I like to call myself a New School Designer which just means I worry about old school things like line, shape, direction, color, value, and texture but apply them to interactions, user experiences, and interfaces. My business card says, Web Designer but I’m no stranger to graphic design, illustration, or identity work. Additionally I'm a organized, semantically-correct front-end developer who can take a project from concept to completion.
Reach out: ryan@pixelbleed.net.
I currently live in blisteringly hot Tempe, Arizona. I work for Arizona State University as an interaction designer, run a freelance design group called Pixelbleed, and occasionally write a tutorial or article for the design community. I believe in web standards, convention over configuration, clean valid markup, the getting real business philosophy, and beautiful visuals. I've studied design formally but practiced it long before that. I'm keen to understand how things work, but more importantly--how people use them. I hate the word expert because it presumes that there is nothing left to learn, and there is always more to learn.
Because mine is a creative industry (and therefore highly subjective) I believe who I am is just as important as what I can do. So, I don't shy away from sharing personal details on any web site tailored to my professional development--because they go hand in hand.
I approach every new project as an opportunity to do three things:
Everything else is just icing on the cake.
Before designing a web site I like to begin by sitting down with my notes, closing my eyes, and thinking about the easiest way a goal can be accomplished. In my experience the simplest solutions are the most lasting ones.
I use CSS for presentation, HTML/XHTML for page structure, JavaScript for actions, ExpressionEngine or Wordpress for content management, GIT for version control, and I know my way around the Ruby on Rails application structure.
My work is catalogued at Pixelbleed my design studio.