# Ryan Lesser

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American artist

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Ryan Lesser Education Rhode Island School of Design Occupations Art director, creative director

**Ryan Lesser** is an American [video game](/source/Video_game) and [board game](/source/Board_game) [designer](/source/Designer), [musician](/source/Musician) and [graphic artist](/source/Graphic_artist) living in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of [Rhode Island School of Design](/source/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design), he is best known for his design and art direction on influential video games *[Guitar Hero](/source/Guitar_Hero)*, *[Guitar Hero II](/source/Guitar_Hero_II)*, *[Rock Band](/source/Rock_Band)*[1] and *[The Beatles: Rock Band](/source/The_Beatles%3A_Rock_Band)*.[2][3]

Lesser is an art director at [video game developer](/source/Video_game_developer) [CD Projekt Red](/source/CD_Projekt) in their American studio [The Molasses Flood](https://www.themolassesflood.com/), faculty at [Rhode Island School of Design](/source/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design)[4] and Founder of Wild Power Games.[5] From 1999–2018, Lesser served as creative lead and art director at [Harmonix](/source/Harmonix).[6] He was a member of the [heavy metal](/source/Heavy_metal_music) band [Megasus](/source/Megasus). In the early- to mid-1990s, Lesser worked[7] with [Shepard Fairey](/source/Shepard_Fairey) on the street art phenomena "[Andre the Giant has a Posse](/source/Andre_the_Giant_has_a_Posse)"[8] and "Obey,"[9] and edited [Helen Stickler](/source/Helen_Stickler)'s [video](/source/Video) [documentary](/source/Documentary_film) *André the Giant Has a Posse* and co-created *Attention Deficit Disorder*[10] with Shepard Fairey.[11]

In 2014, Lesser led a successful [Kickstarter](/source/Kickstarter) campaign[12] for the Harmonix video game *[Amplitude](/source/Amplitude_(2003_video_game))* to ship on [PlayStation 4](/source/PlayStation_4) and [PlayStation 3](/source/PlayStation_3).

## Games

Name Year Credited with Publisher Harmonix Guitar Hero 2005 Art director, art lead, designer Red Octane Guitar Hero II 2006 Art director, designer Red Octane Rock Band 2007 Art director, art lead, designer Electronic Arts Rock Band 2 2008 Art director, designer MTV Games The Beatles: Rock Band 2009 Art director MTV Games Amplitude 2015 Creative lead Harmonix Rock Band 4 2016 Creative lead Harmonix

## Patents

Lesser is listed as an inventor on the following patents:

Date of patent Patent number Title 04/23/09 8690670 Systems and methods for simulating a rock band experience[13] 03/19/09 20090075711 Systems and methods for providing a vocal experience for a player of a rhythm action game[14] 08/06/02 6429863 Method and apparatus for displaying musical data in a three dimensional environment[15] 01/01/13 D673582 Display screen or portion thereof with boombox icon[16]

## Notes and references

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Ryan Lesser (Person)"](https://www.giantbomb.com/ryan-lesser/3040-90082/). *Giant Bomb*. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Radosh, Daniel (2009-08-11). ["While My Guitar Gently Beeps"](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/magazine/16beatles-t.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["A Day In The Life: Creating The Beatles: Rock Band"](https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012927/A-Day-In-The-Life). *www.gdcvault.com*. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Ryan Lesser | RISD"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190329063026/https://www.risd.edu/people/ryan-lesser/). Archived from [the original](https://www.risd.edu/people/ryan-lesser/) on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-03-15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Ryan Lesser | Board Game Designer | BoardGameGeek"](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/67394/ryan-lesser).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["MTV Multiplayer » Harmonix on 'Guitar Hero III' — Bittersweet, Like Seeing Kids Off to College"](http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2007/10/26/harmonix-on-guitar-hero-iii-bittersweet-like-seeing-kids-off-to-college/). *multiplayerblog.mtv.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Fairey Faces the Giant | RISD"](https://www.risd.edu/news/stories/fairey-faces-giant). *www.risd.edu*. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Shepard Fairey"](https://www.widewalls.ch/artist/shepard-fairey/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["The Art Evolution of Shepard Fairey"](https://www.complex.com/style/2013/09/the-art-evolution-of-shepard-fairey/). *[Complex Networks](/source/Complex_Networks)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Attention Deficit Disorder - The Giant: The Definitive Obey Giant Site"](http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Attention_Deficit_Disorder). *www.thegiant.org*. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** [Attention Deficit Disorder](http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Attention_Deficit_Disorder)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Tach, Dave (2014-05-05). ["Amplitude may get a crowdfunded sequel from Harmonix called Amplitude"](https://www.polygon.com/2014/5/5/5682816/amplitude-kickstarter-harmonix-interview). *Polygon*. Retrieved 2023-12-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Systems and methods for simulating a rock band experience"](https://patents.google.com/patent/US8690670).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Systems and methods for providing a vocal experience for a player of a rhythm action game"](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20090075711?oq=20090075711).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Method and apparatus for displaying musical data in a three dimensional environment"](https://patents.google.com/patent/US6429863/en?oq=6429863).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["US Patent # D673,582. Display screen or portion thereof with boombox icon - Patents.com"](https://web.archive.org/web/20161121105023/http://patents.com/us-d673582.html). Archived from [the original](http://patents.com/us-d673582.html) on 2016-11-21. Retrieved 2025-09-06.

## External links

- [Official website](http://www.ryanlesser.com)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ryan Lesser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Lesser) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Lesser?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.