Team

Human-Centered Design Holistically

Frank Garofalo

User Experience Strategist, Consultant & Advisor in San Diego, California

Organizations often reach a point where their product, platform, or digital experience needs clarity.

Ideas are plentiful.
Teams are talented.
But the path forward isn't always obvious.

That's where thoughtful user experience strategy can make the difference.

My name is Frank Garofalo, and I'm the founder and Principal UX Strategist at Garofalo UX, based in San Diego, California. For more than 25 years, I've helped organizations transform complex product challenges into clear, human-centered experiences that work beautifully for the people who use them.

Whether a company is launching a new digital product, modernizing an existing platform, or improving the customer journey, my focus is always the same: helping teams create experiences that are useful, usable, and genuinely delightful.

Start Strategic Intake

Frank Garofalo

If your team is navigating product decisions, design challenges, or customer experience questions, the best place to begin is a conversation through our Strategic Intake form.

A Career Focused on Human-Centered Innovation

I've been working in the web and interactive industry since 1999, helping organizations design meaningful digital experiences that balance functionality, usability, and aesthetic inspiration.

My background combines strategy, design, research, and technical implementation ...allowing me to move seamlessly between big-picture product thinking and hands-on UX problem solving.

I hold a Master of Science in Computer Graphics Technology from Purdue University, where my graduate research focused on ethnographic usability studies for multi-user collaboration on multi-touch devices.

Over the course of my career, I've worked with organizations of many sizes ...from fast-moving startups to global enterprises and U.S. federal agencies... helping them better understand their users and build experiences that serve real needs.

Throughout my consulting work, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with teams at organizations such as:

Microsoft

Nissan

Indeed

Fastly

Esri

Frazer

ResLife Portal

Sailors Planner

Recipe Memory

Experience Working With Leading Organizations

Alongside these organizations, I've also supported numerous startups, technology companies, and small businesses seeking strategic guidance on user experience and digital product design.

Many of these initiatives involved complex platforms, large stakeholder groups, and product investments exceeding $12 million in development budgets.

The common thread across every project is helping teams gain clarity about their users, their goals, and the best experience to deliver.

Leadership Experience in UX Strategy

Before founding Garofalo UX, I led a 35+ person user experience organization at a billion-dollar software company.

The team included:

UX Architects
User Interface Designers
Icon Designers
Usability Researchers

Managing this multidisciplinary group provided deep insight into how successful product teams collaborate ...balancing design thinking, engineering realities, and business goals.

Today, I bring that leadership perspective to organizations seeking strategic guidance without the overhead of building a full internal UX department.

Agile Product and Innovation Expertise

Modern product development requires teams to move quickly while remaining deeply focused on the user.

I hold certifications as both a:

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)

Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

This agile experience allows me to collaborate effectively with product managers, engineers, executives, and cross-functional teams while ensuring user experience insights are integrated into real product decisions.

Core UX Strategy & Research Expertise

Applying UX expertise across a wide range of industries, bringing fresh perspectives and cross-domain insights that inspire innovative solutions. This flexibility allows me to adapt quickly, transfer best practices, and deliver impactful user experiences for diverse organizations.

UX Strategy & Design Thinking

Guiding organizations in defining product direction through human-centered design methods that uncover real user needs and translate insights into clear product strategies.

Interaction Design & Information Architecture

Designing intuitive interaction models and structured information systems that simplify complex content and help users navigate digital experiences with clarity and confidence.

Brainstorm Facilitation

Facilitating collaborative strategy workshops with cross-functional teams (from C-level leaders to designers, engineers, and product managers) to generate ideas, align priorities, and drive actionable outcomes.

Customer Journey Mapping & Empathy Mapping

Mapping user journeys and building empathy frameworks to understand how people experience products across touchpoints and identify opportunities to improve engagement.

Usability Research & Accessibility

Conducting usability research and applying accessibility best practices to ensure digital experiences are effective, inclusive, and usable for people with diverse needs.

UX Design Audits & Heuristic Evaluations

Evaluating existing digital products through UX audits and heuristic analysis to identify usability issues, uncover improvement opportunities, and guide design optimization.

Over the course of my career, I've conducted more than 310 usability research studies, helping organizations uncover insights that directly inform product decisions.

A Balanced Approach to UX

Great digital experiences require more than just functionality.

They require a thoughtful balance between what works well and what inspires confidence (and trust) for the user ...the humans who use your product.

My approach to UX design focuses on identifying the information and interactions that matter most to the target audience ...then shaping those elements into experiences that feel natural, intuitive, and engaging.

When teams understand their users clearly, better product decisions follow naturally.

Start With a Strategic Conversation

If your organization is working through product challenges, user experience questions, or digital innovation initiatives, a short strategic conversation can often reveal the most effective next step.

The Strategic Intake form helps start that process.

By sharing a bit about your team, your platform, and the challenges you're exploring, I can better understand your goals and recommend the most helpful way forward.

Strategic Fit Intake

Education

Master of Science
Computer Graphics Technology – Purdue University

Bachelor of Science
Computer Graphics Technology – Purdue University

Certifications

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
~Theodore Roosevelt

At Garofalo UX, the focus is on helping organizations step into that arena ...transforming ideas into meaningful, human-centered digital experiences.