After earning my BS in Graphic Design I dove immediately into designing enterprise and consumer software and never looked back. Four acquisitions, a couple mergers, one IPO, & a unicorn later, I've built and managed teams as large as 30, partnered with engineering, product, and sales teams around the globe, and built products and experiences for every screen size. And whether it's been working for organizations as large as Microsoft, Oath, or Yahoo!, or wearing every hat at numerous startups - or even as a founder myself, the challenge has always been to bring value, ease and ideally joy to the human on the other side of the screen. Big companies have taught me volumes about scale and the importance of process, but my time with startups has grounded me with an appreciation for what it takes to build completely new products and brands from the ground up. Ultimately, I like to believe that range has made me a unique leader with the ability to scale, pivot, and roll up my sleeves in any situation. I am eternally curious about the people, the technology, and the space I'm working within, and I fervently believe if you want to be a better designer, study people, not design. In my spare time, I've has done design and branding work for festivals like Bonnaroo, hand painted guitars for Fender, created posters and merchandise for all kinds of music acts, and even helped to start my own festival - but that's another story. :)
Frank Germano
I truly, sincerely, honestly care, and I love working with others who do the same
What really matters…
It’s been a fun run so far. These slides below document the kinds of work I’ve done, the places I’ve been, and describe some of the teams I’ve built over the years. We are all so much more than the sum of our parts, but those parts are definitely critical to the equation. There have been a lot of amazing challenges overcome in these times by these groups. I love the idea of continuing to build skills and experiences that we get to apply to the next step and never stop growing.
Some History
Core Disciplines
Graphic Design
Customer Experience (CX) Design
User Experience (UX) (Product) Design
Leadership and Vision
Design Strategy
Product Strategy
Communications (Internal and External)
Brand Marketing
Team Building & Culture
Program Management
As I said above... Four Acquisitions, one IPO, and one unicorn... Combine that with experience working for companies as large as 180,000 (at the time), and as small as three and you get some pretty diverse experience. And then add in almost four years of being an independent consultant and starting your own agency and it leaves you with a wealth of stories and knowledge to draw upon.
The Past 20 Years…
SVP, Head of Design - VideoAmp, Inc.
Sr. Dir. Prod. Design, Global Ad Platforms - Verizon
Senior User Experience Lead, Excel - Microsoft, Inc.
Founder and Principal - Man on Fire, LLC.
Creative Director - Visible Measures, Corp.
Director, User Experience - Yahoo! Global Platforms
I can’t count the times I’ve said the phrase “people first” in my career, or how many times I’ve said that “design begins and ends with people”. (In fact, if you go here https://videoamp.com/design/ you can watch me say it :) However, not only is that true for the customer or the user or an employee, it’s also true for the teams that so the work. I’ve had the opportunity to build many teams over the years and the best ones not only have the widest skillsets, but they are the ones you remember that no one person or discipline can do it all. It takes all kinds of skills - and all levels of respect for one another -to make the impossible possible. I am so very grateful for every single person I’ve had the honor of working with.
As Head of Design at VideoAmp I owned responsibility for design as a centralized vertical within the organization. This means that not only did I own responsibility for Product Design (UX), but I also owned responsibility for Brand Marketing and ultimately creative direction and brand direction across the Marketing disciplines. So what does that mean really? It means that whenI saw our greatest opportunity against our competitor was to ‘humanize’ the way we did business I was uniquely positioned to drive that message forward. These are slides from a deck aimed company wide brand presentation driving forward a new story of authenticity, accessibility, and humanity. In here were rationales, workshop components, and other exercises aimed at driving real cultural change and the core tenets of what would be a whole new CX practice.
Customer Experience (CX)
** Slides from a VideoAmp Brand and CX Presentation aimed at driving new strategy, new investment, and a new program
Beyond product - beyond marketing, and comms. I’ve also owned responsibility for designing physical office space and making sure our brand story carried through those in-person experiences as well (which was honestly a lot of fun).
I very much believe the office space is the physical manifestation of the brand, so it needs to be cared for and invested in at the same levels and with the same sensitivity. These are screens from the presentation I put together introducing VideoAmp to it’s new space in NYC’s SOHO area. This space was intended to be the first of several “Experience Centers” we were hoping to build in specific locations in the US.
Each would have it’s own flavor, it’s own niche, and be designed and built out in a way that would pay homage to its region. I also deemed it critical that each location become an integrated part of the community in which it lived. It would host events for non-profits, schools, and small businesses in the area. I wanted these places to not just be part of the communities in which they lived, I wanted them to help build and nurture it. (And bonus, I got so deep into understanding NY real estate I feel I could almost get my broker’s license lol)
Real Estate and In-person Experiences
For decades I’ve been envisioning, designing, and building web based and native software products and platforms and even been given the opportunity to own design responsibility for one of the most successful, most feature-rich, and most ubiquitous products ever made. And what I’m most grateful for is that in that time, I’ve been given the opportunity to work with some truly visionary and gifted people. Each one of them trying to bring entirely new industries and new visions to life.
No matter what the challenge or the technology or the marketplace or the opportunity, the only thing that is the same in every one of those situations is that great products are built for, around, and with deep knowledge of the people they are meant to benefit. And that’s the secret. Respect and serve the human being you’re trying to enable, and you win.
