Ryan was a popular student with both his peers and the teaching team. Ryan summed up his qualities perfectly when he created his brand guidelines in his first year of the course:
I am many different things, from thinker to maker but for my brand I want to focus on the main attributes that make, well…me.
Personality: kind, friendly helpful; Qualities: creative, driven, reliable; Morals: generous, honest, respectful.
Ryan was all of these and much, much more.
“Ryan was a wonderful friend and classmate, always smiling and a joy to be around; he will be deeply missed.” —Dan Gold
One of Ryan’s favourite projects in his first year was the creation of a poster demonstrating the attributes of a well known typeface. Ryan’s choice of Akzidenz Grotesk offered the opportunity to create this wonderful poster based on a ticket design.
“Ryan was the most amazing, talented, caring and supportive friend. I am happy that we have this space to celebrate all his hard work. Ryan will be missed dearly.” —Liam McEvoy
One of Ryan's most successful projects in second year was the creation of a website based around the periodic table of chemical elements. Ryan's website titles Everyday Elements aimed to teach young children about chemical elements we come across everyday. His website used a series of colourful illustrations engage its young audience.
“Ryan was a good friend. He was always bubbly, fun to be around and a talented designer. He is sorely missed.“ —Lucy Boyd
“Ryan was the funniest, loveliest, and most charming person. Truly the life and soul of every room he stepped into, and so authentically himself that you couldn’t help but love him. He’ll be missed by so, so many.” —Sarah Cupples
This project allowed Ryan to spend some time on what he really enjoyed, illustration. In his own words: “I absolutely LOVE illustration, it is one of my biggest passions in design. My style is usually quite simple because when overcomplicated, things always go wrong!”
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose” - this is some pretty solid advice from Dolly Parton, and as we know, Ryan did this to his fullest from designing passionately, caring deeply, sharing his energy, and brightening up any room. Ryan will be missed dearly by all the IXD family and by many, many more.