Daniel
Pfaltzgraf.

I design experiences
that ignite and inspire people.

👋 Hey you! I’m Daniel, an innovation and design strategy leader, business professor, and textbook author. I help people picture what’s possible, then build it together — in corporations, classrooms, and communities.

Some of the brands I’ve collaborated with
BY THE NUMBERs

From what if.
To what’s real.

A few milestones from helping people picture what’s possible, then build it together.

Product Development
800k
People using digital products I’ve led
Education
12,000+ 
Students annually learn from my textbook
Reach
1M
People impacted through solutions
Classroom
4.87/5
Average student rating across 20+ courses
Community
20 Under 40 
Honoree 
Invention
2
U.S. Design Patents
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Turning visions into reality through design strategy and innovation

Innovation and Strategy

Turning back-of-the-napkin ideas into real-world impact.

Business strategy
Design thinking
Product development
Customer and Employee Experience

Creating something better to make things better.

User experience
Service design
Learning design 
Facilitation and Transformation

Getting people aligned, excited, and moving.

Executive speeches and workshops
Keynotes and storytelling
Organizational change
PROJECTS

Ideas we’ve built together

View all projects
View all projects
Get inspired

Latest thinking

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An ebullient polymath?

That's me!

I’m a builder, who has created digital, experiential, and change management solutions across swaths of industries and numerous Fortune 500 companies. I play in that fuzzy space between what we know and what we need to know — discovering what people want, but don’t yet have.

WHAT THEY SAY

Word on the street

There are no words to describe Daniel's talent, although "unicorn" is the closest one I've got.

Jess Barnes
Director, Service Design
Truist

Daniel demonstrated best-in-class content writing, journey mapping, experience design, prototyping, filmmaking, even mocked up a clickable prototype. I repeat: unicorn.

His technical role was a strategy consultant, with zero reach into some of the areas I just mentioned he demonstrated mastery over.

Jess Barnes
Director, Service Design
Truist

I don’t know that I can come up with the words that adequately describe the amazing contribution this guy makes to EVERYTHING he touches.

I guess I could say that Daniel is “the most,” everything: the most brilliant, most creative, most engaging, most intellectual…get the picture?

Amy O'Donnell
Distinguished University Lecturer
University of Toledo

Daniel is brilliant, talented, smart, entrepreneurial, inquisitive, empathetic, strategic, and down right impressive. He is kind, compassionate, considerate, and empathetic. He is a thought partner, inventor, and magician.

Jess Barnes
Director, Service Design
Truist

Daniel's capabilities exceed expectations while his flexibility and reliability make him someone to be counted on. His commitment to — along with — passion for lifelong learning are as lasting as they are evident. He has an insatiable intellectual curiosity and a fearless approach to express it with peers, students, clients, friends, leaders, and executives.

Jim Fox
Senior Director, Human Resources
ADP 

Daniel has a history of success, recognizing opportunities for continuous improvement, developing strategies around them.

Jim Fox
Senior Director, Human Resources
ADP 

Whether as a teacher, student, team member, leader, or creator, you can count on Daniel to make bold commitments and to navigate obstacles in their fulfillment – with an open mind, joyful heart, positive intentions, and smile on his face.

Jim Fox
Senior Director, Human Resources
ADP

Daniel is my instructional design idol. I have never seen someone be able to grasp concepts, translate his voice into “our” voice, and simply create content that shines. I knew if Daniel was on it, that everything would be perfect.

Tom Melanson
Senior Consultant
Gallup

Daniel's work often seems to be a thing of magic, but there's a whole lot of talent, skill and relentless dedication underlying that ease and positivity.

Claire Kenkel
Senior Consultant
Root (a part of Accenture)

Daniel was able to build bridges and wow a number of diverse client stakeholders by integrating their lofty desires with his creative approach, all the while balancing the capabilities and capacity of the team bringing his design to life.

Claire Kenkel
Senior Consultant
Root (a part of Accenture)

Daniel is a strategic thinker at heart, always looking for dots to connect in a way to helps our business scale design success. Rather than focus on myopic features, Daniel will take on meaty program-wide challenges to integrate his thinking and share a POV.

Julia Barham
Director, Product
Nationwide

Daniel's leadership, care, and willingness to deliver proactive questions and concepts helps his peers and leaders navigate uncomfortable conversations that challenge the status quo.

picture of phil
Phil Hamlin
Associate Vice President, Technology and Innovation
Nationwide