About

Isabel Meirelles
Professor, Faculty of Design
OCAD University, Toronto, Canada

Isabel Meirelles is a designer and educator whose intellectual curiosity lies in the relationships between visual thinking and visual representation. She is a Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada. Prior to her current academic appointment that began in January 2015, Meirelles taught undergraduate and graduate studio and seminar communication design courses at Northeastern University, Boston (2003–2014).

Isabel’s research focuses on the theoretical and experimental examination of the fundamentals underlying how information is structured, represented, and communicated in different media. Meirelles is the author of “Design for Information: An introduction to the histories, theories, and best practices behind effective information visualizations” (Rockport Publishers, 2013).

Isabel studied Architecture and Urban Design at Faculdade de Belas Artes in São Paulo, Brazil. She received two master’s degrees, one in history and theory of architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, and the other in communication design from Dynamic Media Institute, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston.

Isabel’s professional experience includes architecture, art, and communication design. She has held positions in São Paulo including chairperson of the Art Education & Public Affairs Department at the MaSP–Museum of Art of São Paulo, the principal art museum in Brazil, and senior design positions at major publishing companies, including one of the largest media holdings in Latin America, Editora Abril. In Boston, Isabel has continued a small design practice that focuses mainly on projects for cultural and nonprofit institutions.

Meirelles is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences dealing with information design, motion graphics, and design education. She co-chairs the Arts Humanities and Complex Networks Leonardo symposium, a parallel event to NetSci–International School and Conference on Network Science. Isabel has published articles in a variety of publications, including Visible Language journal and several international conference proceedings, like ACM-SIGGRAPH and the International Information Design Conference in Brazil. She frequently collaborates with colleagues in the sciences and the humanities in interdisciplinary projects involving visualization of information.


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