Vinay Kumar Mysore
Senior Design Researcher
Vinay uses design innovation to transform civics, reframing how we understand voters, civic engagement and community resilience. His expertise is in design thinking with a focus on human-centered and participatory methods. Vinay is also an adjunct professor at Parsons and co-founder of First Person Projects.
Where did you work before Openbox?
My academic background is in philosophy, then strategic design. My professional background is in politics, advertising and startups. My personal background is as a South Indian immigrant, born in the UK and raised in Canada.
Why do you do the work you do?
That we work to live in the complexity of wicked problems and approach them grounded in practices of participatory, social and human-centered design.
What does inclusivity mean to you?
I tend to think about inclusion as a dynamic model (as opposed to a static state) and applicable at a range of scales (from small groups to organizations, communities etc.). A key heuristic for me is each person’s expectations and experiences of the questions “Will my voice be heard?” and “Am I seen?” I find, quite often, it’s more about the group process than the conclusion reached.
When do you feel most like yourself?
When I’m laughing at my own joke.
I spend a lot of time thinking about...
Civic engagement, how I think about thinking, and the NBA.
