DESIGNER · FACILITATOR · SYSTEMS THINKER
ARAM
ARMSTRONG
Maui · San Francisco · Shanghai · Hong Kong · Copenhagen · Back to Maui
“Feel the System. See the Big Picture. Be the Intervention.”
IKIGAI
MAKING COMPLEXITY CLEAR
I bring clarity to complexity through visual systems thinking and creative facilitation — designing strategic communications, collaboration spaces and interventions that help heal broken systems.
What I Do
Visual mapping + facilitation
Regenerative strategy + intervention design
Liberatory learning experiences
Ethical, AI-augmented insight and publishing
Place-based civic design and storytelling
Theory of Change
Top-down, bottom-up, and middle-out interventions — designing strategic acupuncture points in systems where small changes create cascading positive impact. Inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s trimtab principle.
Who I Work With
Organizations navigating complexity. Food systems coalitions. Civic institutions. Education innovators. Communities seeking collective sense-making and regenerative futures.
Why It Matters
The most pressing challenges of our time — climate, equity, food, health — are systemic. They need designers who can see the whole picture and design interventions that shift the system, not just the symptom.
THE JOURNEY
DESIGNED
BY EXPERIENCE
2020 →
Systems Change Facilitator
WorldLink Consulting · Nourish California · Maui, HI
Contributor to Hawaii State Food System Change Map. Collaboratory Design for food system transformation across UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, and UC ANR. Visual Facilitation support for Hawaii Climate Smart Commodities and Nourish California 2.0 workshops.
2015–2019
Visiting Faculty
Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design · Copenhagen, Denmark
Teaching service design and design research. Leading Summer School workshops. Mentoring students in Life-Centered Design in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
2013–2015
Innovation Catalyst
Fung Academy · Hong Kong
Corporate training and innovation arm of the Fung Group, a global leader in supply chain solutions and retail. Facilitating workshops, design sprints, leadership programs.
2006–2013
Senior Interaction Designer → Project Lead
IDEO San Francisco + IDEO Shanghai
Multidisciplinary teams across technology, healthcare, consumer goods. Led innovation capability building programs and marketing campaigns. Supported Regional Knowledge Sharing for IDEO Asia.
2005–2006
MFA — Service Design
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea · Ivrea, Italy
Interface Design, Tangible Computing, Service Design. Thesis: Service Design as Entertainment and Entertainment as Service Design.
1997–2001
BFA — Interactive Media
Minneapolis College of Art and Design · Minneapolis, MN
Teaching assistant and computer tutor. Graduated with a foundation in interactive design and digital media.
1994 →
Grown on Maui
Maui High School → The World → Kula, Maui
Eco Action Club, yearbook, academic decathlon. Grew up on the island of Maui.
PHILOSOPHY
HUMANITY IS THE
TECHNOLOGY OF NATURE
“Aram is a catalyst for change, employing a powerful blend of business strategy, design thinking, and systems practice. He creates transformative spaces that empower individuals, organizations, and communities to shape a more sustainable and equitable future.”
In his spare time, Aram finds inspiration exploring nature — observing the beauty and intelligence in natural and disturbed ecosystems — and in creative immersions with new technology. This fuels his passion for re-imagining the world, drawing insights from the totality of human experience to create the next prototype or playful intervention.
Humanity is quite possibly nature’s most interesting experiment in self-awareness and creativity. The work is to honor that possibility.
Studio Practice
RAD Studio — Regenerative Arts & Design. Strategic communications, visual systems, and intervention design for organizations ready to heal broken systems.
Metta Tech Dojo
Teaching humans to dance with machines — ethical AI collaboration, book sourcing, the Architecture of Collaboration, and the Art of Synthesis.
Active Research
Civic sensing, intervention design theory, food systems mapping, indigenous narrative amplification, AI ethics, and regenerative economics.
Place
Kula ahupuaʻa, Maui, Hawaiʻi. The ʻāina teaches. The ocean remembers. The mountain watches. This is where the work is rooted.
CONNECT
LET’S BUILD
SOMETHING
THAT MATTERS
Ready to map your system, design your intervention, or build the collaboration space your organization needs?