Prime | Faces of UCLA – Matthew Manos
By Frank Shyong
May 10, 2010 9:00 p.m.
Matthew Manos wants to save the world with design.
As a career, it doesn’t pay much ““ nothing, in fact ““ but Manos has never been particularly interested in money. Last November, while many seniors were desperately searching for jobs, he founded A VeryNice Design Studio, a full-service marketing firm comprised of artists, developers and writers that does pro-bono work for nonprofits.
“I don’t intend on making money on this, ever,” Manos said. “But maybe everything doesn’t have to be so practical.”
Manos is an admittedly impractical combination of artist and idealist ““ but that doesn’t mean he’s afraid of hard work. Manos said that he could be working on up to eight things at any given time. The fourth-year Design | Media Arts student is on his way to a two-year degree at The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and has a portfolio bursting with professional design work. He’s designed for almost 20 organizations on campus, served as the creative director for five other organizations, and done freelance work for more than 30 clients across the nation.
But last year, Manos put his promising professional career on hold to found A VeryNice Design Studio. The project was borne from a dissatisfaction with the mercantile nature of design work.
“It’s a very money-driven industry. … There’s a lot of trickery, weird things that go on behind the scenes,” Manos said.
Manos resented using his talents to spread messages with which he didn’t agree. He founded A VeryNice Design Studio in late 2009, and since then, the studio has designed for a theater group for mentally handicapped children, the Los Angeles Times and Alternative Spring Break. The studio is also planning to produce a magazine for the homeless.
“A lot of the time, these organizations can’t afford professional design work, so we step in and give them that professionalism and polish that helps them attract more attention and funding,” Manos said.
Manos wants to register the organization as a nonprofit after finishing his graduate program.
“My hope is to change the outlook on the industry and on design in general,” Manos said.
