Matthew Ball was educated at Oxford Brookes University and Manchester Metropolitan University, where he studied cartography, computer science and graphic design.

After four years as a cartographer, he joined Emap in 1996, working for Garden Answers then Bike magazine, before his first foray into running a design department as Art Editor of Fore! and then Golf World.
 

In 2000 he moved to New York to work on Popular Science, published by Time Inc, then on to Rolling Stone two years later, as Senior Associate Art Director. In March 2004, he returned to the UK to be Deputy Design Editor at The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh.

In March 2005 Matthew launched his own design consultancy based in London and Edinburgh. He specialises in editorial design and training.