Info

New England-based designer with a thing for skateboarding, rock climbing, and chicken parm’

I’m Matt Plays, a reasonably chill designer and creative director at Help Scout.
From dialing-in components to setting the tone with a new direction doc, my goal is to craft brands that look the part and live up to their missions. It helps that I’ve linked up with some good ones.
I’ve been lucky to get in on projects that stoke out the design community, ship products worldwide, and protect public lands.
Most days you can find me outside, tinkering on a project, or being comfy at home. Hopefully basking in the sun to good tunes. See you out there ^☼⛰

Values

Work wherever

Good work happens anywhere. With the right remote environment, people can find focus, foster real connection, and do their best work.

Sweat the delivery

Follow through on craft, from creative direction right down to production cuts. It matters most wherever work comes to life.

Bring your whole self

Tap into your own experiences & perspectives and be curious about what others bring to the table. Projects are better when woven.

Create a safe space

The best work comes from creatively safe work environments. Make it feel okay to be wrong before we’re right. For you and for others.

Trust the process

Process creates room for discovery. Even the most complex projects become possible by breaking things up into manageable chunks.

Take the scenic route

Tune out. Free yourself up to have epiphanies when you least expect. Take back what you learn and trust that there’s productivity in rest.

Experience

2022 – Present

Help Scout

Creative Director

Remote

2022 – 2022

Thrive Global

Staff Designer → Creative Director

Remote

2019 – 2021

Help Scout

Senior Brand Designer → Lead Brand Designer

Remote

2015 – 2019

Burton Snowboards

Digital Designer → Lead Designer

Burlington, VT

2012 – 2015

HubSpot

Design & Video Associate

Cambridge, MA

2008 – 2020

Icon Snowskates

Co-founder & Creative Lead

New England

2006 – Present

Freelance & Self-directed Work

Designer & Art Director

New England

Colophon

This site uses Sharp Grotesk (Semibold 23 for headlines and Book 20 for sub-headlines), Söhne Buch for body copy, and Söhne Mono for details.

The underlying design system and page templates were created in Figma. Pages and components were built using Webflow with primarily no-code tools, a small amount of custom CSS, and data from CMS collections. It’s hosted by Webflow, too.

The (soon-to-be launched) email list is managed through ConvertKit and basic site metrics are provided by Google Analytics.

The little bits add up

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made remotely in new england, usa

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