Hey, I'm Ryan and I'm the founder and Executive Creative Director at Umlaut, a branding agency based out of Manchester, UK and Berlin, Germany.I'm a simple Yorkshire lad that never set out to be a designer or a business owner, but eventually realised it was the thing I loved the most in the world.Before that I worked for The Man™ for the best part of a decade heading up teams in the financial services industry. One day I woke up, felt a weird pain, and realised that a part of my soul was missing. I swiftly packed up my things and left. Through years of grit, determination — and as I'll freely admit — sheer luck, I taught myself graphic design, the art of branding, then front- and backend development, and most importantly, fell in love with people, their motivations, and storytelling. Umlaut was born out of a need to do things differently, and almost a decade later, I'm still banging the drum for a no-nonsense, honest approach to the craft.We now operate across two countries, supporting people and their businesses bring their brands to life through design, development, and strategy.As well as that, I’m also a regular contributing writer for Shutterstock, writing articles about branding, design, and culture, and I’ve just started a new podcast called Existentially Inclined, where I talk with my friend and client, Scott Millward, about humanity, the messy world of agency life, and how to do all of that while both of us contend with ADHD.Oh, and I also lead design and development for Chain Reaction, a new app looking to ease the worries and strains of moving house, and often act as a fractional consultant for branding and marketing for individuals and businesses that don't have the capacity, resources, or perhaps the time to invest in an inhouse team.Need help with your brand and its story? Need a killer new app or website? Want to refresh for a new market? Let’s chat.