Meet Ross, designer for Newicon and hockey enthusiast.

At work, Ross is a designer extraordinaire.

But what does he get up to outside of the office? We sat down with him, to find out.

What’s your working background, and how did you come to work for Newicon?

I did my degree at Weston College, in partnership with Bath Spa University (the fantastic Foundation Degree/Degree top-up in Graphic Design). For the third year, two friends and I decided to set up our design studio — Drink Tea Eat Biscuits (DTEB). We worked with clients, rented an office space in Bristol and got paid. We left university with a degree and a dream job.

Having left DTEB, I relocated up north and spent a couple of years freelancing for companies all over the UK before moving down to Bristol to take up a design role with Yoto Creative. As a design studio, we focused on branding, design for print, and web for start-ups and small to medium-sized companies.

During the few years there, I picked up a massive interest in apps. Admittedly my attention then was mostly in using them, but app design intrigued me too, and I was keen to start working in that
area. Luckily, when Yoto decided to close its doors, Newicon, one of Bristol’s leading design/development hybrids, was looking for a designer.

A year and a half later and I’m still here, loving life. And in that time I’ve been lucky to work on some cracking projects in UI and UX design.

Describe your job to a six-year-old.

Knowing how much my five-year-old son knows his way around an iPad, an app designer is probably a good description.

What’s it like to work for Newicon?

Great fun. The whole team are all very, very good at what they do, but we like to think we’re a lot more friendly and relaxed than some software houses.

Describe yourself and Newicon in three words.

Me: Meticulous (with an unofficial OCD diagnosis), friendly and entertaining.

Newicon: innovative, knowledgeable and creative.

If you could switch jobs with anyone else at Newicon, who would you swap with, and why?

I probably wouldn’t switch roles as I love the initial stages of a project: The early planning and visualisation of a client’s idea. If I were to want to download any of the other skills from the Newicon skill library — Matrix style — it would be development knowledge.

Do you have any interesting or unusual hobbies?

I am a player and committee member for my local hockey club, Somerset Gryphons. We’re looking for club sponsors, so for any interested readers, do get in touch.

I also like to whistle.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

From an early age, I always wanted to be a vet or work with animals in some way or another. It turned out that I enjoyed drawing and building things more than chemistry and biology though,
so design soon took over.

Favourite film/TV show?

Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead are two of my favourites on TV. As for movies, anything Marvel. Love them all. Love that I’m happy to say is being passed on to my five-year-old boy.

Who’s your celebrity doppelganger?

I’m not sure, so I’ll leave it to the rest of the team to hit me with suggestions…

Team response: “Moby and Adrian Edmondson”.

Do you have any hidden talents, or is there an interesting fact about you?

Interesting fact: In 1596, a relative — John Harington — invented the flush toilet. No idea if that’s true or not.

Keep an eye out for more of our team blogs, as well as articles on everything from design right through to digital transformation.