Photo by Carlos Pasos
Hello there! I'm Ryan and I'm a user experience & interface designer. My eighteen years of experience provides me with an excellent background in web & mobile design, app design, and interface systems, as well as wireframing, prototyping, and creative direction.
Feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. Cheers!
My Journey as a Creative
Creative exploration is what drives me as a person. It's something that has been a constant throughout my life; since my first art class in grade school when my teacher assumed my mother helped me produced a rendition of the color wheel. My mother had to explain that I worked on the project for hours until I was finally satisfied enough to present it. In high school, I continued my art lessons and found my way into graphic design—learning about printing presses, logo and print design, and even had my first illustration published in Rose magazine. Once at university, I was creating non-stop. Brands, wordmarks, ad campaigns, environmental graphics, animated Flash/motion websites and graphics were now products of my drive to be creative. I loved every bit of the design process—spare time was spent at the library making copies of copies of copies to create and bind abstract zines for hours on end.
My first job allowed me to learn more about creating logos and stationery for new businesses, custom folder brochures for corporations, and laying out books for writers. Over time, learning HTML and CSS proved to be a useful skill which allowed me to build the websites I had designed and collaborate with developers. Then in 2007, the iPhone hit the market and I was instantly creating "apps" (glorified mobile websites) and I realized the digital space was where I wanted to thrive. Since then, I've been wireframing with developers and stakeholders to define features and user flow, creating prototypes for startups to pitch and receive funding, and redefining how businesses all over New Orleans, the U.S. and abroad present their products to users.
In the past few years, I've continued to define myself as an Interface Designer and as someone who is empathetic to all people who use products (whether it's refining color contrast ratios between elements of an interface, helping users navigate a website using a screen reader and/or keyboard, or defining the information architecture of a product to be more usable and most efficient). Lately, my creative endeavors outside of interface design are constantly in flux and range from whittling wood and carving linocuts, snapping instant photos with old Polaroid cameras, and renovating an 1880s historic home in Bayou St John, New Orleans with my wife. Being a creative isn't just what I do, it defines who I am.