Podcast appearances and mentions of Matt D Smith

This week, I talk with Matt D. Smith—better known on the internet as MDS. Matt is a world-class designer and the founder of Shift Nudge, where he's building the Juilliard of design education. Over his 20-year career, Matt has generated millions in revenue while helping clients craft iconic visual identities. But beyond the work itself, this conversation is about the inner journey behind outward success. We dive into how Matt and his wife built a marriage that serves as the foundation of his career, the three major turning points that shaped his path, and what might have happened had he chosen differently. Most importantly, we explore how Matt transitioned from seeking external validation to being guided by a deeper sense of peace and joy in his work. This is a conversation about success, self-awareness, and the courage to forge your own path. Let's get to it. In this episode: (00:00) - Intro (02:20) - Is writing online still relevant? (09:51) - A pivotal childhood moment (15:12) - Lessons from crop dusting (20:54) - Discovering a passion for design (26:31) - College life and relationships (29:41) - The early ingredients to Matt's successful marriage (40:27) - Choosing to settle down in Athens, GA (43:54) - Raising four kids (45:31) - Gaining notoriety with the Float Label design pattern (48:47) - Moving to San Francisco? (52:04) - Building a community in Athens (57:56) - The shift to online education (01:08:50) - The downside of putting all your eggs in one basket (01:12:17) - Launching Shift Nudge (01:18:32) - Dealing with self-doubt (01:23:32) - Launching during COVID (01:28:16) - The stats behind Shift Nudge's first launch (01:33:20) - The emotional and psychological challenges of success (01:40:22) - Dealing with “little t trauma” (01:54:31) - What makes Matt world-class? (01:56:38) - Matt's most beautiful future (01:58:36) - Who Matt is becoming Get full show notes and links at https://GoodWorkShow.com. Watch the episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@barrettabrooks.

In this episode, we chat with Jess's friend and fellow Georgian, Matt D. Smith. While developers may not be too familiar, Matt is widely known and well respected in the interface design community. He ran an independent design studio for many years, eventually transitioning to building products and courses. Matt is currently focused on Shift Nudge, the premiere online learning experience for designing beautiful & functional interfaces.Matt shares with us his story of moving from client work to products, and growing an online presence. The parallels to indie development are striking, with many takeaways for those trying to build an independent practice, or grow as content creators.Relevant LinksMatt's TwitterMatt's YouTubeMatt's WebsiteShift NudgeUse ContrastFlowkit

(VIDEO PODCAST) Today, I sit down with one of my favorite product designers, freelancer Matt D. Smith. I first ran into Matt at Epicurrence in 2016, and I've admired his career trajectory ever since. Matt is a master at the tools of the trade, often posting inspiring tutorials, walkthroughs, and advanced features of new software platforms within days of their release. His seemingly random posts often have a profound influence on the industry - as he recounts how a side hustle changed the way the majority of us now design form fields - or go viral for their perfectly timed humor (did you see his Marc Jacobs-inspired Twitter shirt?). What we talk about the most though, is how Matt conceptualized and developed his industry-leading UI design course, Shift Nudge (shiftnudge.com). From juggling the uncertainties of a freelance career to working with academic advisors, Matt's choice to invest himself in building a modern curriculum has changed design education. With thousands of users, hundreds of positive reviews, and countless success stories, Shift Nudge allows beginners to earn the chops they need to jump-start their product design careers. And it's allowed Matt to replace his full-time income with a project he's passionate about. It's always a pleasure to sit down with someone as driven as Matt D. Smith. I hope you enjoy the conversation. Follow Matt: https://twitter.com/mds More from the Creative Brief: iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-creative-brief-with-brian-athey/id1720613498 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brianathey Instagram: https://instagram.com/brianathey Website: https://brianathey.com

Show notes and transcript: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/bonus-episode-matt-d-smith#details We've got a special bonus episode for you today. Matt D. Smith, better known as MDS, is the founder of Shift Nudge, and he has a mission to lead a new generation of interface designers to build the digital products of the future. Matt's courses on Shift Nudge have helped thousands of students at top companies like Apple, Figma, Lyft, Slack, and more, learn the visual skills of interface design, even when they didn't start with a design background.  In today's episode, we talk about the elements of a great UI, typography, color theory, and where people often go wrong in UI design. One more thing before we get to the show. Design Better listeners can get access to 3 free lessons from shift nudge for a limited time. Just go to shiftnudge.com/designbetter to get free access. Bio Matt D Smith earned his BFA in Graphic Design from UGA in 2005 and has specialized in interface design ever since. He's led projects around the world, served as an adjunct design professor, guest lectured at Harvard, and taught workshops at conferences all over the US. *** Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: Heath Ceramics: We love Heath Ceramics. They're the types of objects you pass on from generation to generation, the kind of gift you bring to a wedding, or the dishes that you'd want to put on a beautiful Thanksgiving table. You can support our show, bring Heath home and take 15% off your online order using code “DesignBetter” between now and October 31st: dbtr.co/heathceramics American Giant: Makers of the best hoodie on the planet, their clothing is American-made, ethically produced, and built to last. What more could you ask for? Save 20% off your first order with American Giant using our promo code DESIGNBETTER at checkout. dbtr.co/americangiant Methodical Coffee: Roasted, blended, brewed, served and perfected by verified coffee nerds

