Hello,
I’m Matthew Alexander.

I didn't start out wanting to build websites.

I got here by accident, and I think that's part of why I care about doing it properly.

I’ve always been a builder. As a kid, my gran would keep a bag full of discarded cardboard or empty toilet rolls in the cupboard under the stairs, knowing I’d be entertained for hours making things out of them, when I stayed with her over the weekend. I also loved to draw — everything and anything. I lost count of the number of times I’d draw out plans of the Titanic or imagine, then reimagine the lost city of Atlantis.

But when the time came, I chose to study French at the University of Manchester and spent the third year of my degree living in Lyon. Of course, I learnt a lot about language and culture, but it also taught me something I still rely on today: how to explain things clearly to people who see the world differently to me — which turns out to be exactly what's needed when your job is turning technical jargon into something a business owner can actually use. I also learnt the importance of communication – which is ultimately the job of a website.

I graduated with a First, then moved to Paris without much of a plan beyond wanting to stay. I tried a couple more language degrees, Chinese and then Japanese, but neither stuck — what I kept coming back to was wanting to build things, not just study them.

Alongside my studies, I worked part-time at a luxury chocolate house in Paris, Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse. I ended up staying, and being offered the role of deputy manager after my first few months. It's where my French became properly fluent, and where I got a real taste for working with customers. It also taught me two things that still shape how I work today. The first is that people happily pay a premium for a product because of the branding and story behind it — which is a big part of why I believe in pricing fairly and confidently, rather than racing anyone to the bottom. The second is that none of that matters if the experience itself feels uncomfortable — the most beautifully presented shop in the world still puts people off if they feel rushed, confused, or awkward once they're actually in it. I think about websites the same way: a site can look wonderful and still fail if it's not genuinely easy and comfortable to use.

Whilst working at the chocolate house, I enrolled in another bachelor’s degree combining language and web design, only for it to be discontinued after my first year. So I started again, this time in art, at the École des arts de la Sorbonne (or Sorbonne School of Art). Two years of fine art gave me a proper grounding in composition and visual thinking, before I applied for a place on the university's selective Design specialisation course, limited to only 36 places per year. I got in, and spent the next two years developing the theory and visual side of design formally, while teaching myself the practical side, the actual coding, on my own; I wanted to be able to build what I was designing, not just draw it.

That combination — a formal design education, coding I taught myself, and years spent watching what makes people trust a brand enough to pay for it — is really the whole approach behind what I do at Matthew Alexander Design. I'm just as interested in whether your site actually gets people picking up the phone or filling in a form as I am in whether it looks good. Story, character and identity play a central role in every site I make, so it feels like your business, not just a template.

Now, since moving back to the UK, I use this philosophy to design, develop and maintain websites for business owners primarily across Staffordshire and the West Midlands, but from further afield too! As a small business owner myself, I understand the worry of watching costs, wondering whether you're being charged fairly, and not having the time to become an expert in something that isn't your job. That's exactly the experience I try to take off your plate.

See my Website Packages See my Care Plans