TDC celebrated 75 years as an organization! And we’re feeling bright and youthful as ever.

LEADERSHIP
This year, Ksenya Samarskaya was appointed as Managing Director—the first such position of its kind in the organization’s history. Read some interviews on TDC’s re-awakening and projected direction as published in Creative Review, PRINT, and Typeroom, and the zooming out toward a greater global focus as discussed in Creative Factor and IDEA Japan. In 2022, Samarskaya worked alongside an Advisory Board of Anıl Aykan, Paul Carlos, Douglas Davis, Maria Doreuli, Manija Emran, Kimya Gandhi, Kara Gordon, John Kudos, Elaine Lopez, Saki Mafundikwa, Sol Matas, Joe Newton, Jon Key, Trisha Tan, and Chris Sergio, as well as longtime TDC Director Carol Wahler (and the One Club for Creativity staff!), reaching many new milestones together. 

GLOBAL INCLUSIVITY

• Focusing on inclusion rather than hierarchy, and all of the far-reaching places where typography lives, TDC updated its slogan to “the shape of language”
• TDC pivoted toward virtual—and global—inclusivity by moving more of our programming digital-first. We held numerous virtual salons, starting with TDC68 type design panels (one such panel is summarized in Typegeist by Nadine Chahine), Ascenders panels, and duplexing into two virtual conferences, our springtime Type Drives Culture: 75 Years, and an autumn Type Drives Culture: Ezhishin.
• Ezhishin, the first-ever conference dedicated to Native North American typography received love and support from our community and the greater public alike (read some behind-the-scenes in Alphabettes, Hyperallergic, and PRINT).
• Focusing on disparate communities and economies also brought TDC to incorporate global price parity, where all TDC competitions from the world’s 50% poorest countries get 60% off the sticker price, and another 25% of the regions receive 20% off (these are then able to be combined with TDC’s 20% Member discounts).
• TDC69 branding was for the first time designed by a designer outside of the Global West, Japanese lettering artist Ryu Mieno.
• Our exhibitions continued to travel the world—including France, Germany, Spain, and Poland in Europe; Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan in Asia; New Zealand and beyond.
  

• Renowned type designer Akira Kobayashi received the prestigious TDC Medal, awarded at the One Club Creative Hall of Fame. Read some milestones and our influence in the co-published Readymag: The Faces Behind Typefaces.
• Our flagship competition, now in its 68th year, received an additional focus on global scripts, and with it greater participation—entries were up almost 25% over the prior year, welcoming entrants from 62 different countries. And this year, TDC69 continues to listen and respond to our community with a continued expansion of regional and script expertise, alongside a dedicated Lettering discipline and jury (you have until March 3rd to enter.)
• We relaunched Ascenders—in its 3rd round, naming 25 incredibly talented winners, and celebrating them via a truly hybrid party in August.
• Participated in events: Block Party, Holiday Party, and formed new partnerships across the board.
• We helped set up typography juries for One Asia and Young Ones—spreading the love and appreciation for typography wherever anyone will let us. And, of course, we continued to publish interviews with TDC friends and members—it’s a great time to catch up and get to know them if you haven’t already.
• And, of course, we continued to publish interviews with TDC friends and members—it’s a great time to catch up and get to know them if you haven’t already.

• TDC’s two main scholarships, the Beatrice Warde scholarship for women, and the BIPOC Adé Hogue scholarship, received a record-breaking number of applications (114) for two award slots, which went to Doah Kwon and Ana Robles respectively, and were distributed along with TDC’s 8 long-standing scholarships during One Club’s Creative Week.
• And—we were excited to announce a new scholarship that will be ready for 2023, funded by Google, the Ezhishin Scholarship for Native/First Nations individuals.

All in all—an incredible year. And we’re not the only one that has been excited by all of our recent momenta—articles about TDC shot up 265% over the previous year, and our social engagement similarly witnessed an exponential rise. So don’t be left out—follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and all of our social platforms as @typedirectors, and we look forward to seeing you in 2023!