Testing out your content in some way before a full release can really improve the quality of your final product. Matt D. Smith, better known around the internet as MDS, did a beta testing round before he released Shift Nudge. Learners still had to pay to access the beta, which resulted in a very invested group of testers. And, the course is hosted on Notion which gave learners the ability to leave feedback on content inline, and it was easy for Matt to make adjustments and even record new lessons. Releasing Shift Nudge was different than the other products Matt has launched. It's more personal, and it can feel like the content is a reflection of you that people will judge. But, the best advice Matt has received about that is that as an educator you are not a grand knowledge holder, bestowing your knowledge upon people. Your job is to facilitate and guide people from the state of not knowing, to knowing.Matt also discusses the lessons learned from the errors he made with offering a design feedback service to learners, and how the idea for Shift Nudge went from being a product design course to a visual design course.Links-Twitter - MDS-Website - MDS-YouTube - MDS-Shift Nudge

Matt D. Smith (@mds) is an exceptional UI designer with a prolific catalog of design-related side projects. His most recent offering is Shift Nudge, an online learning experience to master designing beautiful and accessible interfaces. We go  deep into course creation, the top 3 mistakes new UI designers are making, how he got his 3-letter Twitter handle and where we draw the line between copying a design and drawing inspiration.

Matt D. Smith is the owner and Design Director at Studio MDS, a small independent design studio in Athens, GA. He created the Float Label Pattern for digital input fields, the Contrast app for checking WCAG 2.0 color contrast ratios, and Flowkit for creating user flows inside your favorite design tool. He's currently working on an intensive interface design course called Shift Nudge.He's a proud father of four. TOPICS:3:13: MDS's journey to getting a ripped physique7:26: What drives MDS(Matt D Smith)?10:45: Why does MDS prefer to operate as a Company of One?16:10: Why did MDS decide to make video courses in the design education space?19:34: MDS explains why he has to be picky and select projects that actually pay money28:32: Why has MDS never had a full time job?31:54: Would MDS consider working full time on creating design courses?34:15: MDS describes the beta launch of his new course Shift Nudge40:07: MDS gets real and talks about the overhead costs of producing a design course43:46: How did MDS beta test the Shift Nudge idea before committing to it full time?45:45: MDS explains how to covercome the fear of not having enough twitter followers, mailing list subscribers etc. to launch your idea!50:07: MDS explains his process from start to finish for creating the Shift Nudge course54:00: MDS  gives advise on how to overcome self doubt, imposter syndrome56:45: MDS talks about collaborating with InVision to create a design courseLEVEL UP YOUR VISUAL DESIGN SKILLS:Check out MDS's Shift Nudge course!!CONNECT WITH MATT D SMITH(MDS):Connect with MDS on LinkedInFollow MDS on TwitterSubscribe to MDS's Email List and get notified about new course releasesIf you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review in Apple Podcasts, or share the episode with a friend. Thank you!

This week we talk about learning FOMO, Kevin's unsolicited Overcast redesign and more!Show Notes Design Details Podcast ARKit 4 WWDC session SwiftUI cool people Joey Banks Jordan Singer The Comeback of Fun in Visual Design Michael Flarup Matt D. Smith recreating the Siri icon in Figma Kevin’s Overcast unsolicited redesign iPhone iPad Settings Recommendations Mandy Patinkin’s Twitter GIF? The Last of Us Part II Hamilton on Disney+ Dark on Netflix Upside down Rouge HostsKevin Clark (@vernalkick)Rafael Conde (@rafahari)

Matt D. Smith (MDS) is an interface designer, business owner, father of four, and side project enthusiast running an independent studio in Athens, Georgia. In this episode we chat about finding time for design work, side projects and family, as well as the importance and practicality of diversifying your income streams. Find Matt on the web: http://mds.is/ https://dribbble.com/mds Find Ran on the web: YouTube: https://youtube.com/flux-with-ran-segall Instagram: @ransegall The Webflow Masterclass: http://zpr.io/gDLfQ

Artwork Process Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeWDSuJgcmF/ Manual Focus Interview with Matt D. Smith: http://alicjacolon.com/manual-focus/21 Manual Focus on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1352800738 Alicja on Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/alicjacolon

Matt shares personal stories of struggle and breakthrough as he illustrates lessons God has taught him.

