Doug VanderValk
Hello, I'm Doug VanderValk - a creative leader who builds brands, products, and teams around beautiful, purposeful design.
About
I'm a creative leader who believes in beautiful, purposeful design. I bring a range of creative abilities - from creative direction and team leadership, to graphic and product design.
I've spent 18 years working across graphic, web, and product design, and I still get energized by the work itself. I also love building and growing creative teams, and I've found real satisfaction in mentoring designers and helping them find their own solutions.
I care about understanding the full context of a project before jumping into the design - the business goals, the constraints, the people involved - because I believe user-centered solutions that take context into account are the best way to drive real business success. Whether I'm working with a cross-functional team or coaching a designer through a tough problem, my focus stays the same: understand the context, keep the user at the center, and let that lead to work that actually moves the business forward.
Experience
Creative Lead
Staples Promotional Products
2026 - Present
Lead creative and UX/UI strategy for Staples Promotional Products' new client engagements. Guide and mentor a UX Art Director and developer while partnering across creative, marketing, and sales teams to translate brand and customer needs into high-impact digital experiences. Work on user research, testing, and optimization to continually improve the online experience.
Sr Brand Art Director
Staples Promotional Products
2021 - 2026
Helped develop and implement a major rebrand for Staples Promotional Products as a senior member of the brand creative team. Created visual systems and translated the evolving brand identity across digital, print, marketing, and sales applications. Provided creative guidance and mentorship to fellow Art Directors while partnering cross-functionally to strengthen brand consistency and creative quality.
Sr Client Art Director
Staples Promotional Products
2014 - 2021
Led creative for major client accounts including Intel, Subaru, Honda, UnitedHealth Group, and Salesforce, translating business objectives and established brand standards into branded e-commerce experiences and supporting digital and print communications. Partnered directly with clients, marketing, merchandising, and internal creative teams to establish direction, build stakeholder alignment, and guide projects from concept through execution.
Art Director
Staples Promotional Products
2013 - 2014
Developed integrated creative across web, print, and promotional applications, partnering with clients, marketing, and merchandising teams to translate business objectives into cohesive brand experiences.
Footwear Designer (Freelance)
Velaasa
2013 - 2025
Designed and developed performance footwear from concept through production-ready technical packages, balancing brand, aesthetics, performance, and manufacturability. Collaborated through the development process to translate creative concepts into production-ready products.
Designer
Sunlighten
2008 - 2013
Led design across multiple consumer product lines, spanning industrial design, digital interfaces, brand, and marketing. Co-led cross-functional New Product Development teams across design, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and service, guiding products from concept through production. Helped reshape the development process to increase development speed while reducing the cost.
Education
BFA in Industrial Design
University of Kansas
Graduated December 2007
Emphasis in Psychology. 3.65 GPA.
Google UX Design Professional Certificate
Coursera
2025
What I Do
Brand Identity & Design Systems
Designing consistent and impactful brand systems - including logos, color palettes, typography, and style guides.
Graphic Design
Producing effective print and digital collateral - including marketing materials, catalogs, packaging, and campaign graphics.
Product Design
Taking products from concept and 3D modeling through fully developed tech packs, ready for manufacturing and production.
Digital & E-commerce Design
Designing digital experiences, e-commerce stores, and brand websites from visual strategy and UX/UI through launch and optimization.
Creative Direction
Leading design strategy and creative vision across client accounts, ensuring concepts align with business goals from concept through execution.
Team Leadership & Mentorship
Mentoring designers and art directors and leading cross-functional collaboration to strengthen a team's design capabilities.
My Process
1
Research
Dig into the brief, audience, and business goals to fully understand the problem before any design work begins.
2
Define
Synthesize findings into a clear creative direction, defining the strategy and success criteria for the project.
3
Ideate
Explore concepts through sketching, moodboards, and rapid iteration to land on the strongest creative direction.
4
Prototype/Test
Build and refine prototypes, gathering feedback from stakeholders and users to validate and improve the design.
5
Launch
Finalize execution and manage the process through to production, ensuring a smooth, high-quality launch.
Featured Works
Selected work spanning brand identity, art direction, digital commerce, UX/UI, and physical product development - showing how I approach creative challenges from strategy through execution.
