# Mark Manfrey > Product Design Engineer [UX,UI,3D,Prototying] Location: El Cerrito, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/markmanfrey Insatiably curious product designer with 20+ years spanning product, UX/UI, and visual effects — most at home where the brief doesn’t exist yet. I do my best work at zero-to-one: nascent markets, ambiguous requirements, and problems that don’t have established design patterns. That’s not a workaround for missing clarity — it’s where the work actually starts. Fluent across strategy, interaction design, and implementation, I close the gap between vision and reality by working directly in the medium — whether that’s interaction flows, real-time 3D and VR environments, hardware prototypes, or LLM-driven systems. My stack shifts to match the problem: Swift, React, Unreal Engine, Python, Arduino, whatever it takes. Known for rapidly prototyping and iterating in technically complex domains — autonomous transit, multi-sensory experience design, real-time pipelines — while keeping stakeholders aligned around a clear product narrative. I don’t anchor on a single craft. As the product and company evolve, so does the work. I walk into the fog, make sense of it, and come back with something customers can use, teams can build, and leaders can bet on. ## Work Experience ### Senior Product Designer @ Glydways Jan 2025 – Present | San Francisco, California, United States Designing across the full autonomous transit platform — rider-facing UI/UX, multi-surface experience systems, real-time 3D and VR in Unreal Engine, custom tooling, and hardware-software integration ∙ Built and prototyped integrated rider experiences spanning visual, spatial, acoustic, and thermal modalities, coordinating systems across Arduino, Linux, and iOS ∙ Developed LLM-based interaction pipelines and real-time WebSocket architectures for context-aware in-cabin experiences ∙ Built design infrastructure including Figma plugins and token systems to close the gap between design intent and technical implementation ∙ Researching rider comfort across climate and thermal perception, acoustic environment design, and AI-driven audio interaction — feeding directly into design iteration ### Director of Design @ Hyphen Jan 2021 – Jan 2024 | San Jose, California, United States Led end-to-end product design across industrial design, UX/UI, and engineering — owning strategy and execution from concept through deployment ∙ Built and shipped an ML-powered digital twin system and mobile object recognition tool, expanding core product capabilities into new technical territory ∙ Designed and prototyped ergonomically enhanced product sub-components, bridging physical and digital product development as UX Engineer and Creative Technologist ∙ Directed a multi-disciplinary design team delivering HMI interfaces and hardware product experiences within manufacturing constraints and deployment schedules ∙ Established a comprehensive design system across usehyphen.com and HMI surfaces, unifying brand and UX across the full product touchpoint range ### Senior Product Designer @ Meta Jan 2019 – Jan 2021 | Menlo Park, CA • Architected new features for Workplace enterprise platform, focusing on scalable solutions adaptable across diverse business environments • Implemented rapid prototyping methodology, accelerating development cycles and improving collaboration with engineering teams • Delivered high-impact design solutions that enhanced user engagement and platform adoption rates ### Senior UX Designer @ Apple Jan 2016 – Jan 2019 | Sunnyvale, CA • Led UX design initiatives across 6 critical applications, serving 1,000+ users through web and desktop platforms • Pioneered development of 3D visualization application, driving significant improvements in user workflow efficiency • Conducted comprehensive user research and prototyping activities to optimize complex technical workflows • Collaborated with stakeholders to align design solutions with business objectives and technical requirements ### UX Architect @ Confluent Jan 2015 – Jan 2015 | Mountain View, CA • Revolutionized customer-facing admin tools, resulting in measurable improvements in user engagement and satisfaction • Established design strategies and processes in fast-paced startup environment • Delivered multiple high-impact creative projects while managing evolving priorities and tight deadlines ### UX Designer @ PDI/Dreamworks Jan 2011 – Jan 2015 | Redwood City, CA • Established the UX position from the ground up while defining processes and managing priorities for 3-4 concurrent projects. Developed multiple designs for long-term release roadmap. • Created high-fidelity mockups and animations, wireframes, iterations, and interactive prototypes. • Created completely new set of vector-based icons for entire application (50+) to more clearly communicate asset and object types used in the software. Introduced a standardized non-monochromatic color scheme. Reimagined process node graph to address visual confusion created by complex setups and flaws inherent in the existing widget; overhauled menus and hotkeys across entire application. ### Senior FX Artist/Head of Character Effects @ PDI/Dreamworks Jan 2003 – Jan 2011 | Glendale, CA Served as Head of Character Effects working with large global teams of 45+ as well as small, focused teams to complete critical milestones under pressure. Managed design iterations and provided technical direction for animation, modeling, and lighting. Simulated, rendered, lighted, and composited phenomena such as waterfalls, smoke, explosions, clothing, and hair in high quality for features such as The Croods, Puss in Boots, Madagascar 2, Madagascar, Shrek the Third, and Shrek 2. (Examples from The Croods) ▷ Created procedural Maya fire and smoke system to accomodate small fires across a large physical area while maintaining low memory requirements. ▷ Developed 3d stereo VDB volume boolean system for stereo rotoscoping of volumetric objects ▷ Simulated, lighted, and composited dust, explosions, destruction, and debris for earthquake and seismic wave. ▷ Developed Nuke and Houdini centric map-based procedural footprint system with historical prints. (Examples from Madagascar 2) ▷ Served as Seq Lead / Sr. FX Artist / Previz artist / Dev artist / Particle tools Representative: ▷ Simulated rigid body driven non-divergent fluid for water for “Dam Break." ▷ Developed sprite-based dust system for animal crowds. ▷ Developed and implemented Python tools for unified tool integration. ▷ Hand animated paper airplane in junkyard shot. ### FX Aritst @ ESC Entertainment Jan 2002 – Jan 2003 | Alameda, CA Worked on high-profoile projects such as Matrix Revolutions and Matrix Reloaded; developed APU hero character asset delivery and Mental Ray rendering pipeline; created Perl and Mel tools for hero character asset delivery. Led the development of Maya-based pipeline and Mel tools to create dynamic soft body hair system for virtual humans. ### FX Artist @ LucasArts Entertainment Jan 2001 – Jan 2002 | San Rafael, CA Instrumental contributor to the FX Department asset delivery and rendering Maya-based pipeline creation. Created various effects for came cutscenes including melting lightsaber-cut doors, jet engines, and breaking glass vial. In-engine sprite and particle fx development for “Force” effects; worked collaboratively and consistently met project goals and deadlines. ## Education ### Master of Fine Arts - MFA in Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics and Special Effects Academy of Art University ### Bachelor of Fine Arts - BFA in Industrial and Product Design University of Michigan ### Bachelor of Fine Arts - BFA in Industrial and Product Design University of Michigan ### Bachelor of Fine Arts - BFA in Industrial and Product Design University of Michigan ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/markmanfrey - Website: https://markmanfrey.com - Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1610324/ --- Source: https://flows.cv/markmanfrey JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/markmanfrey/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-08