The Portfolio of Max Ryan

MAX RYAN

I am a London based graphic designer with an interest in conceptually driven problem solving. My multidisciplinary practice encompasses a wide range of media including print, digital and 3d platforms.

Previous projects have included: building a lifesize boat out of card, creating 7.5m worth of annual report, designing a typeface named 'Nautical Nigel', guiding people to a gallery using its logo, photographing an English gent with a love for rain, making a catalogue where all the images are hidden
and a publication with full page spreads of comic sans.

Further projects and oddities can be seen in the archive. Feel free to get in touch for inquiries about work, collaborations, internships, or just to say hello.
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CONTACT
+44 (0) 7949 712213
message@maxryan.co.uk
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EXPERIENCE
Currently an intern at Billington Cartmell / Dalziel and Pow / Fitch / 20/20 / The Nest

EDUCATION
Leeds Metropolitan University Graphic Arts & Design / 2009 – 2012
Kingston University Foundation Art & Design / 2008 – 2009

Showboating

The final show at university was a chance to show off our credentials as graphic designers. For me graphic design is about visual communication through whatever skills are relevant to get a message across. Having decided on a theme of showboating it seemed the appropriate course of action was to assume the role of boatwrights. Research included visiting a drydock and finding out how to clinker build a rowing boat. To
fit in with the theme of using recyclable materials in the exhibition the boat was built from plywood and corrugated cardboard. 'Showboating' was painted on the side in a custom typeface, based around cargo ship
and boat lettering. Reviews later indicated it was plain sailing from here on in with some suggestions of having gone overboard. A collaboration with Will Jackson. The typeface used is available on request.
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Jewson Annual Report

An annual report for the building supplies merchant Jewson. I wanted to reimagine a standard document and subvert the usual corporate anonymity. The most important figures and statistics are laid out along the length of the tape measure where the statistics match up with the measurements along its edge. The rest of the information and details are in the fold out instruction manual that comes with the tape measure and are accompanied by French and German translations. The back of the packaging has the chairman's comments on it as well as a QR code that when scanned takes you to the website form of the annual report. The site consists of a full screen video where a pair of hands proceeds to 'measure' out statistics read out by the warm voiceover.
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Graze

A rebranding of the Graze brand and products. The concept developed from the idea of Graze being able to deliver an urban picnic to the recipient we used the mailout as a vehicle for a 2D picnic hamper. The logo features a graphic bite mark which rotates around the central wordmark and a halftoned edge to tie it to the Graze box. The box itself has an embossed wicker texture on its top and a halftone picnic set in white on the inside to cut on numbers and the amount of ink used. A collaboration with Will Jackson.
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Leeds Contemporary Arts

A logo and identity for the Leeds Contemporary Arts Gallery. The gallery is without a permanent residence and so employs pop up exhibitions as a means of display. The logo aims to act as a metaphorical map pin giving the gallery a sense of place as well as serving as a means of navigation to its current location. It also opens up possibilities for signage and the communication of relevant content.
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A Catalogue of the Mundane and Ordinary

An exhibition of the everyday with the aim of encouraging audiences to see things differently. Objects were signified using visual and written allusions providing hints to the rediscovery of the familiar in new ways. In the physical catalogue The object descriptions were abstracted and the images were hidden in the french folds of the pages, showing through as a blur on the other side. These page edges were perforated and upon being ripped open provided some form of reward via visual puns.
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Rain Poster

The poster emerged as a response to Kesselskramer's challenge to present rain in a positive light. We chose to take a more conceptual and ambiguous approach to the brief by using stereotypes to demonstrate the by-products of rain. The label is tipped on and the poster is printed on cyclus paper stock. A collaboration with Chris Bentham.
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Type F1

A publication looking at type classification in depth and raising questions and highlighting contentions between classification systems. Named after the help button (F1) it also comes with an A3 double sided poster. One side is a glossary of typographic terms for those unfamiliar with words used in the main publication while the other pokes fun at the crystal goblet of Beatrice Warde.
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