Matt Woolman

Executive Director, Center for the Creative Economy

Professor, Department of Graphic Design

Center for the Creative Economy

Department of Graphic Design

While navigating his 25-year career between multiple professional identities, Matt has cultivated the ability to transfer his depth of design thinking and creative problem-solving skills across a range of disciplines.

Matt’s research and professional practice focuses on the influences of information and communication technologies on the evolution of language and learning; and human-centered design principles on products and systems for healthcare. He has authored and co-authored ten books, including the best-selling Type in Motion: Innovations in Digital Graphics. Matt’s other books address such defining topics as motion design, music and the visual arts, and information visualization. Matt’s writings and projects have been published internationally in design journals and books; exhibited internationally; included in private collections; and have received awards from PRINT Magazine, AIGA and Art Directors Club.

Currently, Matt is Executive Director of the Center for the Creative Economy, and a tenured, full-professor in the Department of Graphic Design. He served as department chair of Graphic Design for six years, during which the program attained and held the #4 specialty ranking. Matt has served in inaugural leadership roles through the years, including Director of Creative Entrepreneurship, and Director of the MFA program in Design Studies, on the VCU-Qatar campus, and most recently Interim Associate Dean for Research, Innovation and Graduate Studies on the Richmond campus. Matt established the Center for the Creative Economy, a portfolio of experiential learning and research programs, including partnerships with In Your Ear Recording Studios, VA Department of Juvenile Justice, Capital One, and other organizations. His innovative program development generates over $400,000 in funds for the School of the Arts with research grants and academic and industry partnerships. Matt also is the founder and managing director of CrossThink Labs, LLC, an innovation research, design, and development agency.

Matt’s education includes MFA and MBA degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a BA degree from Oberlin College.