NDG Senior Designer Ashley Stuart and I recently attended the Matteo Bologna lecture presented by AIGA DC and the Art Institute of Washington. I had heard Matteo speak once before at the 2007 HOW Conference in Atlanta and left feeling incredibly inspired, so I was really excited for the chance to hear him again and see his latest work.
Matteo is a self-taught Italian designer who made his way to the U.S. about 20 years ago after realizing that he would always be stifled in Italy due to all advertising revolving around one thing, sex. As a designer, I always believed that Europeans had a superior aesthetic, but after having Matteo show us a large amount of recent advertising from Italy, most of which relied heavily on displaying barely dressed women, I was persuaded otherwise.
Matteo began his career in NYC by branding restaurants throughout the city. With Matteo and his firm Mucca Design winning numerous awards and receiving notoriety for their restaurant branding, larger clients like Victoria’s Secret and GQ Italy began to seek him out, and from there the rest is history.
Through this branding, Matteo was able to showcase his love of typography and skill for creating his own fonts. One particular piece he shared during his lecture featured perhaps as many as 15 fonts—something unheard of for most graphic designers who typically limit ourselves to 2 or 3. Somehow though, he makes what could seem chaotic come together for a cohesive and original look.
During his lecture, Matteo showcased a large variety of work, and from branding to book publishing to interactive work and even a skateboard deck, every piece had one thing in common: incredible typography. As a designer, it was very inspiring to see how that attention to detail doesn’t have to suffer due to the restrictions of the medium, whether in print or online. If I walked away from this lecture learning anything, it’s that truly great typography is possible throughout everything we do.
