Laura Vinchesi

Laura is a human-centered design leader in practice and education, with over two decades of diverse experience focused on visual and product design in both B-to-C and B-to-B environments, and design thinking as a driver of innovation.

Most recently at Seegrid, a leader in robotic material flow automation, Laura was Lead Visual & Information Designer on a new UX Design team. There Laura established functional infrastructure including a design system to support common visual design language; design principles and playbook; strategic product vision; and design strategy for client engagement.

As startup employee #1 at LUMA Institute—a Design Thinking training and tools company—Laura led or was involved in the design of experiences as diverse as certification programs; the best selling flagship book “Innovating for People: Handbook of Human-Centered Design Methods,” (editor and art director); live-remote courses; curricular assets; marketing materials; and parts of LUMA Workplace, a digital platform of design thinking resources. As a lead instructor and facilitator Laura also delivered LUMA’s world-class training workshops and facilitated sessions to professionals in business, government, and nonprofit organizations around the world including the Obama White House, Singapore Design Council, Autodesk, Accenture, Honeywell, and more.

Prior to joining LUMA, Laura worked in New York City as an art director on a number of branding initiatives for global consumer health and research companies including Pfizer, Novartis and Affymetrix, among others. In this capacity she drove the organization, design, and writing of projects such as branding style guides, product collateral systems, and international health & safety guides. 

Before and after her stint in NYC, Laura honed her teaching skills at the Carnegie Mellon Design School (her undergraduate alma mater) and more recently the CMU Integrated Innovation Institute. As an adjunct instructor and visiting professor, Laura has designed and delivered graduate courses in Product Design/Design Thinking and Innovation Mindset, and taught at all levels of the undergraduate Design School Program.

She also holds an MFA from Cranbrook Art Academy, where her award-winning work was selected for the loan collection by the CAA Museum.