Welcome Bryan Nance

Introducing Our Newest Graphic Designer

Let’s take a moment to get to know the newest addition to our designer crew, Bryan Nance. A recent graduate from Drake University, we brought Bryan on to the team this summer to join what we call Team Spirit Animal. His custom animation skills and love for thinking outside the box grabbed our attention and we never looked back. Take a look at a few of our favorite animations of his here, here, and here!

I see that you are from Arkansas. How did you end up in Iowa? And what’s your favorite part about living here?

Short answer: college. Long answer: being super late in my college search and then randomly finding Drake University, which was one of the few schools still taking applications. Turns out that random find was exactly what I needed and I’ve been an Iowa captive pretty much ever since.

My favorite part about living in the DSM area is the music and concert scene. Back home if you wanted to see a live show you were pretty much limited to country music.

Do you have a motto or life mantra?

Keep things weird. There’s never enough weird stuff out there in my opinion.

Who inspires you the most?

McBess, Utomaru, and Takashi Murakami are just a couple of illustrators I go to when trying to get the ideas going.

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Pizza. It basically covers all the important food groups, right?

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Okay, random question time: What are your thoughts on birds? Chipmunks?

Birds are pretty alright in my book. I’m definitely looking forward to taking up bird watching when I’m an old man to pass the time while I’m not yelling at kids to get off my lawn.

I lost all respect I had for chipmunks after the 2009 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel.

It’s not uncommon to hear several different types of music bumping through the office. What are you jamming out to right now?

You can usually find me listening to Garage/Skater punk type stuff like Waaves, Fidlar, ard SWMRS. You also might catch me playing electronic chiptune stuff like Anamanaguchi. When I’m in that 2:00 a.m. deep focus mode though, I’ll be bumping some low-fi hip-hop beats. (Note: we do not encourage pulling all nighters, but are impressed by the dedication.)

If I handed you one million dollars right now, what would you spend it on?

Loans, my family, house, and a new car, in that order. If you’re looking for a more fun answer though, I would definitely just pack up and go travel everywhere and experience as much as I could.

What’s the best vacation you’ve ever been on? What made it so great?

Sadly, I’ve actually never been on a “legit” vacation! I think the closest thing would be a trip to Oklahoma for a week to visit family when I was really young. All I remember is my gameboy being my closest companion on those long, flat Oklahoma roads.

Do you like rainy days or snowy days more? Why?

Snowy. Rainy days are too gloomy, plus my car kind of leaks sometimes.

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Would you rather have a kangaroo or a koala bear as a pet?

Oh, kangaroo definitely. Sure, it might fight me and knock me out at first, but after we form a long lasting friendship, wacky high jinks would almost definitely ensue. Plus it has a convenient pouch to hold like fruit snacks and stuff.

So we know not to do it, what is your biggest pet peeve?

People misspelling my name with an I rather than a Y.

Stuff happens. We fall up stairs, trip over nothing, and walk into glass doors (sometimes). What’s your most embarrassing moment?

When I was young, I broke my collarbone while playing football with a couple of friends. I accidentally stumbled into one of the guys that was somehow enough to break a bone. I’ll always have the rep as someone who managed to break a bone during touch football.

When did you first fall in love with designing?

Well I’ve always enjoyed drawing and making things ever since I was a little kid, so it’s kind of hard to pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with designing, but when I was 16 or so, I was commissioned to paint a pair of shoes by someone who happened to see my art. That was the first time I had made money by doing what I loved to do, and it pretty much kicked off my pursuit of a career in art and design.

We’ve definitely fallen love with Bryan and his design style too. Now that you know a little more about one of our newest additions, get to know the rest of the Webspec team.