Oh, hello. I’m Matt Pennetti.
Ashleigh Road is the street I grew up on in Northern Virginia. Nothing dramatic about it. Just where I'm from and I never forgot it.
I've been doing this for more than 20 years. The work spans brand, illustration, executive communications, events, video and whatever else needs to get made. Inspiration comes from 1990s advertising, 1980s California skate punk, and a lot of KISS. It’s all just about saying something real and not overthinking it.
The way I work is pretty straightforward. Research first. Inspiration from surprising and almost seemingly irrelevant places. Then we make it pretty. Collaboration is the whole thing. The best work always comes from actually listening to what someone needs and then figuring out the clearest way to say it.
I also have a fine art and illustration background. I also used to breakdance. Ask me about it.
SUMMARY
Twenty years of making things land. Not just look good. Actually connect with whoever is on the other end.
The work has lived everywhere. Trade show floors, nonprofit campaigns, brewery taprooms, corporate boardrooms. The audience always changes. The question never does: what does this person actually need to feel or know or do? Get that right and the rest follows.
I work best with people, not just for them. I ask a lot of questions, I listen more than I talk, and I do not stop until we have made something we are both proud of. The best work I have ever done came from a real partnership. That is what I am here for.
EXPERIENCE
Ashleigh Road Co., 2017 to Present
Your Vision. Our Success.
Ashleigh Road is the creative practice I have been running for the past several years. The clients range from Fortune 500 enterprise brands to craft breweries and the approach is always the same. Figure out what the work needs to say, figure out who needs to hear it, and build something that actually lands.
Right now that includes Zebra Technologies, where I lead creative for their biggest industry events including NRF in New York, their annual Sales Kickoff, HIMSS in healthcare, and MODEX in supply chain and logistics. The job is always the same: take a mature enterprise brand and make it stand out in a room full of safe, forgettable booth design. It keeps working.
At Chainlink Labs I shoot, edit and deliver a full video recap of each day at SmartCon within 24 hours. Solo production. Hard deadline. No excuses.
The Executives' Club of Chicago needed a brand that could compete in a crowded leadership market without losing what made it credible. Took it from 1990 to now. More approachable, brighter, less stuffy. A full campaign launch around the rebrand is in the works.
Working directly with executives at Built Technologies I helped translate a complicated internal strategy into a presentation that the average employee could actually follow and connect with.
Other clients include Waterloo, Godiva, WhistlePig, Intuit, Amazon, and the YMCA where the work has ranged from brand identity to creative campaigns that finally matched the real impact the organization was making.
Groupon, 2011 to 2023
Made corporate communications worth paying attention to.
The real work at Groupon was communications design. How does a company that size talk to employees, to press, to investors, to shareholders? And how do you make all of it feel like it is coming from the same place while sounding completely different depending on the room?
That meant building the visual language Groupon used in non-consumer contexts. Investor presentations. Shareholder communications. PR moments. Materials that had to feel credible and polished while still carrying the personality of a brand known for not taking itself too seriously.
On the internal side it was about making employees actually want to engage with company communications. Not just open them. Actually read them, share them, respond to them. That involved everything from campaign creative to internal announcements to event materials.
And once a year it meant leading the April Fools social campaign, which in different years included a cat chauffeur service that drove you to your Groupon deals and a service to rent the perfect son for Mother's Day. The press loved it. The internet loved it more.
First stint at Groupon was as Art Director for Global Display Marketing where I built and led a creative team across international markets before coming back for the communications role.
Jellyvision, 2011 to 2014
Helped ALEX grow up.
ALEX was Jellyvision's SaaS benefits guidance platform. Companies bought it and gave it to their employees to help them actually understand what they were picking during open enrollment. Smart product. But it looked like a Flash-era children's educational game.
Led the design modernization. Pulled direction from where UI and UX were actually heading, made the product feel like something a working adult would trust, and kept the Jellyvision voice intact. Warm, funny, and deliberately against the grain of how the benefits industry usually communicated. The redesign extended into marketing where we applied the same energy to a category that rarely earned a second look.
Manifest Digital, 2009 to 2011
Helped brands like Lego, 20th Century Fox and Barbie move into more interactive digital territory. Less static website. More animation, motion and actual experience.
Publications International, 2006 to 2009
Where it all started. Books, packaging, animated children's DVD projects. Typography, hierarchy, deadlines. The foundation everything since has built on.
SKILLS
Visual Communication Design, Brand Identity Systems, Internal Communications, Information Design, Visual Storytelling, Motion Graphics, Short-Form Video Production, Event Photography, Infographics and Process Diagrams, Digital Signage, Template Development, Illustration, Executive Presentation Design, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, Premiere), Figma, Camtasia, Canva
EDUCATION
BFA Graphic Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, 2005