From a very early age I was fascinated with the arts. I would draw anything I could think of on anything I could find. I was constantly working on some kind of art project, drawing my favorite cartoons or creating my own characters and comic books. When I got older, I started taking painting and cartooning lessons. These led to an animation class, which became my first experience with digital art.
In the summer of 2007 my animation teacher introduced me to his brother, Jim, who had just moved back to the area to work on a local magazine called The Westsider. The magazine was expanding and he needed some help, so he offered me my first job. Over the next few months, Jim taught me how to create article layouts and ads in programs I had never used before. Suddenly, I was opened up to a whole new world of creativity as a graphic designer. The Westsider changed its name to IndependentNEPA Magazine and my work was officially published in its first issue.
IndependentNEPA was a quarterly magazine, which meant there was some downtime between issues. During these breaks, Jim would have me do some work for his other business, Resource Media, a marketing company. Resource was slowly beginning to offer web development, so Jim and I began learning the basics of HTML and CSS and how to combine the two to create custom Joomla CMS websites. I completely fell in love with coding, and I got really good at it. Soon my average workday was a direct split between working as a graphic designer and working as a web developer and I decided that’s what I wanted to do for a career.
In 2009 I started pursuing a major in Graphic Design at Luzerne County Community College. During my first year there it was recommended that I also take some advertising classes. After one class, I immediately took up Advertising Design as a second major. I graduated from LCCC in May of 2012 with an Associates Degree in Advertising Design and again in August of 2013 with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design.
In September 2013, it was decided that IndependentNEPA Magazine would release its final issue. Rather than continuing my education, I chose to go full-time at Resource now that Jim and I would have more time to focus on growing the business. We added more team members (including Sam, the son of my animation teacher and Jim’s nephew), got a new office and grew our client base. I consider the next few years my most important because I learned the fundamentals and struggles of running a start-up business. I took on new roles like meeting with clients and even some accounting basics and developed the work ethic I have today. At one point, a local geologist asked us to develop a mobile app that would help people diagnose issues with their water. None of us knew anything about developing apps, but I accepted the project anyway since I had coding experience. I spent the next few months teaching myself and how to develop a hybrid mobile app using new languages like Javascript and PHP.
In September 2015, Sam and I came up with the idea for our own mobile app, which would be built around location-based music discovery with elements of streaming and social media. It was also around this time that I decided to leave my job at Resource Media after 8 years. Sam and I immediately went all-in on our idea and I used the next 4 months to completely develop the first version of our app. Tunefly was officially released on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store that December and we soon added two more members to our team. I had successfully combined everything I had learned up until that point to create my own business.
I began my new job as Lead Designer and Lead Web Developer for Coal Creative in January 2016, where I have been able to continue to use my talents as a visual problem solver to develop creative solutions for our clients. Tunefly has also continued to create many opportunities for me, including sponsoring a local music festival and taking an RV across the country while filming a music documentary in various music scenes. The app now has a few thousand users in over 700 cities around the world.
Thank you for taking the time to learn about me and view my work. If you like what you see, feel free to contact me and see how my talent and drive can make a positive impact on whatever you wish to create. – Matt Simoncavage
Below is a playlist of one song from each of my top 25 albums. Give it a listen!