Web Developers and designers unite! What’s that? You need a time and a place? Well how about June 8th — June 11th at the Holiday Inn Metrodome in Minneapolis? Apparently there’s a pretty awesome get together being held there called the Flashbelt Conference. For the fifth consecutive year the folks at pilotvibe — a local company specializing in music and sound design for interactive media — has put together this Adobe sponsored convention as a way for Web art wizards to network about their net works. This year’s meeting of the minds boasts an impressive panel of industry leaders and speakers, including Mate Steinforth of Psyop and Robert Hodgin of Flight404. Workshop sessions, recruitment events where designers and developers can shop their talents, and a forum for students to have their portfolios critiqued are among the array of activities. So whether you’re established or aspiring to become a part of the web community, Flashbelt is worth the trip.

I was browsing around the site reflecting on how far we’ve come and couldn’t help but notice the wealth of inspiration and content we’ve got in the SpearTalks archives. So, I figured I’d round them all up for easy consumption. Whether you like fashion, technology, art, or just about anything else– with nearly 40 incredible interviews, there’s something for everyone thanks to our very own Carmel Hagen. Go, dive in, it’s just a click away.

As creator and all-around genius behind UK design shop Universal Everything, Matt Pyke serves up some of the most eye-catching and jaw-dropping digital design on the planet. His client list includes heavy hitters like Apple, Adidas, MTV, Coke, Nokia, Nike and a little shindig called the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

The anticipation for his latest project is keeping me up at night: Advanced Beauty is a series of “sound sculptures” curated by Universal Everything with sound design by frequent collaborator Freeform, the music project led by Matt's brother, Simon Pyke. Each segment is visually and sonically unique and directed by groundbreaking designers from around the world – including visionaries like Marc Kremers, Karsten Schmidt, Thomas Traum, Alex Peverett, Tom Scholefield, Paul Simpson, and Jonathan Garin.

If the awe-inspiring trailer and lushly color-filled first segment by New York-based designer and SpearTalks Alum Mate Steinforth are any indication, then we're in for a total breakthrough when Advanced Beauty finally drops in Spring 2008. I think it’s pretty safe to say right now: Advanced Beauty will be the shit.

Not too long ago, we told you about the design competition Cut&Paste, a timed tournament currently cruising through 11 international cities. Last week, Cut&Paste found its way to NYC, where eight local designers were pitted against one another in an edge-of-your-seat battle for first place. We scored big time when we landed an interview with the future winner of the competition. We then scored even bigger-time when time (and talent) placed the gold medal in the hands of a certain Mate Steinforth. Not only had we (Dan Steckenberg) previously posted on some of Mate’s awesome work, but our collective drool actually drowned Dan’s computer, leaving us with a sort of slimy metal spitwad.

…OK, maybe not. But needless to say we were impressed. And with good reason; Mate has one hell of a background leading up to his current ‘07 Cut&Paste victory. A traveler, a computer nerd, an ardent user of emoticons, Mate has earned his position among the design elite with all the work and fervor that one would expect from a guy of his caliber.

Mate currently works for PSYOP, a New York production company that will turn reading this interview into a 45-minute affair (given you click on that link). I say that truly hoping you do click on over, because watching every single one of their brilliant productions just added about that much time to writing this interview, and it was totally worth it. However, if you’d rather invest your time in 100% pure Mate, you can always check out his portfolio at mateuniverse, the site where he keeps a running collection of both personal projects and work he’s done for PSYOP.

In closing (and beginning), I’d like to remind you that Cut&Paste judges its contestants on three things: Originality, Technique, and Overall Dopeness. As you can tell from the posted pictures of Mate’s winning design (more of which can be found here), we are clearly dealing with a man who eats dope for breakfast (and by that I clearly mean “dope” in its context as the noun form of dopeness, not as in “Mate eats pot every morning”). So, read on knowing that you are in the internet presence of a man who can probably teach you a thing or two, who is also incredibly nice, and who — BOOYAH! — just won Cut&Paste NYC.

Joshspear.com: Tell us about Demoscene. How did this throw you into graphic design?

Mate Steinforth: In 1985, when I was 9 years old, I got my first computer, which was pretty early for my generation. So I was interested in technology from an early age on. This naturally led to using the computer as a tool for making images. In my teen years I became active in the computer art subculture called Demoscene. READ MORE…

There’s a good chance that “psyop” doesn’t necessarily mean anything to you, but maybe it’ll help if I write it like this: psy-op, as in psychological operations; as in some spooky government stuff that you don’t really want to know about. Their slogan is “[p]ersuade, change and influence.”

I’m telling you about this because PSYOP is also that name of an advertising agency which seeks to “win the hearts and minds of the public through creative content.” They make really pretty animations, you see, for companies like Target, Adidas, Toyota and others. In their employ is Cut & Paste-participating designer Mate Steinforth, who recently re-launched his site, and it’s quite nice. You can browse through his whole portfolio and see what he’s up to, but the most rewarding way to use mateuniverse — as it’s called — might be to look at his PSYOP slides, such as this one for Mastercard, and then to watch the full, prepared video on the PSYOP site; it’s a little like watching the entire creative process itself unfold. Also, watch this and tell me you wouldn’t give MTV another shot…I guess I have some episodes of The Hills to catch up on now. Damn.