Have a question? Want to chat? Join our community on Spectrum or tweet at us, @immutablefm! Matt D. Smith The Tail of the Dragon Brent Jackson aka jxnblk Diana Mounter aka broccolini Adam Michela Josh Puckett GraphQL gRPC AIUX Peter Nowell Sketch Master Wes Bos Wes Bos on Developer Tea Ben Wilkins Rafa Condé Stardew Valley

This week we discuss the role of a personal portfolio and the trend of moving your content to third-party services. Stick around after the outro for some post-show movie talk. Mentioned in the show Paul Jarvis’ tweet Subform Medium post Irvue Ajay’s Dark wallpapers collection Jon Skeet Scott Hanselman David Walsh Matt D. Smith Tobias Van Schneider Tom Huelin Tom Huelin’s Friday Dress Down Harry Roberts Ajay’s Influences List Post-show Alien Awakening rumours Rogue One spliced with A New Hope

If you have questions of your own, you can tweet us at @immutablefm, email us at questions@immutable.fm, or join our Slack team! Sponsor: Linode Topic 1: What’s your post & storage flow for photos and videos? The SSDs Bryn uses Topic 2: Have either of you found vlogging informing your product design process at all? Sam's vlog Topic 3: What was your “why didn't I start doing this sooner” moment? Bryn: Learning to write HTML Sam: Communicating with people better Topic 4: How many test devices do you have? Sam: iPhone 7, Simulator Bryn: iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPad Mini Retina, Simulator Topic 5: Instead of using Framer (or something else) to build a prototype, which language do you both use to code one? Framer Matt D. Smith Spector Pug Ellen Soffes Mimo Swifty Duolingo Sam: Swift Bryn: CSS (Spector), HTML, JS, Pug

In this episode: exporting assets, trends, unpopular values, project lengths, and educating clients! If you have questions of your own, you can tweet us at @immutablefm, email us at questions@immutable.fm, or join our Slack team! Sponsors: Hired Topic 1: How do you feel about developers being responsible for exporting assets? Who should control asset names, and padding? Marc Edwards Topic 2: Do you feel that there are times when to follow a trend, or do you avoid the trend or even just use the trend as inspiration? Blackbox Matt D. Smith Topic 3: What is one design value or philosophy that you agree with, that the vast majority of people do not? Brian Lovin Topic 4: Which do you prefer: working on many short-term projects or diving deep into one product long-term? chiropractic logo "Underscore" David Smith Topic 5: During the design process, if a client does not agree with a design decision, do you educate the client in regards to why X was design in that way. Do you find this sways the decision of the client or do you really pick your battles for the more extreme cases and let the rest go? optical vs metric tracking

In this episode: our favorite software pro tips, our morning routines, dark patterns, and resources for learning visual design! If you have questions of your own, you can tweet us at @immutablefm, email us at questions@immutable.fm, or join our Slack team! Sponsors: Hired Topic 1: What's your favorite software pro tip? Topic 2: What is your morning routine like, Sam? Ellen Sonos Personal Sam Sam's Motorcycle Jeans Topic 3: What is your morning routine like, Bryn? Hello Sense Avocado spread tweet (read the replies) UE Boom 2 Topic 4: What are the worst and most common dark patterns? Forbes Design Details on Forbes 30 Under 30 iOS App banner 1Password Topic 5: My job consists primarily of UI design work, but I want to get more into visual design to become more well-rounded as a designer (i.e. icon design and illustration). What are some good resources? Bjango Dribbble AIUX Matt D. Smith Dmitri Litvinov Zach Rozszcewski

On Episode 10 of Smackmouth Podcast Mickey Mouth and Ely the Podcast Guy have a talk with their guest Matt D. Smith a local filmmaker. His movie is "Bee Sting" and you can search for him at MDSmithcomics on big cartel, blog spot, facebook, twitter and Instagram. We also discuss odd news, dicks, pine cones, drunk drivers, Billy The Kid, a lot of nothing and more dicks! Check out our facebook, twitter, podomatic, sound cloud and find us on iTunes. Just search for Smackmouth Podcast. Enjoy idiots. $5 million dollar Billy The Kid Picture: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/16/2-antique-store-find-confirmed-as-5-million-Billy-the-Kid-tintype/3271445025856/?spt=sec&or=on Boxes Of Marshmellow Only Lucky Charms: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/16/General-Mills-makes-10-boxes-of-Marshmallow-Only-Lucky-Charms/4561445018362/?spt=sec&or=on Man Wipes Ass With Summons: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/16/Police-Man-wiped-summons-between-his-butt-cheeks/5051445014751/?spt=sec&or=on Real Life Thor's Hammer: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/16/Real-version-of-Thors-hammer-can-only-be-lifted-by-the-worthy/4851445003470/?spt=sec&or=on 16 Pound Pine Cone Falls on Man: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/13/Man-injured-by-16-pound-pine-cone-suing-for-5-million/3621444757783/?spt=sec&or=on Drunk Driver Blames Dog: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/10/12/Florida-man-arrested-for-drunk-driving-blames-dog/8131444673729/?spt=sec&or=on