RYAN MARTIN —
FREELANCE DESIGN LEAD + DIRECTOR
BROOKLYN
NY
Ryan Martin is a freelance product design lead and director based in Brooklyn, New York — working with ambitious companies to navigate the space between business, design and people.
Available for consulting and projects of all shapes and sizes.
SELECT CLIENTS
Rivian, Xfinity, Nike, Native Instruments, Google Creative Lab, IMAX, Reese’s Book Club, Supreme, Columbia Care, Playboy, Formula 1, The Olympics, Arsenal FC, BBC Worldwide.
SELECT PROJECTS
Mobile App Launch/ Rivian
Associate Creative Director
Launching the Rivian mobile app and building a team from 1–15.
2021
Mobile App Evolution / Rivian
Associate Creative Director
Managing and leading the Rivian Mobile App team through product evolution and growth.
2022
Xfinity Rewards / Xfinity
Design Director
Defining the purpose, mechanics and Day One of Xfinity's unified loyalty reward platform.
2020
Forage / Columbia Care
Design Director
Building a cannabis discovery tool that mixes preferences, history, loctation and use to make evolving recommendations.
2020
.com / Playboy
Design Director
Relaunching the .com experience with a focus on curated commerce and brand re-positioning.
2019
Native Instruments
Design Director
Experience strategy for transition to subscription based business model for amateur creators.
2019
WHERE I HELP
Experienced building, leading and accelerating teams through the product design lifecycle.
① Vision and Definition
② Design and Validation
③ Production and Launch
④ Iteration and Evolution
∞ Teams, Processes and Practices
ABOUT ME
I like building shiny things that work hard for the people that use them — but ironically, I'm more of a strategy guy.
I believe that doing the best design work and building the best user experiences, comes from having a really great strategy. Finding the important problems to solve, knowing why they’re problems, and exploring how to solve them alongside multi-functional friends. The best work I’ve ever done, was done by working with other people.
So I’m a strategy person, or I’m a team person. I like to empower and support others in creating their best work, facilitate collaboration and critique, help canvas and consolidate viewpoints, push, extend and simplify ideas. I’m a creative director, I’m an individual contributor, I’m a product guy and a business thinker - I’m a supercharger, accelerator, people champion. I believe in the power of collaboration and teamwork.
I design and, I’m okay at it. I’ve done it for over 12 years for a lot of great clients, some I like to call “dream clients”, but I’m a team player first and that’s my bias.
I recently wrapped my time at Rivian, trying my best to supercharge a creative team of 15+, working with engineering, product, business, content, and brand partners that maybe numbers in the 100’s.
I care about my teams and helping them be best they can be, I care about them being themselves and showing that in their work. I care about our products and projects, I care about our collaborators and partners, but most importantly I care about the people that we design for.
We do our best work, when we’re hyperfocused on those people, so maybe, after all that, I’m a user experience designer, I mean, that’s what I tell my Mum I am.
