Nodes of Design#89: Designing Your Path by Ryan Rumsey

Nodes of Design

Ryan Rumsey is the author of Business Thinking for Designers, founder of Chief Design Officer School, and CEO of Second Wave Dive, a peer-coaching community for the next generation of design leaders and executives.

​For 20+ years, he worked as a designer and executive at Apple, Electronic Arts, USAA, Nestlé, and Comcast. Highlights include designing the first capitally funded Learning Management System at Apple, using CSS as a security measure, selling design systems before asking for buy-in, and building teams of incredibly talented and impactful designers, developers, researchers, PMs—humans. In addition, Ryan is a sought-after speaker and has presented at numerous industry conferences and events.

He is a father, a husband, and an avid fan of Liverpool Football Club. His life experiences include working on a farm and acting in a Staind music video.

In this episode, Ryan shared his journey into design and spoke about how to grow as a better designer; he shares his approach to working with clients or stakeholders who may need a clear vision or direction for their project and how we could help them define their goals as designers. Ryan then shared some frameworks to improve decision-making skills and confidence as a designer. We then spoke about how to face criticism or negative feedback on our work and how to respond to it. Finally, we concluded the show with Ryan's tips for designers to improve their business acumen.

Links to the resources by Ryan:

Chief Design Officer School (Courses for design leaders)

Second Wave Dive (Peer-coaching community for design leaders)

Anything But Design (Editorial platform and podcast)

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This podcast aims to make design education accessible to all. Nodes of Design is a non-profit and self-sponsored initiative by Tejj.