About
Team
Frank Garofalo
User Experience Strategist, Consultant, & Advisor in San Diego, California
Frank is a San Diego-based User Experience Strategist, Advisor, Creative Problem-Solver, and Entrepreneur. He has worked in the web and interactive industry since 1999, and he has a Masters of Science degree from Purdue University. Frank has been involved with design and user experience efforts on projects for Fortune 50 companies, US Federal agencies, and with budgets of over $12 million. Prior to going the entrepreneurial route, he managed a 35+ person department of User Experience Architects, User Interface Designers, Icon Designers, and Usability Research experts, at a billion-dollar software company. Related to lean / agile methodologies, Frank is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).
From his over 24 years in the web industry, he has experience with: Brainstorm Facilitation, UX Strategy / UX Design, Design Thinking / Creative Problem-Solving, Information Architecture, Affinity Diagrams / Card Sorting, Interaction Design, UX Storyboarding, Wireframes / Interface "Blueprints," Workflow Diagramming, Rapid Prototypes (HTML, CSS, jQuery), Personas / Target Audience, Usability Research (Ethnography), User Stories / Scenarios, UX Design Audit / Heuristic Evaluation, and User Research.
He enjoys seeking a balance between what functionally works well and what is aesthetically inspirational, while identifying, for the primary target audience, the key information they need to have a useful, usable, and delightful experience.
"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
Education
- Master of Science in Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University. Master's Degree Research.
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Graphics Technology, Purdue University
Certifications
Volunteer Experience
- Purdue University, Purdue Polytechnic Institute: Purdue Technology Alumni Board (May 2018 – June 2021)
- Purdue Alumni Association, San Diego Alumni Chapter (Jan 2018 – June 2021)
- Service Jam San Diego (March 2019)
- Startup San Diego, Culture Committee Volunteer (Nov 2017 – Aug 2019)
Publications & Presentations
- Garofalo, F. (2019, November). User Experience Design Immersive Bootcamp. Garofalo UX: Seminar in association with General Assembly San Diego, posted www.garofaloux.com/training/ga/
- Garofalo, F. (2019, February). A User Experience Approach to Agile and Scrum course. Garofalo UX: Training course, posted at www.garofaloux.com/training
- Garofalo, F. (2019, January). An Introduction to User-Centered Design course. Garofalo UX: Training course, posted at www.garofaloux.com/training
- Garofalo, F. (2018, December). A User Experience Approach to ROI + Brainstorming course. Garofalo UX: Training course, posted at www.garofaloux.com/training
- Garofalo, F. (2018, December). A User Experience Approach to Idea Generation and Evaluation course. Garofalo UX: Training course, posted at www.garofaloux.com/training
- Garofalo, F. (2018, November). The Click Battle: Counting Clicks vs Meaningful Clicks. Garofalo UX: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/a6a6245e4608
- Garofalo, F. (2018, June). Idea Generation and Evaluation Workshop. San Diego Startup Week hands-on workshop, posted at https://www.slideshare.net/fgarofalo/idea-generation-and-evaluation-workshop-102993189
- Garofalo, F. (2017, November). A Tech Entrepreneur's Guide to User Experience. Garofalo UX: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/75a53adc3510
- Garofalo, F. (2017, August). Brand, Color Theory, & Accessibility. Garofalo UX: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/b68dec9b0fe3
- Garofalo, F. (2017, August). The Business of UX -- Being a Designer Is Not Enough. Presented at SoCal UX Camp 2017 in Irvine, California; slides: https://www.slideshare.net/fgarofalo/the-business-of-ux-being-a-designer-is-not-enough
- Garofalo, F. (2016, November). Enterprise UX -- Design Leadership within the Enterprise, Harmonizing multiple trains, moving on multiple paths. Garofalo Studios: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/fca986e2b0b7
- Garofalo, F. (2017, November). Enterprise UX -- Increasing User-Centered Design within the Enterprise. Garofalo UX: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/e205f929e437
- Garofalo, F. (2017, November). Enterprise UX — Birds of a Feather Flock Together. Garofalo UX: Signature UX blog, posted at https://signatureux.garofalostudios.com/f50e2781d9f8
- Garofalo, F. (2010, August). User Interfaces for Simultaneous Group Collaboration through Multi-touch Devices. Purdue University, Master of Science research. Posted at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/techdirproj/19/#!
Social Media
- linkedin.com/in/frankgarofalo
- twitter.com/fgarofalo
- medium.com/@fgarofalo
- github.com/fgarofalo
- behance.net/fgarofalo
- slideshare.net/fgarofalo
- angel.co/fgarofalo
