphic designer is your chance to show off your creativity while keeping things professional…

Figma teams admin

Do you miss how teams were displayed pre-drafts update? Miss being able to quickly and easily move between teams or drag files from one team to…

Figma’s New UI

Note: since posting this, many/most of my concerns have been addressed or have fallen away as I begin to see the value of the updated UI. Maybe…

Computer Recommendations

Students applying for the Game Design Arts or Graphic Design programs will have access to high-end computers in the art computer studios. These are…

Most common interview questions

These are a bit general but don’t go into an interview without having a solid answer to each of these. Tell us a bit about yourself? Best…

Fourty things

by: Mark Manson Your relationship with others is a direct reflection of your relationship with yourself. If you treat yourself poorly, then you’ll…

Mood Boards

In graphic design, a mood board is a visual tool used to convey the overall aesthetic, mood, and tone of a design project. It serves as a curated…

Letter to a Junior Designer

By Elliot Dahl Originally published Aug 14, 2017, at Medium I moved to San Francisco in 2013 as a junior designer with only a few years of…

Planetary Fact Sheet

This information is presented for the benefit of students doing the solar system poster design. Also, it is just cool. All of the information is…

Pantone to CMYK to RGB

There is a non-zero percent chance that this information may become difficult to find in the future. It is posted here for easy reference.…

Figma wish list

Hey Figma, here is my wish list for my favorite design tool. While I believe that all of these additions would make Figma a better product, my…

Colophon

Largely this site is simply a collection of TXT and DOC files stored on Dropbox and served by Blot.im. A lot of care has been taken to make the site…

Sketchbook Drawing Ideas

Drawing in your sketchbook is a wonderful way to develop your skills, explore creativity, and document your experiences. Here are some diverse…

An Incomplete Reading List for Graphic Designers

These are all books that I have read and can personally recommend. The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams Thinking with Type by Ellen…