Ryan Smith | 300241815
Blog One | Design Personae

Ryan Thomas Smith is the name my parents, Murray and Jane, chose for me, and so far it’s working out alright. I am a 22yr old from the small town of Clive in Hawke’s Bay, just a 4 hour hop, skip and jump away from Wellington City. A lot of my time gets lost to some hobbies such as, triathlons, rugby, wakeboarding, country music, guitar, and of course, design.

Whilst attending Napier Boys High School I was fortunate enough to get involved in some work experience at a printing company called Spectrum Print and half way through my 7th form year I was offered the position of Head Graphic Artist on a full time basis. Convinced at the time that this was my calling, I accepted the offer and commenced my Design & Digital Print Apprenticeship.

Upon completion, I felt that perhaps there was more out there for me so I jumped ship to Wellington and enrolled at Victoria University to further my qualifications with new hopes of getting a degree to accompany my apprenticeship and getting into a Publishing or Editing profession.

Inspiration for me is the desire to have a career in a field that I enjoy, and that field is design. The idea of waking up each morning and dreading going to work is what inspires me to pursue this goal so that I can wake each day and look forward to what's ahead. A specific example of what inspires me is a website called ‘Puppies and Flowers’ which is full of photography and design that gets the creative juices flowing.