In this 18th episode, I talk with Matt Bennett, Founder & Creative Director at iid, a brand strategy & design agency headquartered in San Francisco. He is also a professor at Academy of Art University. Matt and I have known each other for more than two decades - first working together as art directors at an agency during the Dot-com bubble and many years later as business partners at iid for seven years. 

Matt shared his pandemic experience as an independent agency owner, as a design school professor, and as a parent. He sees the Covid-19 and the economic downturn as an opportunity for young designers to come up with solutions to help people facing challenges. Matt also talked about an interesting product idea of highly local digital marketplaces that enable people to trade products and services to help local communities thrive. He feels that during the pandemic with local businesses shutting their doors large corporations like Amazon or Walmart just grow bigger at the expense of local businesses.

Matt leads design and creative teams at iid to develop digital brands, products, and businesses. He has over 20 years experience designing brands, apps and websites. He is originally from Melbourne, Australia and has lived in the U.S. for close to two decades. He has three sons and two dogs.

• Matt's Linkedin Profile
• iid Website