Brand & Creative Direction
Brand strategy, identity systems, visual language, art direction, campaigns and the creative thinking needed to make a brand distinctive and consistent.
Creative Director / Design Executive
Building brands, products
and better ways to work.
I'm Ryan — a Creative Director with 20+ years of experience across brand, digital, product and design. I work with organizations to solve complex problems, create meaningful experiences and bring good people together around better work.
01 — About
Creative thinking,
grounded in experience.
My work sits at the intersection of brand, design, digital and product. I like understanding the bigger picture, asking the right questions and getting close enough to the work to make sure the details hold up.
Good work starts with understanding the problem — then bringing the right people together to solve it.
I've spent more than 20 years working across agencies, technology companies and complex organizations, partnering with executives, marketers, product teams, developers and designers to turn business challenges into clear creative opportunities.
My experience spans brand identity, creative direction, digital experiences, product design, UX, design systems and campaigns — from defining the initial idea through to the final execution.
I've also built and developed design teams, mentored creative talent and helped organizations establish the processes and systems that allow good work to happen consistently.
BrandIdentity, strategy & creative direction
DigitalWeb, UX, UI & digital experiences
ProductProduct thinking, systems & experience design
TeamsCreative development, mentorship & collaboration
02 — Capabilities
Strategy, creativity
and execution.
I work across disciplines because the strongest creative solutions rarely live inside a single one. Strategy informs design, design shapes experience and experience ultimately has to work for the business and the people using it.
Digital & Experience
Digital experiences, websites, UX, UI, information architecture and interaction design that connect business objectives with real user needs.
Product Design
Product thinking from early concepts through to journeys, interfaces, prototypes and systems that make digital products easier to understand and use.
Design Systems
Scalable visual and digital systems, reusable components, standards and governance that help teams create consistent work at speed.
Creative Strategy
Turning business objectives, audience needs and complex information into clear creative direction, opportunities and ideas.
Team Development
Building, mentoring and supporting creative teams while creating the conditions for designers to do their best work.
03 — Selected Work
Selected projects,
across industries.
Brand, product, experience and digital work across global organizations, startups and technology companies.
Chicago Blackhawks / Sticks In
Sports / Digital ↗Brand identity, product UX and design system
TVO
Education ↗Experience strategy, information architecture and UI
IC Group
Brand / Digital ↗Brand modernization and digital experience
Tyba / Credicorp
Fintech ↗Consumer investment product from the ground up
Vetster
Product ↗Brand, product experience and design system
WestJet
Travel ↗Mobile product and digital experience
Google
Global / Digital ↗UX and creative direction across enterprise, education and experiential work
04 — Experience
20+ years
of making things better.
Creative direction, design, product thinking and team development across agencies, technology companies and complex organizations.
Space Agency
Creative direction and strategic design across brand, digital, marketing and experience. Work includes TVO, Chicago Blackhawks / Sticks In and IC Group.
Vetster
Creative direction across brand, UX/UI and design systems for a rapidly scaling veterinary telehealth platform.
Finger Food Advanced Technology Group
Creative direction for AR, VR, AI, IoT and enterprise innovation initiatives.
Huge
Directed and mentored a team of 20+ designers across Google Enterprise, Google for Education, Google Experiential Lab and Tyba.
Critical Mass
Creative direction and customer experience work across digital products and connected experiences.
Publicis Groupe
UX, mobile, campaign and integrated digital work for WestJet, TD, PayPal, Home Depot, Canada Post, Chrysler, Rogers and CIBC.
GoogleWestJetTDChicago BlackhawksTVOVetsterInfinitiCanada PostPayPalCIBCRogersLEGO
05 — Approach
Clear thinking.
Good work.
I don't believe in adding process for the sake of process. The goal is to understand the problem, establish a clear direction, make the work and keep everyone moving toward the same outcome.
01 / UNDERSTAND
Listen.
Business, audience, context, constraints and what success needs to look like.
02 / DEFINE
Focus.
Identify the opportunity, priorities and creative direction.
03 / EXPLORE
Think.
Develop ideas, challenge assumptions and explore possibilities.
04 / MAKE
Design.
Turn the thinking into tangible work, test it and refine it.
05 / MOVE
Deliver.
Resolve the details and leave teams with work they can use.
06 — Contact
Let's make
something worthwhile.
Building a brand, transforming a product, growing a creative team or figuring out what comes next? Tell me what you're working on.