Irina V. Wang is an independent designer, writer, and researcher practicing the creative work of cross-sector translation, the strategic work of systems transition, and the ethical work of forging long-term allyship.
Irina grew up Taiwanese-Floridian and moved to the UK, where she specialized in typographic print design at University of the Arts London and went on to join Pentagram, leading identity design work for culture-sector clients like London Design Festival. Alongside that, she maintained a grant-funded practice of working alongside linguists and native communities across the world to help revitalize endangered languages such as Marma and Unangam Tunuu. Recognizing that language/ environmental/ sociopolitical justice are all one demand arising from shared systemic issues, Irina pursued a Master of Industrial Design at RISD to interrogate the role of artefacts in transdisciplinary change-making—and the role of the designer in complex systems transition.
At the intersection of existential risk and structural injustice, Irina now works across a mosaic of projects spanning regenerative carbon sequestration, Indigenous futurity, stakeholder policymaking, global security architecture, and more-than-human ethics. Recent projects have involved: fabricating peacemaking objects with the United Nations; researching the limits of anthropocentric biomimicry with Hyundai; developing a portfolio of interventions for nuclear threat reduction with the Center for Complexity; art directing the launch of circular material innovation with Arc’teryx; reframing whale conservation as interspecies governance and relational finance with Dark Matter Labs; introducing a systems approach to drug information regulation with Harvard Medical School. As a Fulbright fellow in Finland, she developed participatory research tools with Arctic scientists and reindeer herders to inform environmental policymaking. In addition to presenting at academic conferences and publishing in peer-reviewed journals, Irina has spoken and written about her work on the TEDx stage and in publications such as Vox and WIRED.
Happy to collaborate and chat.
CV available upon request.
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Irina grew up Taiwanese-Floridian and moved to the UK, where she specialized in typographic print design at University of the Arts London and went on to join Pentagram, leading identity design work for culture-sector clients like London Design Festival. Alongside that, she maintained a grant-funded practice of working alongside linguists and native communities across the world to help revitalize endangered languages such as Marma and Unangam Tunuu. Recognizing that language/ environmental/ sociopolitical justice are all one demand arising from shared systemic issues, Irina pursued a Master of Industrial Design at RISD to interrogate the role of artefacts in transdisciplinary change-making—and the role of the designer in complex systems transition.
At the intersection of existential risk and structural injustice, Irina now works across a mosaic of projects spanning regenerative carbon sequestration, Indigenous futurity, stakeholder policymaking, global security architecture, and more-than-human ethics. Recent projects have involved: fabricating peacemaking objects with the United Nations; researching the limits of anthropocentric biomimicry with Hyundai; developing a portfolio of interventions for nuclear threat reduction with the Center for Complexity; art directing the launch of circular material innovation with Arc’teryx; reframing whale conservation as interspecies governance and relational finance with Dark Matter Labs; introducing a systems approach to drug information regulation with Harvard Medical School. As a Fulbright fellow in Finland, she developed participatory research tools with Arctic scientists and reindeer herders to inform environmental policymaking. In addition to presenting at academic conferences and publishing in peer-reviewed journals, Irina has spoken and written about her work on the TEDx stage and in publications such as Vox and WIRED.
Happy to collaborate and chat.
CV available upon request.
︎ ︎ ︎