Ryan Clifford is Associate Director of the Center for Design Practice at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, MD. The CDP is a multi-disciplinary studio dedicated to preparing the next generation of design leaders through socially conscious projects using design to translate ideas into tangible outcomes with the goal of changing behaviors and making a positive impact on society. He is also graduate faculty in the Master of Arts in Social Design program and teaches in the undergraduate Graphic Design program.

He is an advisor for Project M, an international social design initiative which is committed to helping young designers use their skills to create positive change in the world. He leads yearly design intensive, community-based Project M Blitzes with MICA students in Greensboro, Alabama and Belfast, Maine.

Prior to MICA, Ryan taught in the Undergraduate Graphic Design program at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Ryan has worked as a creative designer at General Motors in Detroit, Michigan where he was responsible for branding implementation, identity design, and environmental graphics. He has also worked for Buck and Pulleyn, and interned for Saatchi & Saatchi, where clients included Kodak and DuPont.=20

His work has been recognized by the National Paperbox Association and the Rochester Advertising Foundation, and in the following publications: How International Design Annual, Print Regional Design Annual, and the books Fingerprint 2 and Indie Publishing.