OVERVIEW
Sidney Brinson is a design researcher with a talent for problem-solving and systems-level thinking. She has extensive professional experience using research and design to impact social, health, and communication challenges in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Sidney believes that quality human-centered research is a superpower when used for creating strategic advocacy, uncovering fully actionable insights, and uplifting people’s true needs through innovative storytelling. Sidney is a natural leader with a unique ability to meet people where they are without judgment and she is driven to generate change by working with those whose mission and values align with her own.
EXPERIENCE
After earning her Master of Industrial and Product Design from Georgia Tech, Sidney started off as a Design Strategist, honing her observation, mind mapping, research planning, quantitative research, and human-centered design skills. She went on to be a Creative Director and Lead Design & Communication Strategist, working with public health, non-profit, and corporate clients, including several CDC centers, Chick-Fil-A, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Museum of Design Atlanta, and 100 Resilient Cities. Sidney has also served as a researcher, strategist, and experience, service, product, and story-telling designer for global Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits including Philips Healthcare, 3M, Alliance for Lifetime Income and Georgetown University’s AgingWell Hub. As a Senior Design Researcher, Sidney brings an infectious enthusiasm, fearless spirit, and impressive expertise to her role at THRIVE.
EXTRAS
Sidney is the Indiana Jones of Design Research; no mountain too high, no swamp too thick, and certainly no problem too complex for her to tackle! She’s already climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, spent weeks navigating the Boundary Waters on the border of Canada, ziplined through Cambodia, and shared territory with alligators in the Okefenokee swamp on multiple canoeing and camping trips. As if her adventure streak wasn’t awe-inspiring enough, she also loves to run at odd hours, and for extended periods. She doesn’t even let the fact that she had a kidney removed at 22 years old slow her down. If Sidney isn’t running races, hiking mountains, or diving into the wilderness, you’ll probably find her basking in her other passion — space. If she’s not on Earth, she’s in the stars (mentally, of course), exploring the wonders of the cosmos. She also fainted at her own wedding, has an Army dad, is well-practiced at unlearning and staying open-minded, uses silence to let people think (almost like a second moderator or interviewer), and “has strong beliefs, loosely held.”