National Black Theatre

Isometric Studio
2025

This typographic animation shows the range and power of the National Black Theatre identity. Along with supporting typography, NBT Visionary is designed to work dynamically across multiple scales and media to amplify a vast array of programming.
The custom type is based off of the historical reference but each letter is rigorously drawn to exacting contemporary standards to ensure readability and impact.
The custom typography emphatically declares National Black Theatre’s identity on the New York City street level, even when the logo is small in size.
The NBT Visionary custom typeface is deployed alongside Martin by Vocal Type and Atlas Grotesk by Commercial Type. The suite of typefaces is emotive and lyrical, yet also serious and efficient.
The typographic system shifts the hierarchy of the NBT Visionary and Martin fonts based on application, allowing for lyrical and dynamic range that nonetheless expresses the core of NBT’s futurist message.

Isometric partnered with the National Black Theatre to create a new brand identity and forthcoming building-wide signage program that reflects the visionary and transformative Harlem institution. We designed a custom typeface, NBT Visionary, to give visual voice to the National Black Theatre’s mission and values, expanding a wordmark drawn by designer Lori Evelyn, who adapted the typography of the theater’s original signage. The result is bold and declarative, yet nuanced and scalable, to communicate powerfully with audiences existing and new. Deploying the “sacred ancestral geometry” and custom typography of the visual identity, we are developing an immersive spatial identity for the new multi-disciplinary cultural arts facility set to open in 2026. Paired with effusive color and dynamic illustrations, the typographic identity communicates NBT’s core mission to educate, enrich, entertain, empower, and inform.

Partner
Andy Chen
Partner
Waqas Jawaid
Design Director
Maria Loes
Type Designer
Corinne Ang
Graphic Designer
Paolo Fabbri
Graphic Designer
Ingrid Schmaedecke
Graphic Designer
Jacob Lee
Graphic Designer
Junyi Shi
Architectural Designer
Abhishek Thakkar
Content Director
Kate McBride
Graphic Design Intern
Madi Ritenburgh
National Black Theatre
Sade Lythcott
National Black Theatre
Jonathan McCrory
National Black Theatre
Byron McCray
Interior Designer
Studio & Projects
Project Architect
Marvel Architects
Project Manager
Envoie Projects
Project link