Creative Work (List) | Ryan Kegley

Every Creative Project Begins with an Act of Attention

Whether developing a brand, shaping a destination, designing an identity, or helping an organization discover its voice, I’ve found that the best work doesn’t begin with answers. It begins with listening. The projects collected here span more than three decades and a wide range of industries, but they’re connected by a shared conviction: the most enduring creative work grows from understanding a place, an organization, and the people it serves before seeking to change any of them. These aren’t simply examples of design. They’re examples of stewardship in practice.

Unicorn Theatre

Protest imagery and street art inspired a provocative new look for Unicorn Theatre's 2020–21 season—one that COVID ultimately derailed.

Becherovka

Colorado's love of hockey provided an unlikely—and irreverent—way to introduce a Czech herbal liqueur to the American market.

A Squared Project Solutions

This one-off brand identity assignment resulted in an unlikely eight-year working relationship—and a website never built.

Harris's "New Morning Pulse" front album cover detail

Harris: New Morning Pulse

Working with outside photography for the first time, this was an opportunity to focus on a visual identity to tie the package together.

[DARYL]'s "[DARYL] front album cover detail

[DARYL]: [DARYL]

A self-titled second album, with its reworkings of first-EP material, was an opportunity to turn the art direction on its head—literally.

Sweet 16’s Turned 31: A Tribute to Bob Seger

Scanner experiments and ramshackle environs brought a darker interpretation to the tribute’s title, borrowed from a lyric in Bob Seger’s “Rock and Roll Never Forgets.”

1650 Broadway development conceptual rendering

Allé

A proposed Kansas City development gets a name, an identity, and a story built around its greatest amenity—the surrounding neighborhoods.

Air Wise

An idea for a revolutionary new HVAC product became both an opportunity seized—and a bigger opportunity missed.

25 Above Water online exhibition and sale landing page

From Water, Strength

Photographs taken during trips to New Orleans years earlier found new layers of meaning in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

No Escape (A Tribute to Journey)

Passing this off as an actual Journey album meant pushing the record label and compromising with it.

The Capsules's "Reverser" front album cover detail

The Capsules: Reverser

Two otherwise nondescript photos layered just so captured The Capsules’ gauzy, ethereal sound perfectly.

[DARYL]'s "Communication:Duration" front album cover detail

[DARYL]: Communication:Duration

Photos taken only months earlier for another project found a second life with this debut EP.

AIG's "Avoiding Impersonation Fraud" training video still

AIG: Avoiding Impersonation Fraud

To avoid producing another cheesy corporate training video, live actors were ditched in favor of a distinctive animated approach.

Animated flea as depicted in Bayer's Advantage II product video

Bayer: Advantage II

Three live-action and CGI videos bring the science of flea prevention and treatment to life for Bayer's Advantage II.

Hospital Grade's "Written Axe to Trigger" front album cover detail

Hospital Grade: Written Axe to Trigger

A love of books, a collection of found ephemera, and an evocative title transformed this CD packaging into a would-be book.

namelessnumberheadman's "When We Leave, We Will Know Where We've Been" front album cover detail

namelessnumberheadman: When We Leave, We Will Know Where We’ve Been

This is what happens when two words—ORGANIC and ELECTRONIC—lie at the foundation of every design decision.

[DARYL]'s "The Technology" front album cover detail

[DARYL]: The Technology

Airports once again proved fertile soil for exploring the band’s continuing fascination with technology.

The Wrong Way Home: A Tribute to Supertramp

A trip to Chicago, a reacquaintance with my Canon AE-1, and an album title that could not have been more apropos.