x-change is an annual publication of student work from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Architecture. Inaugurated in 2017, each year’s catalog was previously published with a unique design and format. After being reimagined in 2025, we were asked to develop a standardized identity that could be implemented going forward.

In its latest iteration, x-change seeks to find patterns and synergies across the school’s programs and concerns. To reflect this, we conceived of a cover overlaying type and student work with an abstracted, dotted X shape die cut into the substrate to reveal the contrastingly colored page below. Exposed binding offers a glimpse of the catalog contents, further viusalizing the idea of creative cross pollination.

Each section in the 400-page catalog is distinguished with a unique color. They open with a lively typographic spread set in Emomania, a typeface by Ayasha Khan that marries chunky, rounded letterforms with oversized counters.

This type is paired with a system of dotted lines and arrows that impart a sense of movement and play. They also nod to architectural plans, in which dotted lines establish axes, centers, or symmetry.

The publication offers a comprehensive collection of work from first-year to Ph.D. A highly flexible template design—with margins that flex depending on content length—accommodates a wide range of images and texts.

The catalog was printed on extra thin paper stock, allowing content to show through from one page to the next in order to underscore the programs’ influence on one another while making the architecture of the publication grid visible.

In addition to featured student work, the publication includes an extensive listing of school programming, news, awards, and other information capturing the life of the school and its students and faculty broken down across a similarly templatized yet highly flexible back of book.

Designed with Jordi Ng
Edited by Tuliza Sindi & Meredith Marsh
Printed by KOPA