Mona’s Builder Spotlight Series highlights the incredible world builders in our community. Each builder’s journey to Mona is unique and meaningful. Our goal is to celebrate the diversity and individuality of our community.
“[Each world I’ve built] feels like a significant moment in my journey for the time in which they were created.”
Meet Matt Bradley, AKA MattDoesDesign, a freelance designer and artist based in Kraków, Poland. Originally from Great Britain, Matt studied game design and worked in the video game industry for over ten years before dipping his toes into the world of Mona.
Matt was first introduced to the community when Matt Hoerl, Mona Co-Founder, reached out to him about entering the first Mona Build-a-thon, the Filecoin Forum, after discovering his work on Twitter during Blocktober. Matt took home the Classical Architecture Category Award and has been a force to be reckoned with in the community since.
“My brain is wired in such a way that I’m pretty good at seeing connections or parallels in things that are seemingly completely unrelated.”
Each of Matt’s worlds are unique in not only their content, but their style as well. His work ranges from Classical to Futuristic, making his breadth of work one of the broadest in range of all Mona builders. When asked which was his favorite, he tells us “It’s difficult to choose one!” but settles on Cloud Point as being one that most represents his style as an artist.
Growing up playing video games, they served as some of his earliest and most formative influences. Matt tells us he most remembers and calls upon the design of Wipeout and REZ, explaining that, even 20 years after their inception, they seem on par with current game design.
“I tend to be drawn towards that kind of minimal aesthetic, the patterns and shapes, the bold contrasting colours.”
Matt tells us his work rests upon his ability to “take from different genres or disciplines and recombine those ideas into something new.” Sharing that he is most influenced by whatever he is consuming at the time and how that might lead to something new, he finds inspiration for his worlds in many ways, strengthening the unique-ness of each one.
Matt has a lot of work in the pipeline, including more work with Crypto Artist, Coldie, on the DecentralEyes Moonbase and special collaborations with Mona. Matt’s work with Coldie takes a unique approach to bridging the gap between 2D and 3D digital art.
“Everything's there for you and it doesn't cost a thing. There’s really no good reason to not do it.”
Matt’s advice to new builders in the space is to “check out all the spaces you can,” drawing inspiration and finding out what feels right. He advises those new to the community to join the discord and involve yourself in the community “even if you only lurk in the background.” Matt also points out the immense resources Mona has to offer with tutorials for Unity and Blender from master builder, TheMattEmpire, and weekly 3d environment workshops with Fractilians and Rizzle in the community.
“There’s so much variety in what’s being created on the platform” he tells us. Matt is one of the most inspiring builders in the Mona community, fostering creativity and expression among his peers. It’s builders like Matt who keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible to create progress in the space.
“The scene feels new and emergent and it’s developing all the time, every idea feels pioneering in some way. Nobody is holding us back. That is really exciting to me.”
Follow MattDoesDesign on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MattDoesDesign_
Check out MattDoesDesign's website: https://www.mattdoesdesign.com/
Subscribe to MattDoesDesign's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mattdoesdesign.9901/videos
