About
Matt Serif is a New York via Melbourne based Graphic Designer, Illustrator, and Sentient Font Identifier focused on branding and communication strategy. He is often found pasting up art in the streets, playing with synthesizers, or hanging out with his cat at home. He is passionate about design, apprehensive about the future, and doesn't take himself too seriously.
Projects
On a mission to help his clients achieve “more good days”, Chace required a decidedly feel-good brand to launch his personal osteapathy practice.
The resulting identity expresses the key themes of the studio — Balance, wellness, and positivity — Incorporating a subliminal, exceptionally happy symbol within the cairn-like wordmark, along with a system of vibrant, yet earthy colors.
Brand Mechanics is a full-service design consultancy based in Melbourne and Singapore. With backgrounds in Industrial Design and Digital Design, respectively, the founders sought to bring these two disciplines together, forming a holistic studio that would combine function with aesthetics, and sought a mark that would pay homage to the Bauhaus movement, as a defining inspiration of their mission.
The resulting branding is a strong yet playful mark that interprets the company’s goal for unity across disciplines quite literally, in the uniting of two basic shapes, paired with a modern logotype inspired by schoolbook grotesques and geometric Bauhaus aesthetics.
Odyssea Music & Arts Journey is a six-day multi-hyphenate festival spanning over two weekends in the beachside town of Port Hedland. Marking its debut, the diverse festival sought a captivating identity that would showcase the many arms (or tentacles) of the festivities harmoniously with its wide-ranging audience, and provide a solid foundation for future years.
Illustrative, bold, and expressive — The resulting Odyssea identity is a manifestation of the event’s multifaceted allure, and a fearless embodiment of creativity and expression. Designed to encapsulate the lively atmosphere of the festival, and convey a sense of wonder, exploration, and adventure.
After 15 years of business, Frames Readymade sought a modern facelift that would both reassure their growing clientele of professional artists on an exceptional quality of service, while still remaining approachable to their broader demographic of cost-conscious, “personal framing” customers.
The resulting rebrand is a literal combination of these two demographics, combining an everyday workhouse sans with an elegant serif, supported by a friendly, versatile brand mascot, colloquially referred to as “Framey” by staff.
The tradition of the Japanese tea ceremony as we know it today dates back as early as the 1500s in Kyoto, Japan, where it was practiced and perfected by Sen Rikyū, a Japanese Tea Master who is considered to have elevated the ritual to a fine art.
Paying homage to this tradition, the semi-circle motif in this identity designed for Matcha No Ma, a specialty matcha-based cafe and bakery, represents the pattern of the ‘Chasen’, a bamboo whisk handcrafted from a single piece of bamboo that is split into two concentric circles. In similar respects, the A’s in the logotype resemble the curved roofs of a traditional Japanese Tea House, where these matcha ceremonies take place.
‘Matcha No Ma’ can be roughly translated to ‘the matcha space’, namely ‘negative space’ — Conceptually, Matcha No Ma is designed to be a space for patrons to slow down from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and take a moment to appreciate the beauty and simplicity of Japanese tradition.
Instrumental Creative is a bespoke music curation service that works one-on-one with clients to craft personalised playlists catered for corporate events, private functions, and retail experiences.
They required an identity that would represent both their anti-algorithmic, hand-picked approach to music curation, as well as their professional positioning as experts in the field.
Side Projects
A typographic study on a flatbed scanner, inspired by mistakes. Type Scans is an ongoing (though currently on hiatus) series of works exploring how scanning and printing errors (often the final step in the lifespan of an artwork) can be reincorporated to add meaning to the piece, rather than subtract from it.
This project has taken many forms over the years, from posters, to zines, to stickers, to skateboards decks, but has always felt most at home on the street — I found that pasting select phrases up at large scale with a generous amount of negative space, in a medium that is already in itself "graffiti", was an invitation for collaboration, and gave each work an even further extended life, evolving with the wind, rain, and most importantly, strangers.
With 180 episodes spanning over 9 seasons, Seinfeld was once the most beloved sitcom on television (says me). This poster series immortalises each and every episode, communicated via a single-quip.
Focusing primarily on layout and typography, this project adheres to a set of constraints, put in place to remove as many other variables as possible — This includes a limited binary black and white color palette in which each still frame from the series is rendered as a 1-bit bitmap image (a format in which each pixel is represented with a single binary bit of information — 0 \[white\] or 1 \[black\]). This limitation not only encourages a focus on the intended disciplines, but further cements the project in the nostalgic epoch of dial-up connections and dot-matrix printers in which Seinfeld was airing on every 200lb tube television in the continental United States.
Now playing: Season 6
I'm nothing if not committed to the bit. Hoy Boys is a (just for fun) project, originally sketched to accompany an inside joke that spiraled way out of control, now presented as a fully considered brand identity. Some might call this unnecessary, I call it a portfolio piece.
Hot Boys is a bakery that doesn’t take itself too seriously, serving up freshly baked bread, pastries, and all of the delicious hot steamy treats (boys) you could dream of.
Rustic, yet playful. Wholesome, yet provocative. The logo conceals a tongue-in-cheek undertone. Remaining first-glance SFW, while giving a knowing nod to passersby as they double-take on the well-endowed Y, and whiplash back to those hot-cross-butthOles.
Not every project can change the world I guess.
Combining a love of type with an adoration for vintage music gear. The result of more than a year of scrutinising over every tiny detail of some of the most iconic synthesizers and drum machines ever made (according to me) — This poster interprets 36 of these into their analogous letterforms. (+ 0-9).
Printed on 200GSM Silk
A2 (420x594mm)
Work Experience
Conceptualising brand identities and working on brand rollouts with high-end hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars in New York City.