welcome matt gardner, our new art director at the alternative
We’re beyond excited to announce that Matt Gardner has joined The Alternative as our new Art Director, bringing with him a rich tapestry of creative experience, a unique visual lens, and a no-compromise approach to craft.
From his background in Illustration, Design, Fashion, Music, Brand building & custom motorbike culture brands to bold campaign concepts for youth-centric experiences, Matt’s creative DNA is rooted in the unconventional, making him a perfect fit for our offbeat, culture-first studio.
A Creative with Grit and Guts
Matt joins us following a creative career that merges high-concept artistry with immersive brand environments. Most recently, he co-led the brand design & Apparel for Mutt Motorcycles. His work fused gritty industrial aesthetics with bold storytelling to mirror the brand’s rebellious, custom-first ethos, a challenge that called on not just creative vision, but total brand immersion.
Beyond Mutt, Matt’s portfolio spans environmental graphics, experiential branding, and campaign development, always pushing boundaries while staying laser-focused on audience resonance. From sketchpad to spatial design, his work carries a signature tension: wild energy, carefully controlled.
Why Matt, Why Now
At The Alternative, we’re building a different kind of studio - one that challenges aesthetic expectations, embraces subcultures, and isn’t afraid of the dark. We design with intent. We tell stories that linger. And we needed an Art Director who could walk that line between grit and glamour, someone who could not only concept the world, but craft it, pixel by pixel and brick by brick.
Matt’s arrival marks a step-change in our creative evolution, one that will deepen our work across arts & culture, hospitality, and new wave tech. His art direction will power our next wave of campaigns, installations, and brand experiences that turn heads and twist narratives.
Powering Up the Creative Engine
Matt will be joining forces with Michael Owen, our Creative Lead, whose sharp strategic thinking and conceptual rigour have helped define The Alternative’s creative voice since day one. Together, they form the backbone of a growing team of visual provocateurs, brand architects, and storytellers, a solid creative engine that’s set to power everything from brand films and campaign identities to immersive experiences and high-impact content.
Their combined energy will enable us to deliver bold, original work that speaks with authenticity and soul.
“I’ve been a fan of The Alt since they emerged on the scene, I had had the pleasure of bringing them on a project during my time at Mutt Moto, their attitude is deeply set in serving the project which resonated with me and my own philosophies towards creativity & process.
There’s no ego, just a think tank of ideology and madness which in my own personal opinion we need more from with agency culture these days.
As creatives It’s our duty to help push boundaries and make people feel, especially now we live in such a fast paced content driven world, the work needs to think harder, smarter and shout but with conviction and meaning.
I wanted to align myself with other forward thinkers and risk takers, so I’m beyond stoked to be joining this power house of talent and help businesses elevate the craft, build stories that go beyond the screen, and bring a raw visual edge to brands that want more than just safe design.”
A Word from Our Creative Director, Morgan Tedd
“Matt doesn’t just get creativity, he breathes the stuff. He’s got this gut-level instinct, tells stories that actually stick, and always adds that bit of grit that makes the work hit harder. At The Alternative, we do big ideas, real world perspective, and not playing it safe, and Matt’s bringing all of that and more. Him joining us isn’t just exciting, it’s a statement of intent for our creative output moving forward.
Things are about to get wonderfully weirder and wrong in all the right ways. Welcome, Matt!”
— Morgan Tedd, Creative Director, The Alternative