A close-up of a gold-colored chain necklace with a circular pendant containing a small cross.
Me in dark glasses standing on a foggy beach

Christopher Kobar

Human experiences for an AI-fluent world

Staff Product Designer with 15+ years shaping complex systems — from architecture and flows to pixels and swipes.

Currently open to new opportunities

↪ Selected work

View Project
Project preview

Breaking the 3 Year Stalemate

Shipping Oracle's first Redwood mobile experience by bridging product vision and design system compliance — and strengthening cross-functional partnerships

enterprise saas b2b mobile fintech
View Project Project preview

Slashing ERP Onboarding Cost 60% with AI

enterprise saas b2b ai nlp fintech
DCAC diagnostic platform unified workbench interface

An Expert Tool for Expert Users

Unifying Five Legacy Diagnostic Tools into a Single Workbench

I led the design of a diagnostic platform that consolidated five legacy tools into a unified workbench—built for the engineers who keep customers' on-premise systems running.

Consolidated five legacy diagnostic tools into one unified platform

Designed for expert users with 20–30 years of domain experience

Shipped within one year of design handoff; became the primary diagnostic tool for on-premise support

AI Vibe Coding Exploration

“Hey, Claude! Let’s make a Disney-like immersive mobile experience that brings the magic of a park visit to wherever you are.”

A fun project to explore vibe coding and its implications for product design, while producing a proof of concept for where IP-driven parks experiences can go next.

↪ My groove

Systems

Enterprise & complex platforms

Regulated tooling

AI-integrated experiences

Problems

Stalled products

Cross-functional misalignment

Vision-to-execution gaps

Method

Constraints → Framing

Framing → Alignment

Alignment → Shipped outcomes

Culture

Cross-functional partnership

High autonomy and accountability

Clarity over consensus

↪ On my mind

↪ About me

I've been designing in one form or another for most of my life — in browsers before there were design tools, in Figma before there was AI, and now with AI while we’re all still trying to figure it out. I care deeply about craft — whether a layout breathes, a transition earns its keep, and if the person on the other end ever has to think about what to do next.

Before design, I worked everywhere from restaurants and retail to Congress and a zoo. I served in the Navy Nuclear Power program. I've spent decades devising narrative game systems, rules, worlds, and storylines, and authored ten related books. I write weird fiction, dabble in podcasting, and still pick up my guitar from time to time.

It’s been an interesting journey. I’ve been detained by the Syrian and Lebanese military. Had an awkward encounter with a U.S. president. Wiped out on a motorcycle at 95 mph. Busked in the NYC subway system. Danced flamenco. Played a Secret Service agent in a Spielberg film. Saw a UFO. And got my piece of the Berlin Wall the old fashioned way. All true. Buy me a cider sometime.

I have a teenage daughter, a patient wife, and two cats who have never once been impressed by anything I've done. I studied philosophy at UConn — Phi Beta Kappa — and learned a few things at NYU, the University of Mannheim, and the Connecticut School of Broadcasting.

Ten states have been my home, but today I'm back in Connecticut, a stone's throw from the submarine base where I was born. I've been a storyteller my whole life. It's the thread that connects everything, design included.

Me in dark glasses standing on a foggy beach