The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization and part of The One Club for Creativity, announced the Best of Discipline for professional and student entries and Judge’s Choice winners in its prestigious TDC69 Competition.

Best of Typography was awarded to Morcos Key New York for “I Want Sky”, a newsprint collection of prose, poems, and hybrid work celebrating Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazy, created for the publication Mizna.

Best of Lettering went to Principal Montréal for their 2022 branding for “Jardins de Métis”. With that year's theme of “‘adaptation”, the design features animated lettering that moves and adapts to its container and the letters surrounding it.

Universal Thirst, based in Bangalore and Reykjavík, received Best of Type Design for their psychedelic-inspired display Tamil typeface “Ilai”.

TDC69’s student entries also received Best of Discipline honors, along with a monetary prize, to the following:

The esteemed jury of 28 leading professionals from around the world also made their personal Judge’s Choice selections from among all of this year’s winners, which will appear in Typography 44: The World’s Best Typography® annual alongside a write-up on why each judge felt the work deserved special honor.

TDC69 winners were announced last month, with Morcos Key New York leading the way with five TDC69 Certificates of Typographic Excellence.  Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam, The New York Times Magazine New York, and Typotheque The Hague were awarded four wins each. 

A showcase of all TDC69 Certificate of Typographic Excellence winners can be viewed here.  

Entries were received from 77 countries this year and winners were selected from 42, both totals being the most in the organization’s 76-year history.  The top five countries for winners are the United States with 52, followed by Germany with 24, China with 23, Netherlands with 11, and Ukraine with nine. 

Previously divided into two competitions, one each for Communications Design and Typeface Design, the program is now a single competition consisting of three disciplines: Typography, Type Design, and, for the first time, Lettering.

All winners of TDC69 receive a Certificate of Typographic Excellence certifying their work is among the world’s best of the year.  Winning work will also be featured in the highly respected TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, and showcased in eight exhibitions that travel to museums, schools, and design organizations around the world. 

The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, ONE Asia Creative Awards, Type Directors Club competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, and more, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the global creative community.  Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programming under the organization’s four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality, and Creative Development.  

SEE ALL WINNERS

 

NEW YORK, April 26, 2023 — The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization, announced the winners from 42 countries in its prestigious TDC69 Competition.

Leading the way with five TDC69 Certificates of Typographic Excellence is Morcos Key New York.  The wins included “Greenwood One Hundred” on behalf of The Black Wallstreet Times, typography for Mizna, and “Wildflowers” in the Typography discipline, and “Arabic Lettering Workshop” for Minneapolis College of Art and Design and lettering for MyKali, both in Lettering.

Three entrants had four wins each.  Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam was awarded certificates for typography for the Utah Jazz, “Next Step 22” for Outsystems, “DEMO 22”, and “Be Part of More” for D&AD, all in Typography.

With four wins in Typography is The New York Times Magazine New York.  Three are for “The Health Issue”, “Grab a book. Find a nook.” and “The Secrets Issue” for the magazine, and one is for “The Games Issue” in The New York Times for Kids.

Typotheque The Hague also received four certificates, one each for “TPTQ Sans CJK”, “November South Asia”, “November Georgian” and “Lava Georgian”, all in Type Design.

They are followed by entrants with three TDC69 Certificates each.  Laura Coombs New York won two for “Cyberfeminism Index”, and one for “New York Review of Architecture”, all in Typography.  Frontline Typo Doha/Tehran picked up one in Type Design for “Zhian Typeface”, and two in Lettering: “Numerals of Injustice Daily Planner 2022”, and “Farsi Alternative Type Design Yearbook 2022”.

Type Together Prague was awarded three, all in Type Design, for “Atlante”, “Rezak”, “Portada Arabic”.  Students at Class Tao Chengdu also picked up three awards: Shiya Yuan for “Coral Typography Tool”, and ZuHeng Zhang for both “Shin-Yi Martial Art Club” and “Embryo Vinyl Album”.

Twelve entrants were awarded two certificates each: Apple Design Team Cupertino, Bleed Design Studio Oslo and Vienna, collect Stuttgart, Ek Type Mumbai, students from Hongik University Seoul, House Industries Wilmington (US), studio fnt Seoul, Studio Saber The Hague, Studio Woork Jakarta, Thinking*Room Jakarta, Universal Thirst in Bangalore and Reykjavík, and YiFei Hu Chengdu.

A showcase of all TDC69 certificate winners can be viewed here.  TDC69 Best of Discipline and Judges Choice recipients will be announced on May 16 during Creative Week.

Entries were received from 77 countries this year, the most in TDC’s 77-year history, with winners from 42.  The top five countries for winners are the United States with 52, followed by Germany with 24, China with 23, Netherlands with 11, and Ukraine with nine. 

“The TDC competition has always been a treasure trove of diverse works, and welcoming in new practitioners,” said Ksenya Samarskaya, who serves as the organization’s managing director.  “We’re thrilled that the competition is representing more countries and regions than ever before, and grateful to the judges for their thoughtful and considered — though definitely not easy — deliberations.”

Previously divided into two competitions, one each for Communications Design and Typeface Design, the program is now a single competition under TDC69, consisting of three disciplines: Type Design, Typography, and, for the first time, Lettering.

