Digital designer and creative developer specializing in systems and storytelling

About

Hey, I’m Audrey – a digital designer, storyteller and developer based in Brooklyn, NY. I currently work at The Wall Street Journal as a designer on the Visual Storytelling team, building custom, interactive storytelling experiences and supporting the growth of the storytelling tools and design systems.

Previously, I worked as a Senior Designer at The Washington Post. There, my day-to-day consisted of a mix of designing one-off stories, developing aesthetics and components for series of coverage, and long-term systems thinking work. It looked like developing the Try This podcast page, pitching the aesthetic vision for a series like The Collection, or redesigning of The Post’s election results pages ecosystem.

Before that, I tried my hand as an Associate Product Manager on the Design Systems and Accessibility team at The New York Times. There I helped ship dark mode to news apps.

What carries through all my work is a commitment to creative storytelling, empathetic product decisions, and intentional and accessible design solutions, no matter the product or system.

Outside of work, I have a ceramic practice under the name Bad Rat Studio. I can usually be found in cafes across Brooklyn deeply engrossed in the latest work of fiction, or crocheting a new granny square during my morning commute.

Awards & recognition

Pulitzer Awards

2025: Finalist, International Reporting, Revenge, Fire and Destruction
2024: Finalist, Illustrated Reporting and Commentary, Searching for Maura

SND 45

Bronze, Design: Investigative, Searching for Maura
Bronze, Design Investigative, The Collection
Bronze, LOC: Investigative or Public Service, The Collection
Award of Excellence, Product, Reduced Motion
Award of Excellence, Portfolio: Story Page Design

SPD 57

Medal Finalist, “Web: Custom Feature Design”, The Queer Quarantine

Selected work

Click on each story block to view the live piece.
When possible, gift links are used.

Try This: Snackable advice for life’s common challenges (2024)

Role: development

See how a lab grown diamond is made (2024)

Role: pitched quiz modules, design, development

A means of escape: Kickflipping, boardsliding and socializing: Shaw Skate Park is a welcoming “third place.” (2024)

Role: story pitch, design, development

The hidden life of seeds (2024)

Role: design, development

The List: What’s In and what’s out for 2025 (2024)

Role: design, development

Searching for Maura (2023)

Role: development, accessibility testing, alt-text

What counts as an `American name` in a changing nation (2023)

Role: art direction, design, development

For the lonely, tech offers friendship – at a price (2023)

Role: design, development

Revealing the Smithsonian’s `racial brain collection` (2023)

Role: design, development

‘It’s my choice. It’s my life.’: French Muslim women push back on the politics of the hijab (2021)

Role: design, development

The Queer Quarantine: Eleven photographers and one writer on how the pandemic altered lives in the LGBTQ+ community. (2021)

Role: design, development, print design

The Year of Endurance: Hope and uncertainty amid a pandemic that wouldn’t end (2021)

Role: design, development, print design

Experience

Latest Work

Case Studies

Audrey Valbuena

This site is always a work in progress. It was last updated February 2025.

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