TDC Introduces Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards
For the first time in its nearly 80-year history, the global Type Directors Club will now present physical Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards, starting with the newly launched TDC72 competition. Previously, all TDC competition winners received a Certificate of Typographic Excellence. Called the TDC Type-High award, the physical object can now be displayed on desks and bookshelves, representing achievement of creative excellence and serving as a visual inspiration for typographers, type designers, and lettering artists. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Type-High awards and Merit certificates will be presented starting this year.
The new award was designed and named by Graham Clifford, longtime TDC collaborator, life member, and organization Chairman Emeritus. Among his primary considerations were that the award should be a statement piece suitable for display, reflect the TDC’s long and rich history, and utilize a manufacturing process that prioritizes sustainable materials to create an environmentally friendly object. The newly minted piece balances a tip of the hat with a knowing wink. It’s milled from a single piece of sustainably harvested bamboo, and rests on a plinth. The award stands a stately 7 inches (or 42 picas) tall and measures exactly 0.918 inches deep, the precise thickness of traditional foundry type. The Franklin Gothic Condensed lowercase “t” is mirrored, so that it would print correctly if used – as physical type was – to transfer ink to paper.
“The name Type-High does double duty,” said Clifford, who also designed the TDC Best of Show awards. “It signals excellence, that TDC winners represent the highest standard of typographic craft. It also roots the award in the very origins of the field: a nod to the mechanical legacy that shaped the digital future.” Adds TDC Executive Director Joe Newton. “This new direction brings a touch more personality and permanence to the annual recognition, making it feel less like an abstract accolade and more like a well-earned artifact. It’s smart. It’s solid. It belongs on your bookshelf, on your proud parents’ mantelpiece, or perfectly framed behind you in your next video call.”
The TDC competition has a seven-plus decade history of recognizing creative excellence, as determined by the highly qualified expertise of its judges. Introduction of the Type-High awards allows the organization to elevate meaningful differences in quality and expertise: all winners are great, some of them are greater. TDC72, the latest iteration of TDC’s annual competition, consists of three disciplines: Communication Design, Lettering, and Type Design. Both digital and physical entries are now being accepted, details on each are available on the entry website.
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TDC72 Branding by Morcos Key
Branding for this year’s competition, created by Morcos Key, New York, celebrates the diversity of type and the many geographies, voices, and approaches it offers.
The visual system is built on a 13×13 grid, where each cell can expand, contract, or shift in transition. This shared structure generates letterforms across a spectrum of styles – from high-contrast serif to reverse-contrast sans to blackletter – mirroring the diversity of voices that TDC champions.
The grid itself becomes alive, embodying the tension between restraint and expression that defines the craft of type design.
The branding features custom animated type, as well as Logic Monoscript typeface by MCKL Type Foundry, and ITC Franklin – the classic TDC branding typeface – by Morris Fuller Benton, Monotype, both provided via the Adobe Type platform.
Reflecting on the competition, last year’s TDC71 Type Design Jury President Sahar Afshar, type designer and founding partner at Dogray Type Foundry in London, called it a testament to the vitality of typography – not as a static discipline, but as a living conversation between form, function, and cultural moment. “Every year, a diverse range of entries confronts us with bold experiments, meticulous refinements, and everything in between, each piece speaking in its own distinct voice,” said Afshar. “Typography, Lettering, and Type Design are not just about shapes on a page, but about intention, context, and the unseen labor behind every curve. The esteemed panel of judges perform a meticulous evaluation of each entry, and recognition is never given lightly.”
CREDITS:
Client: Type Directors Club for TDC72 competition
Agency: Morcos Key, New York
Custom type animation by Morcos Key
Logic Monoscript by MCKL Type Foundry
ITC Franklin by Morris Fuller Benton, Monotype