Product Design and UX
** Concept screens from the Aol One Ad Platform
** Screens and flow from the VideoAmp Omni-channel Media Platform
** Concept screens for next-gen Oath Advertising Platform
Screen captures and walkthrough from the Factual ‘Engine’ Location Product
** Ideation drawings for Excel sheet navigation controls
As Marty Neumeier said, “Your brand isn't what you say it is. It's what [your customer] says it is.” But great brands set out a path for people to follow and make a promise around an expectation. We all know “brand” goes well past basic logo, color, and font. They lay out a feeling, a sensibility, and (for me) they tell great stories. And whether it’s your site, the product, the packaging, the office, a drink coaster, a sales pitch, or even the phone greeting you have to be relentless in maintaining cohesion and authenticity. It’s the only way - i believe the only chance - you have at really telling a story that is both believable, compelling, and memorable.
Brand Identity & Story
The brand identity and some surrounding materials from Casa De Copas, a new recording studio, music school, event space, and source of inspiration for creatives located in Mexico City. Their goal is to create a place of belonging and creativity for anyone and everyone who visits. The core visual brand take much inspiration from the tarot and makes the visitor feel as though they’ve been welcomed into a secret society. The color palette of warmer jewel tones is meant to make everything feel cozier, more natural, and more like the warmest hug you could receive.
Casa De Copas
From the earliest days of establishing a new ‘brand ‘bible’ at VideoAmp I was striving to achieve a level of exclusivity and a feeling of being premium. People needed to inherently know that this company was different. It was special. In truth, it was decidedly not for everyone. And beyond anything else, this was no typical SaaS company. We were not doing aqua and three column layouts. We were going to carry ourselves like a media company. We were going to stand out. This young startup was coming from a place where it is completely in tune with what’s happening right now - in culture, in language, in fashion, in music... And therefore in technology. Let the competition continue to play in the land of the boring and the typical and the anachronistic.
We were different, and it was very much my job to make sure you felt it in every way possible.
Corporate Brand Standards & Creative Direction
videoamp.com home page
I’m pretty proud of the fact I was able to lure an incredible videographer/director onto our staff at VideoAmp to help us re-invent how we were using video. When it came time to really make an investment in our story telling capabilities it was obvious pushing far further into video was what needed to be done. And when I met a truly talented director who had been spending his time shooting for the likes of National Geographic, Nike, and for current music acts like Miley Cyrus, I worked for a few months to bring him on full time. From that moment\ onward we began telling more human stories. We got deeper into authentic depictions of feelings and story telling and doing everything possible to make this extraordinarily complicated technology as accessible, relatable, and as simple as humanly possible.
Telling stories through video
At VideoAmp we were always looking for ways to reinvent and extend the brand story across a very wide audience. One method was creating two new marketing channels in an attempt to reach a more diversified audience. We created a branded VideoAmp store and we also created a branded mobile app intended to become the centerpiece of both internal culture and provide a constant, always-on touch point with external customers.
This app became the core way we publicized events, news, and even industry headlines to our customers and employees. The branding was very purposefully pushed well past what was set with the web site. Where the site was intended to feel like a high-end media company, the mobile app was custom designed and built to push the edges and boundaries of what we could do visually. Basically I wanted it edgy — very edgy. And while we didn’t get all the way to where I wanted us to be, we laid some amazing foundation.
The right story at the right time
Logo Treatment and Branded Merchandise
This is a logo treatment and a part of a set of illustrations that was done for French DJ, Clozee. This logo treatment has been now used for several years and this background illustration (along with a couple others) have been at the core of all merchandise she has been selling globally since 2020. I’ve been lucky enough to do logos and brand design for a bunch of music acts and festivals over the years. Working with Chloe was definitely one of my favorite projects.
I’ve worked with festivals like Bonnaroo and brands like Fender for years, but some of my most favorite music work I did for a showcase I helped to found back in 2011. Originally named “The Outlaw Roadshow”, Underwater Sunshine Fest is a curated, multi-day music festival that takes place in NYC annually. In 2023, I decided the brand design could use a serious refresh . One that truly embodied the fun, excitement, and love for live music that the show is founded on.
I purposefully grabbed a typeface that was new and trending, aligned our layouts and photography to something that subliminally felt like it might feel at home in Rolling Stone, and embraced a color palette that feels as bright and saturated as club stage lighting. Ultimately, it’s all about the energy, the intimacy, and the family nature of the show team itself. Once you’re an Underwater artist, you’re part of our family, and we take that seriously - always have.
Festival Branding
I love to draw & make things, and consequently I’ve been exceptionally lucky to have had the opportunity to create artwork and merchandise for a wide variety of folk. From festivals like Bonnaro, companies like Fender and Sony, and music acts like Clozee and Counting Crows, I’ve been able to stretch my talents and creativity in a wide range of directions, and each new opportunity affords me new skills and brand new memories.
See more drawing and posters and art and fun stuff on mofdesign.com
Illustration & Art
Being a traditionally trained graphic designer means that not only do I understand how to use the software, it means that I understand how to communicate, how to tell stories, how to drive home a point, and how to do it all in a fashion that makes sense and drives real measurable results. Whether it’s technical documentation, advertising, sales pitch, or board presentation, it’s all design and it’s all about communication.
Presentation & Communications
** Early infographic style home screens for VideoAmp.com
If you’ve made it all the way down this page, I could not be more appreciative of your time, your attention, and your energy! Thank you so very much for being both willing and interested enough to explore all of this work and being willing to take a little journey with me.
If I can provide any additional information, additional samples, or should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me and ask! Again, thank you so much for your time and curiosity.
/frank
Thank you!
“Forget about good. Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research.”
- Bruce Mau
“Not the product, but the person is the end in view”
- Laszlo Moholy-Nagy