Across the three disciplines, TDC69 had native experts on the jury for writing systems spanning Arabic, Cyrillic, Han, Indic, Latin, Thai, select African scripts, and more. While the competition always accepted international and multilingual entries, last year’s addition of an expanded jury was a reflection of TDC’s commitment to have a greater number of the most appropriate experts judging designs for which they have deep knowledge.

All winners of TDC69 receive a Certificate of Typographic Excellence certifying their work is among the world’s best of the year.  Winning work will also be featured in the highly respected TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, and showcased in eight exhibitions that travel to museums, schools, and design organizations around the world. 

Lettering for the TDC69 branding campaign, with elements in both English and Japanese, was created by designer Ryu Mieno, based in Kyoto, and brought to life with animations by Federica Caso, in Madrid and Sara Mehta, in New York.  The website was developed by Eric Jacobsen, based in Brooklyn, and paired with The One Club’s entry system.

The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, ONE Asia Creative Awards, Type Directors Club competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, and more, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the global creative community.  Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programming under the organization’s four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality, and Creative Development.  

The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization and part of The One Club for Creativity, announces significant expansion in accepted work and a host of additional changes to its annual awards with today’s opening of TDC69 Annual Competition call for entries.

Previously divided into two competitions, one each for Communications Design and Typeface Design, the program is now a single competition under this year’s umbrella of TDC69, consisting of three disciplines: Type Design, Typography, and, for the first time, Lettering.

The new dedicated discipline for Lettering is for work where the letters were created or modified.  This includes contemporary lettering, traditional calligraphy, sign painting, wordmarks and custom logos, digital or analogue distortions, eccentric display typefaces, and more.  This new discipline has its own dedicated jury, made up of some of the world’s leading lettering practitioners and experts.

The Type Design discipline is for entries showcasing the design of typefaces.  New this year, it also allows for entries of any thematically applicable code or software, such as software for creating or generating type.

The third discipline, Typography, is the broadest one.  It encompasses any design or creation that uses type, lettering, or written language as a significant element, and is an expansion of what was previously the TDC Communications Design discipline. Typography includes graphic design, UI/UX, environmental design or architecture with typographic elements, film, animation and motion design, social media campaigns, new media, and anything else where typography is used.

To be eligible, work must have been produced or published in the 2022 calendar year.  Early bird deadline for entry is November 22, 2022, with entry fees increasing for the regular deadline of January 17, 2023, and final deadline on March 3, 2023.  More details can be found on the entry site.

This year’s awards competitions continues TDC’s commitment to expanding the level of diversity and representation in its juries.  This year’s juries by discipline are as follows:

Lettering 

Typography

Type Design

Across the three juries, TDC69 has native experts for writing systems spanning Arabic, Cyrillic, Indic, CJK, Thai, and select African scripts. While the competition always accepted international and multilingual entries, last year’s addition of more judges was a reflection of TDC’s commitment to have a greater number of the most appropriate experts judging designs for which they have a deep knowledge.

The TDC competition regularly receives entries from more than 60 countries.  To make TDC69 as accessible as possible on a global level, the organization is offering significant regional discounts on entry fees.  

Approximately half of the world’s countries qualify for a 60% discount, and another quarter of them receive a 20% discount, with only the most economically prosperous countries and regions paying the full entry fee.  Additional discounts are also available to TDC members and students.

Winners of TDC69 receive a Certificate of Typographic Excellence and digital seal certifying their work is among the world’s best of the year.  Winning work will also be featured in the highly respected TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, and showcased in eight exhibitions that travel to museums, schools and design organizations around the world. 

TDC69 winners will also now be part of The One Club’s prestigious Global Creative Rankings, earning points alongside winners in The One Show and ADC Annual Awards to chart the world’s leading independent creatives, ad agencies, production companies, and brands.

Led by Ksenya Samarskaya, TDC managing director, this year’s competition committee included TDC Advisory Board members Trisha Tan in New York, and Kimya Gandhi in Berlin.  The trio oversaw TDC69 branding, which stems from organic shapes and movements, and exemplifies how type can embody concepts large and small, including our connection to natural systems. 

Lettering for the TDC69 branding campaign, with elements in both English and Japanese, was created by designer Ryu Mieno, based in Kyoto, and brought to life with animations by Federica Caso, in Madrid.  The website was developed by Eric Jacobsen, based in Brooklyn, and paired with The One Club’s entry system.

“Our aim is to make the TDC competition as relevant to the greater typographic culture as possible,” said Samarskaya.  “We’re excited to accept and celebrate entries in more disciplines and styles than ever before, aligning with the fact that typography really is everywhere.  Our incredible global jury brings cultural nuance and a wide range of opinions and expertise to the competition, and will offer insights on more writing systems and regional semiotics than at any time in TDC’s 76-year history.”

Please visit the TDC69 entry site for more information and to enter this year’s competition.

The One Club for Creativity, producer of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Type Directors Club competition, TDC Ascenders, Young Guns, Young Ones student awards and more, is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the global creative community.  Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programming under the organization’s four pillars: Education, Inclusion & Diversity, Gender Equality, and Creative Development.