08.26
Here we are with the 4th installment of my 5 Minute InTRUviews; the interview series where I take people I don’t really know much about who are active in the design community and try to get to know them in 5 minutes! This time I caught up with Robert Ryan of LadyUmbrella.com (and Teesinapod!)
Trudesign: Blarghney! Who Ye Be?
Robert Ryan: I be Rob, spreadsheet guy and tweeataholic for LadyUmbrella ladies t-shirts
Tru: *Note for our readers, Blarghney is not a word or a place*
RR: …but does sound like the Blarney Stone
Tru: Spreadsheet guy, are you in a trist with Excel?
RR: I don’t understand trist so I’ll say yes
Tru: I take it you are from Ireland?
RR: …I can manipulate some digits though hehe
Trudesign: Please tell me you love Guinness.
RR: ye, from Ireland and stuck on this rock til I get a way of getting out of here hehe […] …yes, I am a Guinness drinker […] ..happy to confirm that fact
Tru: I love me some Guinness. When did you star LDU
RR: we kicked the whole thing off, well, like the initial idea was sparked back in 08 […] but only launched our online shop on 20th of January 2010 […] and no looking back now
Tru: Do you find solace and inspiration in the Cliffs of Dover? […] Wait thats England. […] mean the song.
RR: yep, wrong cliffs hehe
Tru: Not the actual cliffs.
RR: …well, I’m not the designer…
Tru:Do you like Eric Johnsons music
RR: so, my inspiration comes from the spreadsheets […] — I do actually ye […] I love proper guitar stuff […] steve vai, joe satriani […] although at times the notes blur a bit too much there
Tru: Is that a good reason to like numbers, cause you dig technical guitarists?
RR: but big guitar lover here…rawk
Tru: (1 Minute)
RR: umm..I like numbers because of my father
Tru: Classical I should say…
RR: as a youth in cars to pass the time we would take digits on license plates and multiply them
Tru: Oh? was your father a math man? (picturing the green visor and overhead light [counting machine])
RR: whoever could get the correct result first was eh, better than the others I guess hehe […] ye, he is the math man…
Tru: Wow thats really dorky, do you use a pocket protector?
RR: no, I was never good at getting the right answer… […] …hence I wound up in music college
Tru: Music college but a spreadsheetaholic, the intrigue! And thats time.
RR: fun stuff to do […] ye music college and then IT degree
Tru: actually went a [bit] over, but i messed up a bit. thats oookkkk
RR:then door to door sales […] then fund accountant […] then band manager
Tru: Jack of no trades lol.
RR:pretty much ye hehe
Thanks very much for stopping by Ryan, Be sure to hop over to check out Ryan’s work at LadyUmbrella and TeesInAPod! Come back tomorrow for a quick look into the mind of a crazy-go-nut-guy, Scott Glasser from sum(design)!








