We recently caught up with Ryan (IDEA Grad 2019) about life after IDEA School of Design at Capilano University and landing a permanent role as Game Designer at Anemone Hug Interactive video game studio in Vancouver where he did his practicum.

When did you get your BA in Literature from UBC and why did you choose IDEA School of Design?

I received my BA in Literature in May 2012. At the time, I had been convinced that getting a degree in an artistic field wasn’t something that was going to be beneficial in the long run, so I committed to practicing my craft as a hobbyist. It wasn’t until several years later I decided to return to school, having been unable to find fulfilling employment with my previous degree. I chose the IDEA School of Design because of its close relationship with local industry, and the high rate of employment of its graduates.

What are some of your favourite comics and what interests you about the fantasy genre and 'New Weird'?

I have a hard time naming favorites. Fantasy-wise, Evan Dahm’s ‘Overside’ books (Rice Boy, Order of Tales, & Vattu), Ashley Cope’s ‘Unsounded’, as well as Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim’s ‘Donjon’ series are all books that would make my list. I also think literacy in manga is a must for anyone interested in modern comics. Berserk, Delicious in Dungeon, Land of the Lustrous, and 20th Century Boys are some of my perennial favorites. 

I like fantasy and sci-fi for their ability to explore the outer limits of human experience, and their ability to reframe familiar problems in a way that makes us question our assumptions. In particular, I like the New Weird for the way it breaks down barriers between fantasy, sci-fi, and horror and eschews their traditional tropes for imagery and content more matched to the dizzying complexities of our own world.

What are your memories and highlights from IDEA School of Design and have you stayed in touch with your cohort?

Highlights of our time at IDEA School of Design include exploring Montreal with friends on our trip to the World Design Summit in 2017, doing a mentorship with several of my classmates under Jeff Burgess at his home painting studio, and a wonderful design internship at Carter Hales Design Lab. And, of course, long evenings in the classroom or painting room with only each other to keep morale up.

I am not good at staying in touch, and not using Facebook has made that harder in a pandemic year. But I recently signed up for the IDEA Student/Alumni Discord, and try to reach out to classmates on occasion. I even get to see Joelle Lawrence on regular work calls, as she was hired on to do graphic design work for our company.

On applying for and winning student awards

I didn’t win any awards while at IDEA School of Design, and I think there’s a valuable lesson in that. There is a lot of emphasis on applying to and winning awards while you’re in the program, and it’s easy to feel like you’re not measuring up if you’re not bringing them home. But while awards are a good way to draw attention to yourself and your portfolio, they’re not the only measure of success. I’m currently gainfully employed at a job I love, and I owe that to an ability to get along with people, work well in a team, and put in a little bit of work every day.

Life after graduating from IDEA

I’m lucky in that I didn’t have to go through a protracted job search after graduation. By the time I left IDEA School of Design, my current position was already secured. As such, life after IDEA has mostly been work. I’ve also been making sure to take more time for myself than I did in school. Always take your weekends off if you have the option! You’ll thank yourself when you’re my age. Lately, because of COVID, I have mostly been in a work-from-home scenario. I’ve also adopted a kitten.

You had your practicum at Anemone Hug Interactive two years ago. Congratulations on landing a permanent role there! How did this come about and describe a typical work day? Any recent work not under NDA?

My practicum story is unique, and not necessarily easily replicable. By graduation, I was feeling relatively burnt out on the design and branding side of things. I had come into the program as primarily an illustrator, and while I love design, most of the ways that you can apply it to make a living aren’t very appealing to an anti-capitalist.

I applied to Anemone Hug Interactive (AHI) for my practicum having learned about it through my friend Kim, who had started work there after graduating from Emily Carr a few years earlier. I have always loved video games, and had once had dreams of working as a concept artist in the industry, but worried my work would never match up, so I considered it a long shot. After meeting with the CEO and Lead Game Designer Christopher for an interview, I was brought on for the duration of my practicum, not as an artist, but as designer. I mostly did graphic design on print and web ads for our clients during this time, but also did some design and quality assurance work on a pair of educational games. As time went on I began to do UI/UX design for AHI’s first internal IP.

One thing led to another, and eventually Christopher decided that I might have a knack not just for graphic design, but for game design as well. He brought me on to work directly with him on the internal IP as a Junior Game Designer, and that’s where I have been for over a year now. My days vary a lot, and I can’t speak about them in detail but a lot of my work consists of documenting my designs in detail, creating diagrams to accompany them, reviewing them in lengthy design meetings with a more senior game designer, and then making changes based on their feedback. Once a design is reasonably settled I add it to our game’s documentation (we use an internal wiki). Sometimes I playtest recent changes to see how our designs are playing out in reality, and make updates to our game in editor. I have also done production work for the company, including scheduling, task triage, and client communication.

What’s in your design toolkit these days? Have you learned any new tools since graduating?

Game Design is a very different beast than Graphic Design, but some of the tools are remarkably similar. Being able to communicate an idea is often the most important and most difficult part, and being able to do it with whatever tools you have on hand is an important skill. I actually do a lot of my initial work with a pencil and paper.

That being said, a firm grasp of Adobe Illustrator is invaluable for diagramming game actions, or mocking up UI elements. Likewise, wireframing skills are incredibly useful. Balsamiq is an important tool in my most recent work. I’m also currently familiarizing myself with Unity and previously did some work learning Unreal Engine. If you’re in the program now, you may be inclined to zone out during web design and front-end coding lessons, but I’m here to tell you that you will find those tools incredibly helpful some day. During my practicum, I was able to easily solve a problem that no one else on the team could, simply because I knew how to edit an SVG via text editor.

Object Permanence (shown below) is an SVG animation project in CodePen from my third-year Coding workshop with James Neufeld.

What’s in your communications toolkit these days and have tools changed much during the pandemic?

Working from home obviously presents its own set of challenges. If I could offer one piece of advice it would be to know your way around video conferencing software! Know how to change your audio inputs and outputs, when to mute yourself during a group call, and how to act naturally on camera. Odds are we’re all going to have to get used to it over the next few years. If you want to work in video games or animation, it’s also worth finding a way to familiarize yourself with pipeline management software like Jira or Shotgun. It isn’t difficult, but it can be a roadblock if you’re just starting out, and the people in charge of hiring will take you more seriously if you come in knowing it.

What advice would you give to IDEA students or anyone considering applying to IDEA School of Design?

Do your research, and have some idea going in of what you’re actually there to learn, and what the other side looks like to you. IDEA School of Design offers a wealth of experience in different-but-related areas, from photography, to motion graphics, to typography. The more you know going in about what you want, the better you’ll be able to take advantage, and the less likely you’ll be to end up specializing in something you don’t actually want to do for a living. But know that it’s ok to adapt, and change your mind as you learn. Sometimes you’ll discover something new that will totally blow your mind.

What advice would you give to IDEA School of Design students regarding practicums, portfolios, and career advice?

Don’t limit yourself, and be open to opportunity when it knocks. If there’s something you want to pursue that is outside the typical career paths, take your best shot. If a practicum host asks you to take on work that isn’t strictly in your area of expertise, but you could learn something, or make yourself indispensable to the company, say yes (as long as you aren’t endangering yourself, or undermining the positions of your coworkers). You’ll learn a lot of applied skills in the program, but more importantly you’ll learn higher-level skills that are incredibly transferable. Anyone can push pixels, but if you can think outside the box you can find a way to make yourself useful anywhere.

For more on Ryan, check out ryanmcdiarmid.com and anemonehug.com.