Valerie Armstrong

Valerie Armstrong is a human-centered design strategist and creative consultant known for helping teams navigate complexity with clarity and purpose. With over a decade of experience working at the intersection of design, strategy, and systems thinking, she brings a practical, collaborative approach to projects that span public health, civic planning, and entrepreneurial ventures. Her work doesn’t rely on jargon or abstract ideals. Instead, Valerie grounds her practice in the real conditions teams are working within—budget constraints, organizational inertia, political dynamics—and helps clients make thoughtful decisions that actually move things forward. She’s particularly skilled at identifying what's essential, eliminating noise, and co-creating frameworks that support progress without forcing it. Valerie began her career in visual communication and branding, building foundational skills in storytelling, typography, and identity design. Over time, she grew increasingly drawn to the upstream questions behind each creative brief—Why this? Why now? Who decided?—and started pivoting toward more strategic, systems-level work. This shift led her to collaborate with public agencies, philanthropic organizations, and nonprofits tackling complex challenges where aesthetics alone weren’t enough. Her training isn’t tied to any single methodology. While she regularly uses tools from design thinking, systems mapping, participatory research, and change management, she’s less interested in following a prescribed process and more focused on designing one that fits the context. She often blends traditional facilitation with visual frameworks to support shared understanding among cross-functional teams. Valerie has led or contributed to initiatives with a wide range of partners, including Nike, IKEA, Oregon Health Authority, the City of Portland, and various grassroots organizations. Some highlights include: 1. Designing a multi-language, culturally responsive public health campaign in collaboration with over 100 community-based organizations. Valerie helped translate complex scientific guidance into culturally relevant messaging formats, building trust during a time of heightened public skepticism. 2. Developing a citywide community safety strategic plan for Portland, OR. She facilitated stakeholder interviews across government, nonprofit, and community groups to surface shared priorities, address long-standing tensions, and inform a more integrated approach to safety rooted in prevention. 3. Running co-design workshops with communities most impacted by inequitable systems, ensuring their lived experience shaped the design of tools, services, and policies that affected them. Across these projects, Valerie has earned a reputation for her ability to balance structure with flexibility. She doesn’t come in with all the answers but knows how to ask the right questions, guide productive tension, and help teams stay focused on the through-line between vision and execution. A Working Philosophy: Valerie believes that good design isn’t about dazzling people—it’s about helping them see clearly. Her work is rooted in a few simple but non-negotiable principles: Listen beyond the words. People don’t always say what they mean, and most meetings leave insights on the table. Valerie is trained to notice what’s not being said, follow threads others might overlook, and gently probe until the real issue surfaces. Design for the real world. She avoids idealistic solutions that sound good in a presentation but can’t hold up under pressure. Her deliverables are built to be useful, not just beautiful. Clarity is a form of care. When people are overwhelmed, confused, or unsure of their role, projects stall. Valerie excels at creating tools, language, and workflows that help people feel grounded and capable—especially in messy, ambiguous environments. Relationships over ego. Her process is inherently collaborative. She works shoulder-to-shoulder with clients, listens carefully, and knows when to lead and when to support. She’s also not afraid to name what’s not working if it’s keeping the work stuck. On Equity & Design: Valerie takes a pragmatic and situational approach to equity. Rather than treating it as a buzzword or box to check, she sees equity as a negotiation between what’s needed and what’s possible. Her goal is to make equity actionable—not just aspirational—by clarifying what it means for a particular team, place, or problem. She often works with organizations to surface implicit power dynamics, adjust how decisions are made, and build feedback loops that include those most affected by the work. In doing so, she helps clients move from performative gestures to meaningful shifts in how they operate and serve. Teaching & Thought Partnership: In addition to consulting, Valerie leads workshops and speaks on topics like designing with integrity, navigating personal transitions, and using psychedelics for intentional self-inquiry. Through her project Lazuli, she explores how people can use plant medicine—specifically psilocybin—as a tool for reflection, pattern-breaking, and healing. Her teaching blends science, storytelling, and practical frameworks to make complex topics accessible without watering them down. She also runs a creative studio, Durable Design, which offers minimalist branding packages for small businesses and solopreneurs who want to look professional without overextending. Across all her ventures, Valerie is committed to helping people build things that last—not just in structure, but in spirit. Where She Works Best Valerie is often brought in when things are murky—at the beginning of a new initiative, during a rebrand or restructuring, or when a team knows something isn’t working but can’t name exactly what. She excels at moments of transition, where direction is needed but nothing is fixed yet. She’s a strong fit for organizations that want a strategic partner who can think laterally, bring clarity to complexity, and honor both human dynamics and operational realities. Her clients appreciate her ability to move fluidly between creative and analytical modes, build consensus without diluting intent, and push work to a higher level without overcomplicating it.