Staples Promotional Visual Identity
A project to refresh the brand's visual identity, focused on creating differentiation between Staples and Staples Promotional. The project involved updating the color palette and logo, creating several graphic elements to use, and updating messaging to better define the brand.
- Role: Sr Brand Art Director
- Challenge: Differentiate Staples Promotional Products from the parent Staples brand.
- Contribution: Brand identity, visual systems, art direction, graphic design, photography direction
- Outcome: New visual system implemented across marketing, sales, digital and branded applications.
Sunlighten Control Panel
A project to develop the new control panel for top-end infrared saunas. The GUI needed to move to Android hardware while improving functionality - ranging from heating controls, to scheduling, to lighting, and more. Worked closely with a developer to ensure successful execution.
- Role: Lead Designer
- Challenge: Develop the new control panel for top-end infrared saunas.
- Contribution: UX/UI design, visual design, prototyping, developer collaboration
- Outcome: New control panel implemented across all 5 models of the brand's flagship sauna line.
Velaasa Strake
A project to create an elite lifting shoe for track athletes utilizing a traditional wooden heel. Began by refining performance requirements, worked with the client to establish an aesthetic aligned with the brand, and developed a complete technical package through prototyping and production.
- Role: Footwear Designer
- Challenge: Develop a specialized lifting shoe for track athletes that balanced performance, aesthetics, durability, and manufacturability.
- Contribution: Footwear design, product development, technical design, tech pack development, manufacturing collaboration
- Outcome: Translated the original concept into a manufactured performance product brought to market by Velaasa as their flagship model.
Radiance: Beautiful Skin
Developed and evolved the Radiance: Beautiful Skin brand across identity, digital, photography, marketing, and e-commerce touchpoints, including logo development, website design, photo direction, and SEO.
- Role: Brand Designer
- Challenge: Create branding and digital designs for a boutique med spa.
- Contribution: Brand identity, graphic design, web design, photography direction, SEO
- Outcome: Built and evolved the brand's visual and digital foundation as the business grew from launch to more than $500K in annual revenue.
Intel Branded Products
Developed creative for The Intel Store, an e-commerce experience supported by two physical retail locations featuring Intel-branded products. Work spanned visual identity, e-commerce design, product graphics, signage, environmental displays, and photography direction across multiple Intel campuses.
- Role: Senior Client Art Director
- Challenge: Translate Intel's established global brand into an engaging branded-merchandise experience spanning e-commerce and physical retail.
- Contribution: Art direction, e-commerce design, graphic design, environmental graphics, photography direction
- Outcome: Created a cohesive branded experience across Intel's online store and physical retail environments.
Subaru Branded Products
Developed the visual experience for the Subaru Gear e-commerce store, translating Subaru's established brand into an online retail environment and supporting email, digital, and print communications.
- Role: Senior Client Art Director
- Challenge: Translate Subaru's highly recognizable consumer brand into an e-commerce experience for branded merchandise.
- Contribution: Art direction, e-commerce design, graphic design, email design, photography direction
- Outcome: Delivered a consistent branded-merchandise experience that extended Subaru's identity across e-commerce and supporting customer communications.
Staples Promo Retail Brand Guide
The first large project utilizing Staples Promo's new visual identity - a catalog distributed in physical and digital format highlighting many of the retail brands Staples Promotional Products offers. Important for introducing and establishing the updated logo, color palette, and visual elements while keeping consistency with the featured brands.
- Role: Senior Brand Art Director
- Challenge: Introduce the new Staples Promotional Products identity through a large-scale retail-focused brand application.
- Contribution: Art direction, graphic design, brand systems, photography direction
- Outcome: Established a repeatable visual system for consistent retail-focused creative.
Sunlighten mPulse Sauna
The mPulse line is Sunlighten's top line of infrared saunas. Tasked with working alongside mechanical and electrical engineers to create the full design. Through sketching, 3D modeling, and prototyping, the team created a unique aesthetic that maximized the efficacy of the technology.
- Role: Lead Designer
- Challenge: Translate complex sauna controls and functionality into an intuitive touchscreen experience on new Android-based hardware.
- Contribution: Industrial design, 3D modeling, prototyping, cross-functional NPD leadership, vendor collaboration
- Outcome: Brought a flagship consumer product line from concept through production while helping improve the development process to reduce time and cost.
I've worked with these brands, and others:
