Overview

Mate has an incredibly artistic style. You can definitely tell his inspirations come from the classic arts. I love the hand-brushed feeling in a lot of his work. His motion project for Advanced Beauty is absolutely awesome.

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Project Name:

Mate Steinforth

URL:

http://www.mateuniverse.com

Artist/Creator:

Mate Steinforth

Country:

USA

Tags:

Portfolio Web Color Motion Graphics Design Psyop Illustration 3D Sketch NiceToMeetYou Cpluv

Mate Steinforth

http://www.mateuniverse.com

Biography

I am is a designer and director based in New York City. In my teen years I became active in the computer art subculture called Demoscene and eventually began working as a graphic artists for computer games. I studied graphic design at University of Applied Arts Hildesheim and the University of Madrid, Facultad de Bellas Artes.

In 2002, I moved to Madrid to work as an Art Director in the graphic studio Juan Dela Mata. From 2004 an worked as a freelance motion designer/director for several companies in Berlin and Munich. In 2007, I moved to New York to work for the production company PSYOP.

From 2002 to 2006 I was focussing on animation, particularly the Performance art of VJing. Under my VJ alias of mateuniverse, I toured Europe. I could perform at various art and electronica events in Europe and abroad with my moving pictures work being screened at festivals and on TV.

My visual style as a VJ has been described as "deconstructionist abstract", with three-dimensional objects creating impressing effects of space and depth. My understanding of the art of VJing is deeply rooted in the attempt to be able to immediately respond visually to any given auditive and emotional situation.

Next to my professional work I always try to spend time on collaborative projects, directing animated shorts and short clips. My recent works include the projects PSST! Pass It On 1+2, Getty Images The Next Big Idea and Advanced Beauty.

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Where do you work? What do you do there?

My work at PSYOP as a Designer includes doing styleframes for pitches and projects. These are graphic illustrations that communicate the content and vision for a yet-to be produced spot to the client and the animators.

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How long have you been in this field?

As long as I can remember, I used to draw and doodle around. It was quite natural for me to become a designer, I really never thought much about it. In 1985, when I was 9 years old, I got my first computer, which was pretty early for my generation. So I was interested in technology from an early age on. This naturally led to using the computer as a tool for making images. In my teen years I became active in the computer art subculture called Demoscene. Eventually that led to doing graphics for computer games in the late nineties. From there on I chose the classical way of studying graphic design.

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What role did (are) you play(ing) in the project?

I had to do the whole site by myself, from concept to design to eventually programming it. It uses wordpress as a base system and is basically a template for wordpress, but a rather advanced one. I use moo.fx for the sliding stuff and I used quite some crazy CSS for the mouseovers. I also did a custom flash Video player to embed the videos. So on the technical side there's XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript and Actionscript. What more could you want ;)

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What was (is) your inspiration for this project?

The basic concept for the site is that it looks nice when you don't touch it, but when you begin to interact, it comes to life, nearly breaks on some parts, and reveals hidden elements and features. It is focussed on the content, so the images and videos are the most important part of the site, the navigation stays in the background until you need them. Then it will come to you.

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What is in your equipment/gear setup?

I'm fine with Mac or Windows, don't care too much about it. I use the usual design tools, Adobe Stuff. On the 3D Side I began with 3DS MAX, did Maya briefly and now I'm working mainly in Softimage XSI. I have a Tablet which I learned to enjoy next to using the mouse.

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What are some websites you visit daily?

http://www.everyoneforever.com
http://www.motionographer.com
http://feed.stashmedia.tv
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com
http://www.cpluv.com
http://www.ntmy.org
http://www.ffffound.com

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Who's work do you most enjoy?

As a kid, the first artist which I can remember to have been influenced by was probably the peruvian fantasy art painter Boris Vallejo. I just loved the way he used colour in his works. Some other great influences of the time was definitely computer game graphics from the Bitmap Brothers and Psygnosis, to name a few. When I got older I liked the usual designer's inspirations like Giger and Escher. In the late nineties, I was really blown away by the music videos by Chris Cunningham. Probably he still is one of my biggest influences.
Except from those initial sparks I'm always looking around the internet for new inspirations from the design scene, but also a lot from the arts. Going to exhibitions and museums is always a great source of inspiration.
A very valuable insight I gained studying in the small and comparably boring town of hildesheim was that the real challenge lies in finding an interesting aspect in the details of dull, grey everyday's life. A place like New York is full of stories, it's easy to find impressive stuff everywhere, but finding interesting ideas in a small, boring city is a lot harder - and a good training.

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What advice can you share to people just getting into this field?

I think a classical Design education is worth more than knowing how to use a specific computer program. So look around. And draw a lot.

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Any other comments?

None.

A few links that inspired Mate Steinforth:

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