About
The life & works of Joshua Bartz
This serves as a lifelong fallback project. Sometimes I know exactly where it's going, but usually I'm experimenting with its infrastructure and markup to whatever degree necessary to avoid writing the pieces I've been building the site for. It's surely my own mystery mansion.
I'm building a digital garden, meaning I'm working and thinking in public, and posts evolve over time in lieu of sequential follow-ups. There are two kinds of posts:
- Notes might be site updates, quotes, one-off or incomplete thoughts or ideas. These may evolve into an article over time.
- Articles may be singularly experiential, like a case study, project, micro-site, story or essay.
All to say that I may do a terrible job maintaining things and I'm giving myself the excuse and grace to feel okay about it. I also keep a changelog, colophon, and stylebook, mostly for personal reference. If you find bugs or have feedback, please let me know.
Eponymous author
Based in Chicago, I write, photograph, build, repair, and design to my heart's content and my anxiety's dismay. I've been on the web for so long that I still dream about the GeoCities WYSIWYG editor.
I believe that Black lives matter, abortion is a human right, no one is illegal on stolen land, trans lives are human lives, salary should be openly discussed, and unionization benefits all workers.
Career shtick
I'm a full-stack human interface designer. I conduct research, create mockups and prototypes, communicate with engineers, Product, Marketing, and front-lines teams like Support and Customer Success, and I can even turn out some decent HTML and CSS when needed.
My process gets every stakeholder invested in a project. I build an environment that encourages collaboration and candor. The best products ship when everyone on the project understands what we're doing and why we're doing it, and importantly, isn't caught off guard by scope creep and surprise requirements.
I've worked with teams across timezones and language barriers, remotely and in person — in cities like Amsterdam, Vancouver, San Antonio, San Diego, San Jose, Raleigh, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York City, and Katowice, to name a few.
My work is used by millions of people all over the globe and on the International Space Station — literally out of this world. I've taken feedback and delivered on it for some amazing organizations, including:
That wouldn't have been possible without working with amazing engineers, designers, researchers, and product managers along the way.
Josh is a fantastic UX designer and an excellent human being. He is intelligent, genuine and empathetic. He is not afraid to stick up for the user and brings valuable insight to any engineering implementation meeting he is involved with.Joe Cotton
Senior Software Engineer, Jamf Now User Interface
Some of those collaborators were kind enough to say some nice things about me. These are just a couple of the referrals I've gotten over the years. I have so many more on LinkedIn.
[...] For Josh, a user must be the focus and the center of the product. The experiences he designs are based on user research, ethical approach, and knowledge. [...] Josh knows what collaboration means. He works hand in hand with designers, PMs, architects, and developers, always results in great projects.Krzysztof Jendrzok
Senior User Experience Designer, Jamf
Software should improve the lives of its users. It should be designed to cut down on cognitive load and build trust that it's doing its job. Great software gets out of the way so people can reliably focus on what they're trying to get done, without siphoning off their information on the backend. What we do should put humans first, always.
Who was that very articulate dark-haired man?A colleague's teammate following a presentation to stakeholders & executive sponsors on research findings and design revisions
DTN
History
Currently
I'm taking on projects that excite me.
Following a long career of handing incredible ideas and inventions to mediocre tech leaders, I work on software only with trusted colleagues and small teams.
Previously
2023 - 2025
I went on a 2-year $100 million fool's errand for DTN.
DTN was once the foremost software vendor for US agriculture. I led UX for one of two platforms that set out to use cutting edge and experimental technologies and research at farms, grain elevators, and with the giants of the US food supply to help farmers and grain traders better understand the volatility of the grain market. DTN leadership regularly halted work after demonstrable progress was made.
2019 - 2021
I led product design for Jamf Now.
Jamf Now is an Apple-centric mobile device management platform for small businesses without IT and InfoSec backgrounds. I built user experience roadmaps and shipped a new subscription tier with refreshed Mac, iOS, and web apps.
2017 - 2019
I was a design generalist at Jamf.
Jamf helps organizations succeed with Apple. I implemented accessibility standards and put together strategy for a full redesign of Self Service on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, consolidated more than 150 duplicate patterns and rearchitected Jamf Nation, and helped champion the start of Jamf's UX research practice and design system.
2012 - 2016
I got my start at Code42.
Code42 protects the world's data. I established a user experience practice by leveraging customer support ticket metadata. I redesigned key data management and recovery workflows, and I co-conducted internal usability tests to protect the company's intellectual property. I am still an internal meme.
Education
In 2016, after more than a year of receiving UX mentorship at Code42, I went to General Assembly in Austin, TX to earn a certification in User Experience Design. I remain close friends with my primary instructor from that course, Alex O'Neal.
In 2018 and 2021, I earned two NN/g certifications in Interaction Design and UX Management. Ask me about my roadtrip to Vancouver for that 2018 certification.