The World’s Best Typography 47

Content

Introduction 2 Interviews 6 The World‘s Best Typography 18 – Communcation Design 208 Lettering 272 Type Design 298 Young Ones 328 Index 362

Typography 47

JOE NEWTON TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

For over seven decades, The Type Directors Club Competition has celebrated 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, painstaking refinements, and everything in between, each piece speaking in its own distinct voice. We are proud, in this book, to showcase the best of the best of this year’s entries. Out of nearly 1500 submissions from 68 countries, 281 cities, and more than 30 writing systems, our expert juries selected the 220 greatest projects. The work assembled in these pages has reached the top through passion, vision, innovation, and sometimes sheer audacity. This book, the culmination of a year’s work for us, often represents a career’s worth of discipline, craft, and exploration by each award winner. And it is their particular implementation of TYPE that raised their entries above countless otherwise impressive designs. This TDC annual has new reasons to celebrate. For the first time, we are presenting the TDC Type-High Awards to highlight those entries that best embody this typographic dialog. From the ever-desirable TDC Certificate of Merit to the coveted Best of Discipline, each winning entry is an outstanding example of typographic craft. The newly minted Type-High award seeks to further differentiate the qualities that make winning work stand out. The TDC Type-High Awards Certificate of Merit Our classic award for outstanding work that deserves recognition. Type-High Bronze Distinctive and well-executed. Strong thinking with clear value.

Type-High Silver Innovative and impactful. Strong ideas with high-level craft that advance the discipline. Type-High Gold Exceptional. Boundary-pushing. The kind of work that becomes a reference point for years.

Best of Discipline All the above qualities of craft and the power to shape the future of the discipline.

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Typography has been described as the shape of language. It can communicate, clarify, and direct. It creates community and empowers culture. It can speak in a singular voice, yet speak to many. In her Jury President’s statement (pg. 211), Lisa Smith observes that “... the most rewarding work emerges when type is considered not as a finishing touch, but as a foundational part of the idea.” Truly powerful type is never an afterthought. It is a partner and a collaborator, and in the case of the book you now hold, type is the hero that focuses the objective gaze and drives the message home. “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 performs a meticulous evaluation of each entry, and recognition is never given lightly. The submitted work is debated, admired, and sometimes fiercely defended—because it matters. To emerge on top from such a rigorous process is the highest compliment we can offer.” —SAHAR AFSHAR, Dogray Type Foundry, TDC Board Member, talking about the judging process. We’ve done our work, and now it’s your turn to review, debate, and admire. As you survey this collection and tap into these ongoing typographic dialogues, we hope it inspires you in your own typographic explorations.

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GRIFFIN Mc M c CABE TDC PROGRAM MANAGER

The Annual as a Field Guide In its 47th year of production, The Type Directors Club Annual has become a standard of typographic design defined by the world’s leading creatives— TDC72 discipline jurors—visionaries from all walks of life—who were relentless in their pursuit to decide The World’s Best Typography. The winning work that made its way onto these pages underwent an intensive, thorough evaluation by these professionals. Hours and days were put into group discussions. Now, we present the work for your interpretation. Formulate your own conclusion. The front of the book is purely visual, followed by the text in the back of the book—the voices behind the work, the jury, and design perspectives. There is no right or wrong way to experience the process or the work itself. We hope you find this book a creative and strategic companion as you continue to push the culture of innovation and discover enlightened new ways for all of us to communicate. See ya next year. —Griff

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ABOUT THE TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB (TDC)

The TDC celebrates and amplifies the undeniable power of typography. We are a global community united by the shared belief that type drives culture and culture drives type. Established in 1946, today the TDC curates a calendar around three core initiatives: building a community through public events and platforms, supporting the growth of students and early-career professionals, and recognizing excellence in typography, lettering and type design across the world. To learn more about the Club, visit us at tdc.org EXPLORE MORE: This book is formatted with all the imagery up front and all the credit information in the back. At the bottom of each page, you’ll see a page number, then an arrow and another page number(s) which indicates the location of the credits for each piece. Investigate further by following the QR codes to the designer’s webpage or social media. Many pieces contain motion graphics that can be printed. So don’t miss out! Happy exploring! Visit tdc.org Winner’s Archive to find more images and motion graphics for each of the entries.

The Type Directors Club trophies for the Type-High Gold, Type-High Silver and Type-High Bronze awards.

Interviews

Essays

TDC

A

Momochidori: Rethinking what “new” means in type design

B

Glyphs: What should type design software make possible?

C

205TF: What went into the machine and came out as the typeface Milling

A

Typography 47

Momochidori: Rethinking what “new” means in type design Interview with Ryoko Nishizuka, Principal Type Designer at Adobe Japan and recipient of the TDC72 Type Design Best of Discipline award. Conducted by Shoko Mugikura, typographer and type designer at Just Another Foundry (Germany/Japan), on 20 June 2026. Japanese typography has long worked within a deceptively simple framework: the square. Since metal type was introduced in the late nineteenth century, the square has provided a common space for Japan’s complex writing system, bringing together multiple scripts and horizontal and vertical writing. But what happens when we step outside it? ● With Momochidori, Ryoko Nishizuka took up that challenge. Drawing on the freedom and warmth of postwar Japan’s hand-drawn lettering, she combines a nostalgic character with the possibilities of variable-font technology, allowing Japanese characters to expand and contract horizontally and vertically. The result is playful without being too cute, and nostalgic without simply looking old-fashioned. ● In the following conversation, Ryoko Nishizuka and Shoko Mugikura discuss the making of Momochidori, from childhood picture books and calligraphy to the challenge of making Japanese type less square—and the pleasure of spotting it “in the wild.” Shoko Mugikura: First of all, congratulations on the TDC award. The first time I saw Momochidori, I remember feeling a real sense of excitement—as if something genuinely new had appeared. At the same time, there was this unexpected feeling of familiarity, almost as if I was saying, “Oh, there you are.” It seemed to me that we now have another voice to speak Japanese. This kind of letterform used to be part of our visual landscape, yet over the past few decades it has all but disappeared. What I find so compelling about Momochidori, though, is that it has a distinct flavor and warmth, while also being thoroughly usable and adaptable. ● I’d love to spend some time today talking about Momochidori and your work and the thinking behind it.

How Momochidori Began The original idea, as I understand it, came from a set of condensed and extended kana that were prototyped around fifteen years ago.

Ryoko Nishizuka: Yes, that’s right. A lot of the inspiration came from charming hand-drawn lettering from the Showa era—the kind you would see on picture book covers. ● These characters have a greater sense of freedom because they were drawn by hand and weren’t bound by the square format. I started by developing hiragana based on those condensed and extended handwritten letterforms, and then gradually refined them through feedback from friends who are book designers, using prototypes in real design projects. And when there were requests, I would also go on to develop kanji. In Adobe’s promotional images, I noticed a number of signboard-inspired designs, but what it immediately reminded me of was the library I went to as a child. