Isometric Studio partners Andy Chen and Waqas Jawaid will share their recent work at the intersection of typography, architecture, and social justice. This includes brand identities and exhibition design projects for major educational and cultural clients including Google, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Museum of the City of New York. The partners will discuss the opportunities and complexities associated with navigating this work as queer people of color, engaging with complex social issues including gender equity, climate change, racial justice, LGBT identity, and immigrant rights.

Studio Profile
Isometric unites graphic design and architecture to create empowering visual identities and spatial experiences. Based in New York City, we collaborate with leading cultural institutions, universities, tech companies, and nonprofits to reinvent the way they present themselves visually and strategically. We express the missions of these organizations through visual identities, exhibitions, websites, and signage programs that convey intellectual rigor, aesthetic sophistication, and memorable storytelling. We believe in design that transcends existing expectations by challenging cliches and stereotypes in visual culture. In collaboration with our clients, we shape narratives and spaces of belonging. Through design, we advance an ethos of inclusion, equity, and justice, centering the lived experiences of marginalized people.

Andy Chen studied sociology at Princeton University, where he was awarded the Pyne Honor Prize, the university’s highest general undergraduate distinction. He then studied graphic design at RISD, where he received his MFA as a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow. Andy started his career at Pentagram, where he worked on the rebranding of Bausch + Lomb with partner Paula Scher. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Royal College of Art, Andy conducted ethnographic research on aging, sexuality, and social stigma. He is a contributor to Design Observer, Design Taxi, and Open Manifesto.

Andy has spoken at international conferences including the London Design Festival, Design Indaba, RGD DesignThinkers, and Kyoorius Designyatra. He has served on the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Arts.

Waqas Jawaid received his undergraduate degree with highest honors from Princeton University and a Masters in Architecture with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. At Princeton, he was awarded the Frederick White Prize for his thesis on architectural apartheid in the Paris banlieus. Waqas previously worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, SANAA, Harvard Art Museums, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is a founding organizer of Climate Collective, a NYC-based organization that sparks civic discourse about climate change through design and storytelling.

Waqas has lectured at venues including Harvard University, the Center for Architecture, and Princeton University Art Museum. He has served on the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art and the School of Visual Arts.

Website: isometricstudio.com
Facebook, Instagram: @isometricstudio

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