Meet Mingyuan Dong

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mingyuan Dong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mingyuan, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.

My name is Mingyuan Dong. I’m an artist, designer, and writer based in Providence, RI, and the author of Not Sci-Fi: A Surrealist Novel. Influenced by my father, my love for learning began at a young age. I have always known him as a relentless seeker of knowledge. As the first college student in his family, he spends hours reading daily, devouring thick history books of over 1,000 pages, global political analyses, philosophy from various cultures, business management strategies, and novels from obscure origins. One of my most vivid memories is building stairs with his heavy books — they were my giant Legos, and I could step on them, climbing higher and higher. This imagery foreshadowed my own pursuit of diverse knowledge throughout childhood, which has since shaped my interdisciplinary creative practices.
Growing up, like my dad, I immersed myself in a wide range of creative knowledge. Born with a creative instinct, I began sewing on my own at age two, drawing still life at four, and writing short stories by eight. Beyond the arts, my curiosity led me into many other fields, each contributing to my creative work. As a teenager, I regularly studied psychology through videos and books. Fascinated by physics and engineering, I designed machines that defied the Laws of Thermodynamics and volunteered to help build four houses in Mexico. With a keen interest in the creative market, I ran my own design business in high school and college, selling customized home decor items and jewelry. Concerned about environmental issues, I studied environmental economics at the University of California, Berkeley, along with two other majors: installation art and French literature. These experiences have all influenced the diverse themes in my artworks, product designs, and writing.
For me, creativity knows no boundaries. I keep it alive by following whatever sparks my interest in the moment. People often ask me, “How do you find so many hobbies?” To me, it’s about having the willingness to take impulsive risks and challenging myself to constantly step out of my comfort zone. Stepping on my father’s books, which covered a wide range of topics, may have seemed aimless at first, but eventually, I realized I was well above the ground.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I work at the intersection of art and design. In my art phases, I explore behavioral and environmental economics through installations, performances, and paintings. My works have been exhibited at the New Museum Los Gatos, Columbia Global Center, and Worth Ryder Gallery. In my works, I use economics as a language—one that involves translation, exchange, simplification, extrapolation, and cultural creation. I examine and expand behavioral economic theories, evolving them from individual ideas into complex commentaries on social patterns. My works critique the forces that shape our economic decisions and how humans navigate and reshape those forces.
Writing is an essential part of my practice because, for me, words are an art medium—a flexible material with a unique texture—where I can apply abstraction and critique similar to my visual artwork. As the author and illustrator of Not Sci-Fi, a surrealist novel, I used this project to explore topics including physics, psychology, and ecology, blending my passions for art, design, and writing with social commentary.
In 2024, I joined the Master’s program in Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design to deepen my design practice. I am currently focusing on designs that address disabilities and sustainability. I integrate accessible objects with technology to create universal designs—designs that begin by improving the lives of an underprivileged group but ultimately benefit all users. As the boundary between art and design is fluid, I weave my artistic practice into my design work through form and material exploration. I consistently apply psychology and behavioral economics to understand users and their biases within social infrastructures, while using environmental economics to evaluate the environmental impact across product life cycles.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I’d say adaptation, repetition, and randomization are the three most powerful tools that have shaped my divergent creative journey.
I have lived in three countries, so adapting to different languages, traditions, and cultures has expanded my versatility. I can easily put myself in others’ shoes and provide alternative perspectives. For example, I might offer artistic insights in STEM discussions or introduce relevant equations in design conversations. I’ve found that adaptability fosters interdisciplinary exchanges, ultimately improving outcomes. My advice is that adaptability doesn’t require frequent physical relocation; it’s about staying humble and flexible. Listen to others’ ideas and critiques when developing projects, and encourage out-of-field perspectives. Occasionally, step out of your comfort zone and join events from other disciplines.
My second tool is repetition. I’ve been fascinated by the Laws of Thermodynamics since elementary school, studied physics for this in middle and high school, and eventually created artwork around it during high school and college. I explored it through various media, from paintings to installations, and it ultimately became the central theme of my book, Not Sci-Fi. Unlike a traditional scientist in academia, I’ve engaged with this topic in scientific, visual, and textual ways, finding inspiration beyond science. If you’re passionate about an idea, don’t hesitate to revisit it from different angles—you never know where creativity will find its home.
My third tool, inspired by surrealism, is randomization, which involves selectively using automatism. When I hit a dead end in writing, I jot down whatever comes to mind, then rearrange the fragments to discover new meanings. In design, this process involves sketching random ideas and combining them unexpectedly, often leading to innovative outcomes. Today, as generating new ideas becomes more challenging, innovators look for novel combinations. This randomization approach has helped me produce surprising, original, and impactful results. It’s a risk-free—or, at most, laid-back—form of risk-taking. All it requires is that you relax, tap into your unconscious mind, and just give it a try.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Since joining the Rhode Island School of Design in January 2024, I have merged my divergent explorations into design. Before this year, I often wondered how I could integrate all my areas of interest within the limits of a 24-hour day. Here, I can finally bring everything into a single field—design—while concentrating on fostering positive impact on users.
Thanks to my school’s collaboration with nearby Brown University, I now work on design-engineering projects with Computer Science and Engineering students there. One project I particularly enjoyed was developing an ultrasound pregnancy device that also reduces stretch marks, working alongside Sofia Vaca Narvaja and Enahm Oscar-Phoenix. While I contributed my skills in art, industrial design, and economics, Sofia and Enahm brought their expertise in coding and cognitive science. This experience reinforced the idea that design has a place in every field. It made me realize the tangible impact design can have in improving people’s lives, right before my eyes.
Studying design has allowed me to convert theoretical knowledge into real-world products. Seeing design principles applied to real users, who then provide interactions and feedback, is truly magical. I’m excited to continue growing my hands-on design practice and deepening my interdisciplinary collaborations.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mingyuandong7.wixsite.com/home
• Instagram: mingyd.arts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ming-yuan-dong/
• Other: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Sci-Fi-Surrealist-Environmental-Novel/dp/B0CQNSB65Q

Image Credits

Mingyuan Dong