Valerie C. Lee

About

I’m a queer Indonesian Senior Designer and Art Director with 5+ years of agency and freelance experience working across digital, print, illustration and motion. I want to create things that deepens our knowledge, experiments with playful ideas, and moves us to a kinder future.

How I can help

I can help early-career graphic designers learn how to conceptualize and think beyond just the visuals. In my company at Gutenhag, I've supervised, coached and mentored 3 early-career designers and 2 senior designers, and I've done talks internally as well to grow our design department. I'd like to do the same for other new designers and help them really explore what it means to be creative to them.

Expertise

Experience

1. Design Mentor · Gutenhag Pte Ltd

   Feb 2026 - Present

   Designing individual coaching plans and mentoring through iterative feedback, with a focus on fostering a culture of continuous and collaborative learning.

2. Design Lead · Gutenhag Pte Ltd

   Feb 2025 - Jan 2026

   Co-developed “Story-Led Design”, a company-wide brand philosophy drawing from narrative frameworks like the Hero’s Journey rather than conventional moodboarding. Concepts pitched through the Story-Led Design framework drove a 16% revenue increase and transformed annual reports and publications into audience-centred narratives. Directed client presentations and led end-to-end art direction for nonprofit and B2B publication projects. Mentored 4 graphic designers through execution and liaised between Singaporean leadership and a remote, Indonesian team spanning across North America and Southeast Asia.

3. Graphic Designer · Gutenhag Pte Ltd

   Aug 2024 - Jan 2025

   Initially contracted to conceptualize and execute "Allkin: Planting Seeds of Serenity", which went on to win awards from the ADC and IDA.

4. Social Media Designer · Sachi Studios

   Mar 2024 - December 2024

   Worked closely with social media strategist to plan and produce content for clients across beauty, hospitality, wedding organization and food and beverage.

5. Graphic Designer and Motion Designer · TandaSeru Visual Production

   Oct 2022 - Nov 2023

   Pioneered TandaSeru’s 2D motion design department, driving the company’s evolution from static digital imaging to full-scale visual production for digital advertising. Enhanced selected digital imaging portfolio pieces with 2D animations which supported company expansion into visual production. Collaborated with copywriters and marketing strategists to conceptualize social media campaigns for "Creativersity", a series of creative workshops working in partnership with TandaSeru.

6. Graphic Designer · TandaSeru Visual Production

   Jun 2022 - Sep 2022

   Developed narrative storyboards and key visual sketches from rough creative direction and supported final production through multimedia assets and graphic elements.

7. Graphic Design Intern · TandaSeru Visual Production

   Mar 2022 - May 2022

   Produced social media posts, where I started a hand-drawn comic series called "Komic Seru" and gave a new look for "Tips Seru", a bite-sized educational series. Helped conceptualize and designed reimagined packaging for @tigabelas on Instagram.

8. Freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator · Self-employed

   May 2020 - Dec 2022

   Provided end-to-end branding projects from concept to execution for local startups and illustrative commissions from private clients.

9. Graphic Design Intern · Arkadia Works

   Aug 2021 - Jan 2022

   Delivered digital content for social media, layouts and supporting graphic elements for internal branding purposes.

10. E-Sports Shoutcaster · Eliphant

    Jul 2018 - Jun 2019

    Got scouted during a local shoutcasting gig, and had the unique opportunity to provide English commentary in front of a live, multicultural audience in multiple "Tekken World Tour" events across Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand).

11. Graphic Design Intern · Kamarupa Design Group

    Oct 2018 - Dec 2018

    Contributed concepts and took part in the brainstorming phase of large-scale branding projects, where I worked on illustration, digital content and supporting graphic elements.