Frank

Barnhardt Product Designer

Turning complexity into clarity

15+ years designing enterprise systems and digital products.

Now helping teams build thoughtful AI-native products that solve real business problems.

View Selected Works

Parcel Management Overhaul

Turned a $5M revenue leak into a scalable, automated workflow across 100+ locations.

Principle UX and Product Design Lead

Strategy / Product Design / UX / UI

2025 · 18 Month long project (end-to-end journey)

Parcel Management Overhaul for FedEx

Designed a parcel management platform used across 100+ FedEx Office locations, including hotels, convention centers, corporate campuses, and universities processing 2M+ packages annually.

Cisco U learning platform interface preview

CiscoU Learning Launch

Conducted a UX audit and strategy assessment for CiscoU, identifying gaps across Cisco's enterprise learning platform and shaping recommendations for its relaunch.

UX Design Lead

Audit / Strategy / UX Consulting

2022 · 5 weeks

CiscoU Learning Launch for Cisco

Conducted a comprehensive UX audit across Cisco.com, Cisco U., and the Cisco Learning Network to identify usability gaps and inefficiencies across the learning and certification ecosystem.

Executive Boardroom Presentation @ Globe Telecom

Built high-fidelity, multi-device prototypes for an international executive presentation, driving stakeholder buy-in and positioning the concept as the leading direction.

Case Study Four for Client

Short project description placeholder.

Coming Soon

Chase Digital Banking Experience

Designed a self-service digital guidance experience that helped customers confidently complete everyday banking tasks through guided walkthroughs across web and mobile.

Case Study Six for Client

Short project description placeholder.

Coming Soon

What I do best

Services, Skills, Abilities

I love figuring things out. New teams. New industries. New technology.

15+ years designing products means I've built a wide range of skills and ways of working, and I bring all of it to every stage of a product — from discovery to deployment.

Built for Complexity

Enterprise UX

Fortune 500 organizations trust me to design solutions that drive measurable impact.

I've uncovered $5M+ revenue recovery opportunities at FedEx and improved JPMorgan Chase customer support and payment experiences at millions-of-user scale.

End to End Journey

Digital Products

I thrive on ambiguous, complex product challenges, especially the ones with no clear starting point.

I took FedEx's Charge Slip Generator from concept to launch and led key parts of Chase's customer service redesign, work that shipped and scaled.

Building with AI Workflows

Designing with AI

AI has accelerated how I explore, prototype, and iterate, turning ideas into tested concepts faster than ever.

I built fbdesign.org and frankpaints.com end-to-end with AI as a research and build partner, taking vision to prototype in record time.

At Scale

Systems Design

I bring structure to complex products, shaping systems that feel like natural extensions of what people actually need.

I built the end-to-end service design system behind FedEx's charge slip workflow, and audited enterprise platforms for Cisco and Vestis to find where structure was missing.

Beyond the System

Design Continuity

Great design systems aren't just built once, they're maintained, evolved, and kept consistent as a team grows around them.

I helped rebuild Chase.com's secure login experience over 3.5 years, shaping the design language in real time across phased releases that reached 50M+ customers.

Story in the Room

Presentations & Innovation

I love turning a big idea into a story executives can feel in the room, not just read off a slide.

I led rapid-prototype executive presentations for Globe Telecom, contributed to Chase's innovation initiatives, and bring a story artist's instinct shaped by early work at EA and Disney.

The Hybrid Mind

Analytical & Creative

I move fluidly between structure and instinct. One side of my brain is mapping systems, information architecture, logic, flow.

The other is sketching, illustrating, chasing a feeling until it's right. Most projects need both, and I don't have to choose.

Illustration of analytical and creative thinking

Outside of client work, I play bass. There's a rhythm to good design too, timing, restraint, and helping make the team work as one.

Experience

A mix of long-term partnerships and short, focused engagements. The indented rows are client projects delivered through the company listed above them.

