Ryan Byrne
Verified Expert in Design
Designer
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Toptal member since March 16, 2020
Ryan is a multidisciplinary designer with a decade of experience in various product lifecycle roles. After being ranked as one of Cape Town's top creative talents by Design Times magazine in 2015 and winning an app of the year award in 2020, he has helped create innovative products for an array of clients, including Standard Bank, Old Mutual, Santam, and others. Ryan is an adaptable creative with a hybrid skill set in visual design, UI/UX, innovation strategy, and product management.
Experience
- UX Research - 5 years
- Human-centered Design (HCD) - 5 years
- Wireframing - 5 years
- UI Design - 5 years
- Digital Product Design - 3 years
- Rapid Prototyping - 3 years
- Figma - 2 years
- Design Systems - 2 years
Portfolio
Work Experience
Freelance Designer
Ryan Byrne
- Researched, prototyped, and tested the dashboard and user portal for Santam insurance, marking their first launch into the digital space.
- Worked with King James Digital advertising agency as their primary UX consultant helping them expand their offering to their high-value client base.
- Designed the marketing website for an Italian citizenship company expanding their brand potential and helping them reach new audiences.
- Helped a telehealth company design and launched its MVP.
- Helped research and launch an edtech startup that will provide equal access to education to 1,100 students over the next three years.
Founder
HourlyRate.ai
- Built and successfully managed a global and remote team of designers and developers.
- Scaled the product to 5,000 users and thousands in MRR.
- Built a robust design system for a complex product.
Head of Product
Think2099
- Designed, built, and launched a series of software-based applications for clients in the climate tech, fintech, and impact fields.
- Won an Awwards honorable mention for our company website design.
- Conceived, designed, and built multiple high-conversion websites for several clients.
Digital Product Designer
Byte Orbit
- Managed small product teams consisting of one to five people, including UX/UI designers, UX researchers, and developers, and worked closely with executive teams in strategic decision making.
- Conceptualized, tested, validated, and developed the UX of a Forex trading application for one of the largest retail banks in Africa.
- Used human-centered design principles to help a large retail bank conceptualize an evolution to their product and offerings.
- Developed the UX for a large credit card provider looking to grow their offering and enter the digital space.
- Ran UX research for a startup looking to help small business owners to manage their businesses using digital means.
- Created the user experience for a group savings application for Old Mutual South Africa.
- Consulted with multiple clients on innovation strategy and user experience in various sectors.
- Helped successfully design, found, and scale a social dining app to 1,000 users in six months.
Freelance Designer
Ryan Byrne
- Researched, conceptualized, and developed the UX for a mobile app to Milky Lane, a waffle house franchise in South Africa.
- Designed and developed a website for a juice delivery service in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Designed a food delivery website for a sandwich shop franchise in Cape Town.
- Owned the design of the mobile application for a digital magazine and radio station.
Front-end Designer and Developer
Web Courses Bangkok
- Designed a mobile responsive recruitment platform.
- Branded The US Steak House chain in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Built an online booking platform for Footsteps in Asia, a travel booking service in Thailand.
Web Designer
Webcourses Bangkok
- Designed a website for a recruitment company in Bangkok working in the IT sector. The project included branding updates, website design, and art direction.
- Designed an online travel agency platform offering custom "off-the-beaten-track" experiences to travelers in Asia.
- Developed graphic design courseware that helped teach students the graphic design course.
- Designed a website for an annual creative arts conference in Bangkok.
- Designed the website for the Kenyan embassy in Bangkok.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Design Ideation
Inscape Education Group - Cape Town, South Africa
Certifications
Design Sprints
Udacity
Skills
Tools
Adobe Experience Design (XD), Adobe Illustrator, InVision, Adobe Photoshop, UXPin, Jira, Sketch, Miro, Lucidchart
Platforms
Figma, Adobe Suite, iOS, Android, WordPress, Webflow
Languages
CSS3, HTML5, CSS4, Python
Industry Expertise
Banking & Finance, Insurance
Other
Digital Product Design, User Experience (UX), UX Research, Wireframing, UX Design, UI Design, User Testing, Design Thinking, Fintech, Product Design, Mobile UX Design, Rapid Prototyping, Consulting, Design Sprints, App UI, Design Systems, Surveys, Credit Cards, Travel, Rewards, eCommerce, eCommerce UX, System Design, Inclusive Design, Human-centered Design (HCD), Workshops, Product Ownership, Scrum, Lean Startups, Lean UX, Finance, Forex Trading, Investing, Investment Banking Technology, Customer Research, Loans & Lending, Conceptual Design, Web UX, Mobile App Design, Web Design, Mobile UX, UX Branding, User Interface (UI), Web Marketing, Responsive UI, Responsive Web Design (RWD), Web UI, UX Writing, Notion, IT Project Management, Innovation Strategy, Business Strategy, Django, React, Management Consulting
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