Isometric Studio’s brand identity for National Black Theatre pays homage to its history and power

In 1968, Barbara Ann Teer founded the National Black Theatre, in Harlem, New York. After helping to build the Group Theatre Workshop (which would later become the esteemed Negro Ensemble Company) and becoming increasingly disillusioned by the stereotypical roles afforded to Black actors, the award-winning performer and activist opened up the space with a distinct mission: to platform authentic stories pertaining to Black life. Its stages have seen performers such as Nina Simone, Maya Angelou and the poet Nikki Giovanni, and its physical home has grown from a storefront to an upcoming 21 storey complex, while also seeing leadership passed down from mother to daughter. But, as the institution has grown and developed, so has its brand identity, that continues to pay a marked homage to its past.

Isometric Studio partners Andy Chen and Waqas Jawaid were introduced to the National Black Theatre team by WSDIA (We Should Do It All) as the prospective designers for its signage. The studio founders met 17 years ago, while studying at Princeton University, and instantly began a creative partnership. But after Andy went away to Rhode Island School of Design to study a graphic design masters, he began working heavily with nonprofit organisations on projects platforming marginalised people, and decided to start Isometric Studio. Working at a corporate architecture firm at the time, Waqas soon left to join him, and they’ve been visually reinventing institutions and nonprofits ever since.

The breadth of the brand identity for National Black Theatre goes far beyond signage, and encompasses graphic design, architecture and most importantly, social justice. “We were drawn to the theatre’s monumental legacy of liberatory art practice and we loved its commitment to visibly celebrating a connection to their ancestral past while also manifesting the theatre of the future,” Andy tells us. The foundation for the original identity comes from designer and educator Lori Evelyn’s brand identity work and her wordmark based on the theatre’s original hand-painted sign. It features supporting typefaces and colour palette, as well as a vectorised drawing of the theatre’s historical logo – also known as Max for “maximum spirit”.

The projects first step included creating a greater consistency in the letterform design and spacing to align it more with the historical signage. “In our opinion, Max had lost a bit of its original character in the process of vector simplification,” Andy shares. In the new drawing, the team restore its chiselled face and bring the detail back into the hair, which draws on not only its original logo but it takes inspiration from the works of silhouette artist Kara Walker and graphic designer Emory Douglas. The identity also adds to Evelyn’s colourway which includes red (pulse) and yellow (soul) colourway, adding an electric blue throughout the rebrand.

The theatres pre-existing typeface – Martin by Vocal Type founder Tré Seals – was originally applied in uppercase, but the team wanted something more bespoke in order to “express its unique and visual voice”. Now, the theatre has its very own typeface NBT Visionary, which uses the foundation of Evelyn’s wordmark. Led by type designer Corinne Ang, who was on the Isometric team at the time, the team produced a full uppercase character set, consisting of numerals and contextual alternates, with consistent counter sizes, a balanced weight and scalability.

Creating a unified visual identity – that can be recognised throughout culturally enriching and socially conscious slogans, merchandise and even a flag, alongside more promotional pieces such as show posters – is no light feat. When you look at National Black Theatre’s new identity you can feel a real sense of its legacy. For both the Black artists of yesteryear and today. Andy says that the team found it challenging as “an identity system can sometimes feel restrictive and limiting for such a wide range of productions and programs”, but they achieve this bravely. With intentions to continue developing the identity until the theatre opens its new building in 2026, they hope it inspires artists, designers and creatives who express National Black Theatre’s mission, while also longing to inspire a wave of bespoke typography for theatre’s throughout the United States.