About Mb.

My life’s in flux at the moment. Until I get around to re-writing this page, changes are italics.

Writing something interesting, inspiring, informative and true about yourself is, well, hard. I could have left this page empty while I agonised for weeks over it, but I’m not the agonising type. Here’s a quick (and true) summary:

My Mom watched the first moon landing while pregnant with me, and that night sleep-walked on the bed, dreaming she was on the moon.

I was born in America, grew up in Australia, have passports from both, but live in Hamburg, Germany, where it rains a lot. Go ahead, tell me I’m nuts.

Learning German wasn’t easy. But it was worth it for the word “doch”, which has no English equivalent, and “genau”, which means “exactly” but sounds more emphatic.

As a kid I wanted to be a veterinarian. When I was 10 I helped my father’s vet perform an abortion on a fat German Shepherd. I don’t want to be a veterinarian any more.

Now I’m a Senior Art Director at SinnerSchrader where I I’ve quit my job, but still lead a team of three cool people and think up and design interactive stuff, until mid-August. My boss has never asked me to even go near a German Shepherd.

I’m moving to Sydney in October, where I’ll be working freelance as a designer. I’m looking for interesting projects (anywhere in the world) to get involved in, especially in the social media space. Got one? Need a designer? Let me know about it: hello [at] mattbalara [dot] com.

Since signing up at SinnerSchrader in 2001 I’ve developed concepts and designs for ECCO, TUI, HLX, Volkswagen, Plus, OTTO, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, and others.

I also take lots of pictures. And sell them occasionally. I’ll be your best friend forever if you send me one of these. Promise.