My name is Frank Barnhardt. I'm a product designer who specializes in user experience.

I grew up in Southern California and developed a passion for art and storytelling early on. This led me to study illustration at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida, where I earned my B.F.A.

After graduation, I moved to San Francisco and launched my career at several high pressure, mega fun small animation studios, producing commercials and animated shorts with world class artist that helped me honed my skills in visual storytelling, collaboration, and the creative problem-solving process.

Seeking new challenges, I moved to Los Angeles to join Disney Interactive Studios. There, I began creating digital content for mobile devices aimed at international audiences, blending my illustration and animation background with emerging digital technologies. It was an exciting time to experiment with new formats and reach audiences worldwide.

After starting a family, we moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area. I shifted my focus to UX design, applying my creative and technical skills to digital experiences for major companies such as JP Morgan Chase, EA, Cisco, Amazon, and FedEx. In this role, I’ve contributed across the full product lifecycle, from discovery and research to design, prototyping, and deployment, always striving to create intuitive, impactful experiences for diverse audiences.

I'm a product designer specializing in UX leadership across the full omni-channel product lifecycle. I've led successful initiatives for Fortune 500 companies including FedEx, JPMorgan Chase, and Disney.

Most recently, I worked on FedEx's Parcel Management system for convention centers and hotels. The system had been stalled due to budget cuts and a three-year COVID shutdown. When I joined, one of our main goals was to reduce over $5M in annual lost revenue while improving the experience for all users.

Over the course of a year, we introduced features like an automated Charge Slip Generator and a Quick Quote tool, making the app far easier for team members to use. Our success came from immersive user research and which allowed us to gather rapid feedback from users and stakeholders. It was a highly collaborative project that emphasized both usability and efficiency.

Beyond UX, my work philosophy is simple: be on time, be prepared, offer solutions, and be nice. The rest is about empowering teams to work efficiently and deliver clean, successful results.

Outside of my design skills, what really sets me apart is the artistic edge I bring to UX. My background in illustration and animation includes creating 2D commercials and visual storytelling content for Disney and EA. This skill set proves invaluable across projects—from crafting high-fidelity prototypes for executive pitches, to storyboarding shorts and reels that support innovation processes, to contributing within branding and innovation labs for larger clients.

One of my guiding philosophies is to “humanize technology.” I achieve this by combining branding sensibility with traditional illustration, softening the edges of complex digital experiences. I apply this approach across all my work, from enterprise solutions to creative, engaging consumer experiences.

At the heart of it, I love creating, solving problems, and collaborating with teams to bring ideas to life.