Alexandre Matzen, DIGITAL

Expériences

Since 2019 Product Owner, Web Designer - Clinflows - Kehl (Germany)

Since 2013 Creation of the show 'Im@gine - Improvisation 3.0'

Since 2012 Founding member of the Openspice web collective

Since 2007 Independent Graphic Designer/Web Designer / Independent Multimedia Consultant and Trainer

2007 Web Designer - Perinfo SA - Strasbourg / Web Designer - Multimedia Service, Urban Community of Strasbourg

2002 to 2007 Graphic Designer - SARL ROME - Bischheim

2002 Computer and Multimedia Instructor for discovery classes. Alter-Ego Multimedia Center – Muckenbach (67)

2002 Graphic Designer - Editions de la Rose - Strasbourg Experiences

Global Communication

Set of internal and external communication actions carried out by a company (internal communication, institutional communication, economic and financial communication, and commercial communication). The term 'global' can also apply to a unique communication campaign for the entire planet. Global communication, in the international sense, should allow for economies of scale in terms of creation and communication with a consistent message across all operations. This message must be understandable by the majority without being an uninteresting lowest common denominator.

My involvement in communication mostly revolves around local actions. I emphasize communication through cross-media and multi-platform channels.

In my profession, the fundamental principle of global communication is to consider each client's request not as a separate action but as a component of the overall project.

The first part of this dossier will focus on my historical journey through my professional environment. I will explain the context and present my main working tools.

It will be essential to continue exploring the multidisciplinarity of my actions in correlation with my professional context. I will highlight the concept of project management.

Finally, three flagship projects from my career will be highlighted; they serve as the guiding thread of the dossier.

Professional Environment

Desktop Publishing

It all started with graphics after my BTS in Graphic Communication at Gutenberg High School in Illkirch Graffenstaden. I learned the processes of the graphic chain and desktop publishing tools. The added value of Gutenberg High School is, of course, its specialty in printing. Thus, in addition to the printing press within the school, we visited three international trade shows and over a dozen firms (graphic studios, printing houses, paper mills, museums...) over two years.

During my two internships (Geigier Printing and Carré Blanc Agency), I first joined Geiger Printing in the Pre-press department.

I observed the work of offset printers and production line assemblers and worked as a DTP operator. I also produced on the mounting table, where the goal was to position films on plates for offset presses. Finally, I touched on production with the planning and quotes manager, which could correspond to one of the competencies targeted by the BTS.

My profile leaned more towards 'creative graphic design,' a field I got to experience during an internship at Carré Blanc Agency, renowned in Strasbourg for its expertise in graphic and visual communication.

In 2001, at the end of my studies, I joined the DTP department of Éditions de la Rose in Strasbourg Meinau as a graphic designer. I created specialized magazines for a predominantly female audience (DIY, hairdressing, cooking, crochet, embroidery) in collaboration with translators who provided me with texts translated from the German version of the magazine. I left the company after a few months, not finding my future in such a structure without a clear career plan and, most importantly, without a real passion for the product.

I then worked around a passion that still exists today: school trips and holiday camps. Immersed for a season, I supervised the daily lives of elementary school students and taught them new communication technologies. It all started two years earlier as a holiday camp animator. I had long used my summer vacations to lead or direct holiday camps.

I find this activity to be rich in human experience. It requires qualities of dynamism and constant inventiveness. I developed skills such as group management, public speaking, and general animation (see Chapter 3.1).

Following the path of a sedentary worker, I did not want to settle for the precariousness of the animator profession, knowing that I was moving away from my passion for graphic design. So, I found a job as a graphic designer at the company Rome (Bischheim), specializing in fire safety signage. The tasks were not very creative as I schematized fire evacuation plans based on plans provided by architects and fire safety professionals. These four years were beneficial for me. I structured myself: rigorous and precise tasks, imposed efficiency affecting our profit-sharing and, thus, our paycheck, the complete chain with printing on copiers, plexiglass, oxidized aluminum, and on a plotter since I was in charge of a new machine equipped with software specially developed by an external provider. These were my first experiences in project and team management.

From Print to Web

After these years exploring my limits in graphics and eager to explore other paths, the web became an obvious choice.

I took advantage of my precious employee status to undertake a Fongecif and return for a year to the university, pursuing a Professional License in Communication Activities and Techniques.

In continuing education, I was one of the oldest and found myself with students straight out of specialized IUTs in web languages. I persevered to fill the gaps (no knowledge of computer languages unlike other students) and gained a lot from it. The profession of web designer, a graphic designer specializing in the web, was now open to me.

Having always worked in SMEs, I wanted to do my internship in a very large structure. For five months, followed by a year of temporary work, I worked in the Multimedia department of the Urban Community of Strasbourg. The external communication department, with around a hundred collaborators, was very lively. I was a webmaster and web designer, working on the strasbourg.eu website and various satellite sites that I designed. I worked with a web developer; each had their role in projects. She coded, I worked on the design. This experience gave me the opportunity to approach the public sector and work on familiar subjects. However, the complexity of this service did not make me want to continue.

At the same time, I had joined the company Perinfo in Strasbourg. An ESN with around fifty employees that developed and marketed management software for travel agencies and coach operators. I was a web designer, responsible for HTML integration.

On February 14, 2008, independent web designer and graphic designer

In any case, I had already taken flight; I was registered in the business directory, and independence was going to be the best way for me to express myself and compile my various professional and personal activities.

I am therefore a web designer registered with the Maison des Artistes (MDA), I design websites, print materials, and visual communication projects. In eight years, I have worked on about forty websites, in web design, development, although I now prefer to delegate to developers, and project management. I handle overall communication for my loyal clients rather than taking on small one-off projects.

I am also a multimedia trainer, registered with DIRECCTE as an adult education training organization. I mainly collaborate with professional training organizations specializing in IT, where I intervene about ten days a month for software sessions: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, QuarkXPress, HTML CSS, Premiere, After Effects, or social media. Training programs range from initiation to expertise, but most are 'à la carte,' with a small number of trainees due to the very specific nature of the disciplines taught.

I enrich myself daily in this work, even when I have to repeat training sessions. I developed a website serving as course material and exercises, which is a real time-saver for me and a convenience for my trainees who retain access after the training is completed. This digital support now includes 180 exercises with downloadable resources.

Identity and journey

My strengths

Profile

Location

Knowledge

Training

Expériences

Global Communication