2026–2021 Amdocs Studio (fka Stellar Elements)
2 months T-Mobile UX Consultant / Strategist
18 months FedEx Principal UX Designer
3 months Vestis Lead Product Designer
6 months AWS / HealthOmics Lead Product Designer
4 months Rosindale UX Design Lead
3 weeks Globe Hi Fi Prototype Artist
3 months MUFG UX Consultant / Strategist
4 months Si-Five UX Consultant / Strategist
3 months Cisco UX Consultant / Strategist
2021–2011 JPMorgan Chase / Digital Product
14 months Chase Auto UX Design Lead
10 months Chase Support Overhaul Product Design Lead
2 months Innovation Lab Story Artist & Visionary
8 months You Invest UI&UX Design Lead
24 months Chase Payments UX Design Lead
6 months JPMC Corporate Website Overhaul UI/UX Design Lead
2011–2010 Electronic Arts (EA) / Commercial Division
8 months SIMS Medieval Story Artist
5 months SIMS Character Content Artist
2009–2005 Disney / Interactive Group
24 months Animated Content UX & Story Artist
24 months Visual Content Visual Designers

Download Resume View LinkedIn

HOW I WORK

Discovery to Delivery

Working on end-to-end projects is my preference. Especially the early stages, where the project is craving fresh ideas and high level solutions.

But I'm just as comfortable jumping into a project mid-stream, picking up where someone else left off without missing a beat.

Discover

Research, stakeholder interviews, problem framing
Define

Synthesis, strategy, success metrics
Design

Wireframes, AI-assisted prototypes, design systems
Validate

User testing, iteration, feedback loops
Build

Engineering partnership, AI-assisted build, QA
Deliver

Deployment, launch, real-world impact

The Era of AI

Designing With AI, And For It

AI is changing how products are built, but great products are still built around people.

Here's how I'm thinking about it, and where I draw the line between speed and judgment.

I'm currently building a small set of AI-native explorations, real projects, not just principles, coming soon.

Rapid Prototyping

What used to take me days now takes hours.

AI-Augmented Research

More research, not less. That's the real trade AI offers.

Strategic Product Thinking

Execution moves faster. That just means more time deciding what's worth building.

Cross-Team Alignment

A working prototype convinces a room faster than any deck ever could.

Human-in-the-Loop, by Design

Not every step should run on autopilot. I decide when, where, and how a human needs to step in.

I'm a Product Design Lead based in San Rafael, CA — 15+ years turning complex problems into experiences that actually work.

Recently at Amdocs Studio (fka Stellar Elements), I led UX for FedEx's parcel management overhaul and T-Mobile's AI-powered digital assistant, and worked with Cisco, Globe, and MUFG on enterprise platforms.

For over a decade, I've designed for mission-driven brands including Chase, Disney, and EA, working across brand, product, and enterprise systems. Few designers hold both ends of that spectrum. I do.

AI changed what one person can do. It didn't change judgment, that's still a human call.

Let's work together.

Do You Have A Cool Project?

Send me a message

frank@fbdesign.org Call or Text 415-272-9869

I'm currently open to full-time roles and selective consulting engagements.

Who I am

I'm Frank Barnhardt, a Product Design Lead based in San Rafael, CA. Twenty years of turning complex problems into experiences that actually work — from first concept to final deployment.

What I do

I work across the full design stack — brand, product, and enterprise systems. With AI in the workflow, one designer can now do what used to require a team. I use that deliberately.

Design Systems + Enterprise UX
AI-assisted Product Design
Digital Products
Brand Identity

Who hires me

End-to-end design lead for teams that need strategy and execution in the same person.

Project managers who need high-skill, low-ego delivery
Engineers who need a partner that speaks their language
Creative directors who need ideas that sell before they're built
Stakeholders who need to trust the person in the room

How I work with AI

I built a four-level framework for how AI participates in product design — not as a trend, as a practice. Most designers are still figuring out what AI is. I'm already designing systems around what it does and where it breaks.

"AI is a material, like paint or code. Use it when it makes the work better. Put it down when it doesn't. That judgment is the job."

AI as productivity tool
Human in the loop
Agents in systems
Right tool, right job

Getting started

If you're building something in healthcare, AI, or anywhere the design stakes are real — I'd like to hear about it. Send me an email and tell me what you're working on.

I'm currently open to full-time roles and select consulting engagements — particularly in healthcare AI, AI-native products, and enterprise UX.

hello@fbdesign.org →

LinkedIn · Resume PDF

Frank

Barnhardt Product Designer

Selected Works