Zoe's organic approach to design involves inks, paints, charcoals and paper - pulled into a digital format straight off her scanner, or by using a range of graphics applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, and others.
Having been immersed in the jazz industry for many years, Zoe has a particular sensitivity with musicians and has designed numerous web sites as well as book designs, posters and a collection of CDs.
However, her creativity doesn't stop with jazz musicians! Artists, photographers, theater groups, authors, smoke-detector manufacturers and truck mechanics are all welcome to team up with Productive Insomnia for sites and designs that will be uniquely custom-crafted to their needs. Whether you want a site featuring clean, stripped-down simplicity, or a crazy world filled with line and texture and warmth, no project is too small—and none is too large.
Zoe is happy to work with a talented developer you may have found on your own, but if you are without one or you are looking, Mik Garrison is her collaborator of choice! See the WEB PAGE for many examples of his fine work.
"Dear Zoe,
Your wonderful, beautiful attention-getting artwork for the web site was really great. I love you for it and hope that all the people who mention it to me can tell you too!
Much love and respect..."
"Dear Mik,
Everybody raves about the guestbook and the photo thing you did! I humbly thank you for a job well done. Bret has been bringing me into the 21st century slowly so all I know is that the site looks terrific!
Thanks, man!"
"Zoe at Productive Insomnia is dependable, unique, creative and a dedicated artist. Her updates are quick, and she remains loyal to her clients after the project is completed. In the world of design she feels the soul of music. If you take the time to look at her work, you'll see what I'm talking about!"
"Since putting together my website with Zoe, my sinuses have cleared up and my gums have stopped bleeding. It took me years [and several website designers] and still I couldn't seem to get a site going. Then I was introduced to Zoe, and she made the process easy and fun [two words I'm not used to]. Anyway, I'm really happy with the results.[also not real familiar with 'really happy'].
THANKS, Productive Insomnia!"
"Zoe is the most creative and dedicated web designer I have come across. Her artistic skills alone are mind-boggling. I get comments almost daily about what a joy it is to peruse my website. Professionally, my site has helped me enormously. Zoe is awesome. Productive Insomnia has created a website for me that has totally surpassed my expectations."
"I hired Zoe and Mik because I wanted the most beautiful, user-friendly site possible. The work they did for both Larry Goldings and Barry Blitt, two artists whom I greatly admire, was superlative: playful, laser-sharp, a pleasure on seemingly every front - and exactly what I wanted for myself. Not only were my towering expectations met & exceeded by the final product, but the very thorough process of finding pragmatic & aesthetic solutions was exciting. They repeatedly surprised me with ideas that had an air of inevitability. Productive Insomnia elevated my web presence in ways I hadn't thought possible. I love the site they built for me."
"I love my new website! Zoe and Mik took my vague half-baked ideas and turned them into a cohesive website that is fun to look at, easy to navigate, and does everything I need it to do, all without resorting to cookie-cutter solutions or eleventh hour excuses. In the end I got something I never could have imagined. Zoe's wildly inspired art combined with Mik's tenacious and fresh approach to problem-solving is a pretty unbeatable combination. Oh, and they're some nice folks, too."
"Zoe and Mik at Productive Insomnia put together an amazing website for me that is esthetically pleasing, easy to navigate, and has the capacity to put so many different components together in a concise way. I couldn't be more pleased with the end result."
"Zoe is a real pro and a pleasure to work with! Productive Insomnia surpassed my expectations in the creation of my new site. Zoe is hard working, dedicated, and sensitive to my specific needs for a photography website. Check it out!"
"Zoe and Mik's creative bent, humor and look are what first grabbed me when my manager showed me their work. They captured the essence of my artistry while adding their awesome style, and directed me with creative opinions and suggestions that have made the whole experience great and the outcome brilliant. (Facebook video response)
Every artist should treat themselves to it... Thanks again, Productive Insomnia!"
"I am extremely happy with how my site turned out. Zoe is wonderfully creative with her designs and she really cares about every little detail of her work. She has mastered all the technical skills necessary to build a modern functioning website and her first priority was that I was happy with everything. I would recommend her to anyone who wants their site to have a unique and artistic feel."
"In my opinion, Zoe and Mik at Productive Insomnia create the most artistic, professional, and easily maintainable websites that I have seen on the internet for artists or other creative professionals. They took the content that I provided and created on online world that accurately portrays exactly what I want to get across to anyone who visits my site. Their sites are professional, humorous, easy to navigate, ultra creative, cutting edge, unique to the individual, and most importantly, have the ability to be maintained through the use of a cleverly built administration page, which I can update whenever I want, for no added cost. Zoe Matthiessen truly has an artistic talent unrivalled anywhere else in the world of webpage design."
"Zoe at Productive Insomnia is not only one of the most creative web designers around today but she has a work ethic and drive like no one else, she's a perfectionist and puts 100% into everything she does. I'm constantly receiving e mails from all over the world complimenting me on my site."
