Ryan Luse is a motion designer and art director who has spent 25 years mountain biking and 15 years creating at the intersection of graphic design, motion, and art direction. After being let go from a four-year position, Ryan chose stillness over security—a decision that led him through depression, meditation, coaching and ultimately a complete creative transformation. Now creating concert visuals, Ryan shares how pushing past comfort zones on the bike mirrors pushing creative boundaries, how intuition trumps log...
Ryan Luse is a motion designer and art director who has spent 25 years mountain biking and 15 years creating at the intersection of graphic design, motion, and art direction.
After being let go from a four-year position, Ryan chose stillness over security—a decision that led him through depression, meditation, coaching and ultimately a complete creative transformation.
Now creating concert visuals, Ryan shares how pushing past comfort zones on the bike mirrors pushing creative boundaries, how intuition trumps logic, and why the most uncomfortable moments often lead to the most authentic work. This conversation explores truth-seeking, scarcity as clarity, and the courage to contribute to culture rather than just commerce.
Key Takeaways:
- The comfort zone principle – Whether mountain biking or creating, growth happens just past your comfort zone. If you're always comfortable, you're not learning much and might even get bored
- Stillness as strategy – When faced with crisis, Ryan chose not to distract himself with more work but to dedicate time to stillness, meditation, and figuring out his authentic path
- Intuition vs validation – Rational intelligence seeks external validation and checks boxes. Intuition lives in the present moment and often completely defies logic—but it's where the truth lives
- Meditation reveals truth – The goal isn't to reach a mindless state, but to observe thoughts without attaching reactions. Random revelations that pop up during meditation are often where the most authentic insights emerge
- Scarcity creates clarity – Going through a year-long period of financial scarcity kept Ryan in an alert state that, when balanced with self-care, provided remarkable clarity about his path
- Creative therapy matters – Working with coach Ben Tallen provided the creative-specific support that traditional therapy couldn't offer, helping Ryan discover he was both "rambunctious and personable"
- The leap of faith moment – When intuition overrides rational thinking and something in you knows you have to do it anyway, even if it feels dangerous and uncertain—that's growth
- Authenticity over template – Rather than picking a Squarespace template, Ryan is creating stylized handwriting and hand-done lettering for his website because it feels authentic, even if it's unconventional for a motion designer
- From corporate to culture – Transitioning from tech/corporate work to music industry visuals allowed Ryan to turn up his weirdness instead of taming it back, creating work that amplifies energy and contributes to culture
- Process as discovery – Whether creating a website or working on a project, the process itself helps you discover what something is and what you authentically want to say
Daring Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic
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