From the desk of Matt D. Smith

Contrast is a menu bar app that Sam Soffes and I launched. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely check out the site or the app before reading this post, otherwise it won't make much sense. Sam was at working from my READ MORE

Intro to Icons is the easiest way to learn the fundamentals of icon design with Illustrator OR Sketch. Both tools are covered. It's a completely free online course hosted on my own custom course software with 30 fast–paced videos. I'm not READ MORE

There's been a lot of random drama on "design twitter" as people call it. Mainly because... Well let's face it, designers have a lot of opinions. And for good reason. Healthy discord is critical for making designs better. Healthy. That's the key READ MORE

The amazing Nicole Walters at the ConverKit conference. You're going to have to focus if you're going to build something meaningful. Doing a thing every once in a while isn't going to cut it. It might make you feel good, but it READ MORE

The story below is an excerpt from The Alchemist. A merchant sent his son to learn the Secret of Happiness from the wisest of men. The young man wandered through the desert for forty days until he reached a beautiful castle at READ MORE

This is a response to Adam Silver's May 25, 2017 piece entitled Floating Labels Are Problematic. As the guy who made the original design that the majority of the Float Label craze was based on, I feel somewhat obligated to share my READ MORE

This is my current video setup... For screen recording I use and love Sceenflow My main vlogging camera is a Sony a6300 – I started with the kit lens and later upgraded to this wide angle lens. I have an awesome small Manfrotto READ MORE

The Garmin Forerunner 235 is my current watch. I bought it in October 2016, just after I finished my first half marathon. I considered both the FitBit Surge and an Apple Watch beforehand. But after more research I decided I didn't want READ MORE

A few weeks ago I was invited by Adobe to livestream my app design process on adobelive.com, hosted by Paul Trani and Michael Chaize. The goal was to show how to solve a design problem with Adobe XD. After some deliberation, READ MORE

Here are the resources from my Adobe MAX 2016 sessions. Let me know if you have any questions! Creating Compelling Icons for User Interfaces PDF Workbook Download the demo files Designing and Prototyping Better User Experiences PDF Workbook Download the demo XD READ MORE

I've been teaching a design class at the University of GA this fall semester and it's stretched me a lot in terms of how to communicate the best way to approach a new project. I've currently got the students going through the READ MORE

My feet hurt. My legs are sore and my joints ache. I'm in pain, but I'm smiling. Last weekend, I finished my first ever half marathon (13.1 miles) and I gotta say, I’m feeling pretty fantastic. Here’s a picture READ MORE