"In January of 2009 I hired Zoe of Productive Insomnia to completely redesign my site. She has the unique ability to distill the client's message and image. While those are simple words, the task was complex. She rose to the challenge of hiring a photographer to bring consistency to the site, and took icons from my professional repertoire that made an impact and highlighted them as sales icons. She also very clearly communicated to me what she needed to have concerning written copy to compliment her designs. In addition, she created an architecture that was easy to navigate and helpful to those wishing to engage my services as a professional illusionist, and writer.
Succeeding our launch in April of 2009, I have received stellar reviews from very knowledgeable people in my field and all agree that my site not only accomplishes a diverse sales task of convincing clients I am superior at my craft, but, that the time, energy and design expertise that Zoe single-handedly brought to the project was unmatched in my field if not others as well. I am delighted to have her as an artistic collaborator and understand that her time is precious. What she does commands my deepest respect for her talent; providing this customer's complete satisfaction. She’s worth every penny, and much more."
"Zoe is a true artist. She is able to pour her seemingly limitless creativity into an exciting, extremely functional whole. No website she creates is alike, each site truly represents the personality and the input of the individual client while carrying Zoe's unmistaken signature. Working with Zoe is effortless, she is a great listener, has boundless ideas and has a gift of making her clients ideas appear on the site. I am extremly happy with my site and the feedback that I have received has been overwhelming. I can only highly recommend Zoe."
"Zoe / Productive Insomnia created a unique website for me which not only has helped to dramatically increase my exposure as a musician, but also is uniquely beautiful. I regularly hear and receive comments about how great and well-conceived my website is. Working with Zoe is a creative, inspiring, and efficient experience."
"I couldn't be happier with my site, by Productive Insomnia. It was Zoe's artistic skills that first drew me in. I felt an immediate kinship with the spirit of her work and the joy from which it was created. She listened to my input and integrated it with what she felt was right for me. The results amaze me to this day. Zoe has helped me develop my image on the world wide web and has been a major part of my cyber soul for many years."
--Pete Fallico, Doodlin' Lounge
"Zoe and Mik created my dream site for me and I can't recommend them highly enough. If you want the perfect blend of art, whimsy, design, and functionality - then Productive Insomnia aka Zoe and Mik are your team. I love my site because it expresses who I am and what I do - and most importantly - it works! People can get what they need easily - AND enjoy themselves while they do it. And most importantly, they did this all for me in a way that I can control my content!!! This was crucial to me - and they made it happen. I can update all of my content from a very easy to use web-based editor that makes it a breeze! And the best part - and this is how you really know you have an effective site - is that since it's gone live - people are talking about it and I'm getting more work! It's fun, professional and functional! Thank you Zoe and Mik!!!"
"Several years ago, Zoe designed what is the perfect site for my needs as a jazz musician. To this day I am still receiving compliments and praise regarding the look, feel and functionality of my site, and it has been a useful tool for me professionally. For years, Zoe faithfully maintained the site with prompt updates. With the addition of Mik to her team, a database backend was implemented and now I am able to easily manage the content of my site on my own - with no special coding skills or additional programs needed - and at no cost. Zoe's number one priority is to keep her clients happy on the web."
"Zoe is one in a million. Her creativity is amazing and her sites are first rate!"
"Zoe's websites are gorgeous to look at. They compel the viewer and invite them to explore it. She is also personable and easy to work with and will create a unique site suited to your individual personality. Each of Zoe's sites is a work of art on to itself!"
--Spike Wilner, Smalls Jazz Club, NYC
"I wanted Zoe / Productive Insomnia to design my site because I took one look at her work and I hadn't seen anything more creative out there...her websites are so original, interesting and functional at the same time, and she knows the music, she has ears...her design always fits the style of the artist. And make sure you take some time and check out her charcoal portraits, truly amazing work!"
"We don't remember how we stumbled across Zoe and her amazing sites but are thankful that we did. The feedback we have gotten back on the site has been overwhelming and has helped us immensely. In addition to the creativity she displayed in building the site, she is always extremely dependable and responsive to our needs. With the recent added features of our editable database system, we are even happier. Many Thanks to Productive Insomnia..."
"I am so happy to have found Zoe to create a site that is unique to me and represents me as an artist. She was able to capture the essence of what I wanted - and add to it - to make my site better than I could have imagined! Thanks Zoe!"
"When I saw Zoe's work on the internet, I fell in love with the look and feel of the sites built for some of my favorite artists. It was my hope that I could have a site that had that same artistic, yet functional design. Productive Insomnia delivered exactly that. I appreciate the way Zoe listened to my ideas and then folded them into her vision for my site. I didn't know what the site should look like, only that I wanted it to reflect that creative style. The end result was everything I hoped for in design and functionality. I couldn't be happier with my genuine, original Productive Insomnia site... It's electronic art!"