What is North Rockies Design?
North Rockies Design is a graphic design, instructional design, and industrial design firm with nearly twenty years experience, located in Rexburg, Idaho, with a portfolio of powerful work for local, regional, and national clientele.
History
North Rockies Design first began as Ryan J Haworth Design, founded by Ryan Haworth in 1997 in Minnesota. From the beginning Ryan hoped to build on his experience and education as a Graphic Designer and Multimedia Producer. Through networking and word-of-mouth, Ryan began serving small businesses in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
As the company moved from the Midwest to the Intermountain West of the United States, a new name was in order. Drawing on the ruggedness of the landscape, Ryan came up with the name North Rockies Design in 2003.
Our first two clients were MazePlay, Inc. and I.E. Productions.
MazePlay (formerly Great Adventure Corn Mazes) needed help with a website, design, front-end and back-end web application programming, and illustration services. Ryan loved this opportunity because it allowed him to keep fresh his skills in graphic design, website design, and programming all at the same time. He was thrilled to see his illustrated maze designs converted by Shawn Stolworthy into agricultural works of art in aerial photographs.
I.E. Productions offered North Rockies Design a similar opportunity to create varied media on a wide array of projects. It was at I.E. Productions, over a ten year business relationship, that Ryan improved his skills with website programming, graphic design, and added motion graphics and 3D modeling to his toolbelt. I.E. Productions President Chad Hammond and Creative Director Gary Stewart were principal motivators and helpful critics in Ryan’s work. Ryan will always remember the opportunities and experiences learned while working on projects for I.E. Productions. Some of the milestones from this period are featured in the Portfolio section of the website.
Moving right along, in 2008, Ryan took a position at University of Idaho in Idaho Falls, as Instructional Computer Designer. This position is a melting of instructional design and computer graphics and multimedia. With exactly those talents and skills, Ryan has helped faculty, staff, and students accomplish their objectives in design, media, and education.
Additional Expertise
During the ten years of North Rockies Design’s existence Ryan Haworth also improved in skills of industrial design, creating 3D models, CAD models, and learning metal fabrication. This is an area where we can actually take the project from concept to plan, to model, to prototype. One project we are working on in this area is this Humvee replica project.
Near the end of 2012, North Rockies Design formally expanded into Instructional Design to help small businesses with their employee and management training, and instructional systems development. What makes us so bold to think we could actually be qualified to do such a thing? In December of 2012, Ryan finished a Master of Education degree in Instructional Technology. This was the perfect capstone to merge his experience in graphic design and the desire to educate.
Continuing his education to pursue a PhD in Instructional Design, Ryan has even more experience to help create powerful training applications and programs. Ryan is always keeping his design skills fresh, learning new technical approaches, and researching ways to combine media and education.