Occasional Press is delighted to announce the appointment of Liyang Zha as Designer-in-Residence for the 2025–2026 academic year. A designer, design educator and 2024 MDes graduate, Liyang brings a critical and exploratory approach to type and publication design. His practice spans print and digital media, public engagement, and design education, with a focus on multilingual and multiscriptural design, type design, environmental graphics, visual identity, and data visualization.

The new Designer-in-Residence program at Occasional Press provides a platform for emerging designers to critically reflect on their work, pursue research-driven inquiry, and contribute meaningfully to the evolving discourse around communication design and publishing. During his residency, Liyang will work through the Press on a range of initiatives which may including exhibitions, publications, and public programming such as workshops, activities aimed at deepening the intellectual and cultural impact of our work.

Liyang’s research explores language and scriptural equity through type and typography, as well as experimental type design using unconventional materials and technologies. His interests include multiscriptural type design for digital and print media, visual identity systems for cross-cultural organizations, and environmental graphics such as wayfinding systems.

This appointment reflects Occasional Press’s ongoing commitment to fostering exploratory design practices and supporting the next generation of creative thinkers. Liyang’s residency will build on his existing research while catalyzing new modes of dissemination and dialogue within the design community.