An interview with graphic designer, Ryan Mercer
Great companies are made up of great people. Here at Jumo Health, our most valuable resource is our team. We are a collective of medical folk, product people, designers, and storytellers that share a common goal to change health care today. Through our We Are Jumo Health series, we will introduce you to the dedicated people who are the heartbeat of Jumo Health.
This month, we’d like you to meet Ryan Mercer, who has been a graphic designer at Jumo Health since July 2020. Ryan lives in Wilson, NC with his wife and three children.
Why did you join Jumo Health?
I was introduced to Jumo through my sister-in-law (Ashley McGee) when she hopped on board a few years ago. She had just traveled to NY to meet everyone for the first time and was telling us about it at our family Christmas party. She glowed when she told us about the culture at Jumo—the shared passion to make health literacy more accessible. (I’ve heard the scholarly term for this is Collective IQ.) Though I didn’t have a background in healthcare, her excitement was infectious, and when an opportunity to join the design team opened up several months later, I jumped at the chance.
Describe a day in the life of your job.
One of the most exciting things about working at Jumo is the variety of products we offer. I could be working on the layout for a study’s website, tweaking comic book text, and designing logo concepts all in the same day. Each product is important and helps tell the patient a story. Either of the study they may be joining, the condition they suffer from, or maybe even the medicine they’ll be taking. No one that I’ve worked with, from client services to editorial to design takes this lightly. Everyone is passionate about delivering the best possible work to tell the best possible story. As a design team, we meet several times a week via Zoom to go over work, collaborate, and just get to know each other. Joe Brady’s done such a great job at creating an environment for us designers to thrive in.
What motivates you?
When we sit down to design something, we try to keep in mind the end user experience. Who will be reading this and how can we make this easy to understand and visually interesting for people from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures? It’s a powerful thing to know that what we create can help affect people’s medical decisions.
Specifically, my faith in Jesus is what motivates me. He’s the ultimate Healer, and I feel honored to be a small part of so many people’s healing journeys.
What are some hobbies or interests you have outside of work?
My family is my world! My wife, Brittney, and I have three awesome kiddos, Hannah (3), Micah (2), and a little girl due in late July. Life is fast and fun in the Mercer house! We do everything together and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Besides that, I’m pretty obsessed with typefaces, coffee, sports, and old Star Wars novels (typical nerdy, graphic designer-y things).
Jumo Health develops age-appropriate, culturally relevant, and relatable educational resources for patients and caregivers. We have experience serving diverse populations, covering more than 160 health topics across 80+ countries in 120+ languages. Our various digital, video, and print offerings use highly visual elements and research-backed health literacy strategies to ensure that everyone can understand and act upon complex medical information. We do this through familiar mediums – from comic books and animation, to virtual reality experiences and authentic documentary-style patient stories – all customized based on audience. Jumo Health collaborates globally with more than 180 advocacy groups and community organizations to promote access and to ensure unique patient experiences are accurately represented.
