The The Architectural League of New York presents its annual Prize for Young Architects + Designers, a program that highlights emerging voices and experimental practices within the field. The 2023 theme, Uncomfortable, called for a visual identity that could reflect tension, disruption, and the act of challenging convention.
The challenge was to create a system that could embody this idea of discomfort while remaining flexible across digital and environmental applications. The identity needed to feel dynamic and slightly unsettled—pushing against traditional expectations of clarity and order.
This concept is expressed through a typographic system that fragments and reconfigures the word “uncomfortable,” scattering letterforms across space to create unexpected compositions. Applied across motion and large-scale installations, the system emphasizes instability and movement, reinforcing the theme by making the viewer navigate and reconstruct meaning.
Project Credits
Designed at Pentagram by
Partner, Michael Bierut
Associate Partner, Britt Cobb
Designer, Sakinah Bell
Partner, Michael Bierut
Associate Partner, Britt Cobb
Designer, Sakinah Bell