2026 TDC Lettering Walk
2026-05-14 13:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Paul Shaw has been leading urban lettering walks since 2005. Along with over 50 walks covering all five boroughs of New York, he has also led walks in 13 other North American cities. Paul teaches the history of type at both the School of Visual arts and Parsons School of Design. With Patricia Childers, he organizes the bi-annual Legacy of Letters tour and letterpress workshop in Italy.
New York is an endlessly fascinating city to walk around and explore, especially if you love lettering and signage. And especially if you have a knowledgeable guide to point it all out! That’s why we are happy to once again bring back a popular aspect of previous Creative Weeks: the TDC Lettering Walk, courtesy of the Type Directors Club.
Our neighborhood, 'Hell's Kitchen,' in the Forties, between 11th Avenue and the North River, was terrorized by the Gophers, Smoky Row, and other gangs who were always getting into trouble. Our gang, and there were lots more like us, would go out on raids through the neighborhood and steal anything we could move; afterwards we would meet in some cellar or back-yard, eat whatever we could swallow, sell everything else to the junk man and then shoot crap for the money. It was a great life while it lasted." That was life in Hell's Kitchen in 1925. Since the 1990s the neighborhood, now also known as Clinton, has been gentrified and the gangs are long gone. So too are the crap games. But much of the architecture remains along with its lettering. Join design historian Paul Shaw on a walk to see the surviving lettering of Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood on the west side of midtown Manhattan.
Join us on Thursday, May 14 as Paul Shaw leads a TDC TYPE WALK of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood
Starting Location: 8th Avenue & 42nd Street, NW corner
Starting Time: 1:00 PM
NOTE: Tickets are non-refundable, but can be transferred in the event of any changes.
PACKAGE TICKETS & DISCOUNTS:
Members of The One Club for Creativity and TDC are eligible for discounts across Creative Week. You can login to your account at oneclub.org to reveal discounts.
CREATIVE WEEK: Designing Zohran for New York City is part of Creative Week 2026 — a weeklong celebration of global creativity bringing together students, educators, and professionals through award shows, daily programming, portfolio reviews, an executive conference, and more.

Walk Like an Egyptienne
2026-06-04 18:30 - 20:00 | The One Club, 450 W 31st St, Floor 6, New York, NY, 10001, United States
New York magazine’s signature display type has been part of its visual DNA since Milton Glaser first chose Photo-Lettering’s interpretation of Egyptienne Bold Condensed in the 1960s. XYZ Type recently created a new, more versatile variable typeface tailored to the magazine’s entire ecosystem, addressing longstanding design challenges.
Ian Adelman, chief experience officer of Vox Media, and Thomas Alberty, design director of New York, will share the client perspective on this process, in counterpoint with the lead designer of the new typeface, Ben Kiel, partner at XYZ Type. This project provides a look into the unique ecosystem of periodical design and the process of developing a proprietary typographic solution without upsetting the strengths of a well-established brand.

Thursday, June 4
6:30 pm door / 7 pm talk
TDC Gallery
450 W 31st ST, 6th Floor

India Street Lettering: Building Missing Archives
2026-07-09 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom
The publication of her book, India Street Lettering: A Journey Through Typographic Craft & Culture, is the perfect moment for author and type designer Pooja Saxena to reflect on her decade of documenting letterforms around her home country. What began as an attempt to replace the institutional design archives she frequented during her university years in the UK has become, over the years, an anchor of her design practice. It informs her studio projects, typographic voice, and understanding of the politics of design.
In this presentation, Pooja will trace the evolution of this project, focusing on the methodologies she developed for annotating and analysing the vast number of photographs she has amassed. She will talk about her efforts to bring conversations about typography and lettering into the Indian mainstream through this work, and the ideas she is still itching to explore.

TDC72 Awards Ceremony and Exhibition
2026-07-16 18:00 - 21:30 | Theater at The Lighthouse, 58 Kent Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11222, United States
Get ready to help us celebrate the winners of the 72nd year of the Type Directors Club’s annual competition, honoring The World’s Best Typography.
The evening includes a breathtaking exhibition of the best physical work, posters, books, and packaging, plus amazing displays of type-in-motion.
The awards show is the moment we finally reveal this year’s Best of Discipline winners and Judges' Choice selections. But more than that, we are introducing our brand new Type-High Award, a first-ever trophy in Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Find out what entrants won this new level of distinction!
Doors: 6:00pm
Ceremony: 7:00– 8:30pm
Post-reception: 8:30 pm
VENUE
Theater at The Lighthouse
58 Kent Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
ABOUT THE VENUE
The Lighthouse is the first-ever creative campus & studio playground for the Creator Economy.
The campuses are designed to enable and empower career creators & creative professionals. promising to provide creators from all walks of life a place to call their own, a place to co-create, connect with one another, learn from each other, share their ideas and grow as founders of the businesses fueling creative culture.
