Ryan is a designer who’s currently exploring.

I worked with head of design, Daniel Scrivner, to envision a new brand direction for the beloved ClassDojo. What started as a free tool for teachers in US public schools has evolved into a suite of products and games used by families around the world. Embracing our broader appeal and how we are colloquially referred to, we explored the possibility of simplifying our brand name to “Dojo”

A key goal of the rebrand was to bring ClassDojo’s breadth of products more into alignment and to create a fun, inspiring, and consistent identity across all touchpoints. This new direction reflects our global reach and appeal to families, while invigorating the playful spirit that made ClassDojo popular with kids all along.

While the full transition to Dojo hasn’t been implemented as of my departure from the company, the rebrand process laid important groundwork for ClassDojo’s evolving identity. For the latest updates on ClassDojo’s branding and to see how elements of our work have been incorporated, check out their app and website.

The bookkeeping startup Pilot approached me to redesign their brand identity, collateral, and website. Pilot leverages technology and outstanding customer service to deliver the best bookkeeping experience possible to small businesses. I brought on illustrator Diana Stoyanova and copywriter David Gouch to help bring the new identity to life for Pilot’s target audience.

In addition to creating their new marketing website, I created a set of brand guidelines to help the Pilot team deploy their new brand identity. The guidelines contained everything the team needed to update their product and start to produce their very own marketing materials.

I worked with the product team at Strava to create an entirely new icon library for the app redesign. It was a massive undertaking with over 100 unique icons, that I redrew at four different scales, ranging from 16px to 96px. Kudos!

Under the Tree is a web documentary miniseries highlighting the work of three community led organizations in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. From building an all girls school in an urban slum to providing healthcare in a rural village, it’s an intimate portrait of the people behind these incredible efforts.

I traveled with the staff of Mama Hope and their community partners for over three months to film, photograph, and write the material for Under the Tree. The series gives a closer look into Mama Hope's collaborators to show donors the impact that their investments are making.

• Interviewed for FastCompany
• Interviewed for Working Not Working
• Featured on Global Citizen
• Official Selection Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Quicksand is a multi-disciplinary innovation consultancy that champions user-centered design principles. They approached me to help develop their visual identity beginning with cornerstone language all the way to the logo. The process was a 2 month collaboration during which we distilled the company‘s founding DNA to develop their future direction.

The Winter Holidays are Pinterest's biggest time of year, just after Halloween. I worked with the brand marketing team to create the #holidayfreakout campaign. The concept is a play on the insight from Pinterest's analytics team, “Pinterest is where people turn for last minute gift ideas,” when they are absolutely freaking out.

With a scrappy budget and a tight timeline, we used actual Pinterest employees as actors to play “receiving the perfect gift”. The campaign was launched across social media and on platform in both video and static ads.

The Great WASH Yatra was a traveling carnival which rolled through most of India, promoting awareness around sanitation and hygiene along the way. Through games, performances, and an educational outreach program it's goal was to to develop behavorial change at the community-level. For the funding phase, I produced all marketing and communications material. After the Yatra was successfully funded, I led the design of two Xbox Kinect games starring waterborne bacteria.

“In the end, this is 16 pages and 42 minutes of deep shit...” Full Spectrum records approached me to create the artwork and accompanying booklet for experimental artist Tim Feeney's album, Weakness. The music is abrasive, yet delicate. Hard to penetrate, yet easy to hear. Feeney's words describe a story of estrangement from music — my artwork attempts to facilitate that feeling in the audience.

Freelance illustration work for various books, periodicals, and websites. Illustration remains an important outlet for me because of its fast pace and ‘brain teaser’ quality of challenge.