Ryan Grist
Email: ryan@ryangrist.co.uk

“I am an experienced, intelligent, articulate and proactive long-term agency-side crusader. After leaving education in 1996  and starting out as a graphic designer always working for brand and advertising agencies I made the decision to go freelance in 2003  and formed my own agency with staff (in 2014).

I adopt a personal, respectful, authentic and transparent approach to building trust and learning about the people in my team and the clients I am working with. I do this so they know they can trust me and are confident I will do my best with only their best interests at the forefront of what I do.

For many years I have dealt with senior stakeholders to deliver client projects and grow the client base for the agency, never shying away from accountability, working through and solving any discrepancies and differences in opinions…(eg, disgruntled clients!)

I work on ideas that excite, to make clients stand out whilst carving out clear competitive edge strategies. I always thrive to add value, new approaches, and ‘Unthought-of’  ideas giving the ultimate unfair advantages to my clients.

With my 22 years in design (with the last 10 with a UX / conversion focus) I am able to have meaningful conversations with clients and internal team members to achieve and surpass goals set out.

I’ve worked relentlessly to build and nurture a team which has allowed me to work with brands I could have only dreamed of and with an extensive network of senior decision-makers across some large brands ……… but now is the time for a fresh challenge.“

A bit about me

My journey began in 1996 as a graphic design apprentice and I have not looked back.


After becoming ‘Student of the year’ and the first student to achieve a Level 4 NVQ, gaining two qualifications in 2 years rather than 4, I landed my dream job at McCann Erickson as a Designer.

I worked with the best people and worked on huge brands.

I went freelance in 2003 at 23 years old and within 4 years had hit all of my personal and business targets – and more!

IIn 2012, clients started asking me if I offered websites. I said yes eventually! After starting with £300 websites, we’ve won 35-way tenders, worked with some legendary brands, and come 2nd too many times on 250k – £500k tenders that we weren’t expecting to get anywhere on, all in just 6 years!

Now, my Dev Consultancy is focusing on working with Shopify e-commerce B2C brands offering a subscription helping to build, and improve conversion and engagement for one fixed monthly fee.

I have been married to Vicky for 9 years with twin boys Barney and Max who are 5 years old.

Biggest Achievements:

– Awarded second on a Hornby Hobbies global e-commerce build – circa £500k (13-way tender)
– Won 35-way tender for a House of Lords project
– Won a 20-way agency tender for Hospice in the Weald
– Awarded second on Dreamland website/ecommerce tender from 20-way agency tender

Here’s my CV & experience

Current

2003 – Founder / MD Angle Studios Limited

Angle is a Shopify design and development subscription consultancy for small independent e-commerce brands.

We give our clients an unfair advantage by offering unlimited tasks for one fixed monthly fee.

Over the 22 years, Angle has pivoted a number of times to react to trends and the needs in the digital space.

Ecommerce has featured in Angle since the beginning but we now only work in this space, although due to my extensive network I still do favours for old contacts…

I work with Shopify brands to understand their problems, wants and frustrations. My team & I then work on an audit to understand where

At its largest Angle grew to a team of 9 employed staff plus freelancers before moving to operate a consultancy style where I figured this is what clients prefer.

Present – Founder, Swwwift.io

A bootstrapped platform that I have built using my team. It’s designed to provide graphic designers selling websites (who can’t code) a way of spinning up WordPress sites in minutes with fast and personal tech support. A community specifically for Graphic Designers.

Past Employment

2002 – 2003 – Designer – Smiths Design Group

Worked as a designer on the MG Rover account creating designs for print.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t there long before they went into administration, leaving Smiths no option other than making me redundant.

However, this paved the way for me to start my freelance journey at 23 years old.


1999 – 2002 – Creative Graphic Designer – McCann Worldwide

I worked on the Motorworld account before being chosen for the newly appointed Retail team. The Retail Team worked on brands such as Swallow Hotels, Argos, Lloyds Pharmacy, Halfords, HR Owen, Vauxhall, Harley Davidson and many others.


1996 – 1999 – Junior Graphic Designer – Concept Advertising

I started as an apprentice making tea but soon enrolled on an NVQ Level 3 in Graphic Design course. I completed this in 1 year (instead of 2) and was the first student in the college’s history to complete an NVQ Level 4 (also in a record-breaking 1 year instead of 2).

I was awarded part-time student of the Year.

“I love motorsport, digital, entrepreneurship, business, keeping people happy, being cheeky and thriving for success”

A few personal client testimonials…

“Do you realise how many nuggets of information you’ve passed me?”

“Trust me, I’ve been looking 4 years for someone like you. You’re unique in what you can offer.”

I knew why I picked you, Angle and Shopify!

Thank you so much!

Let’s line up a call…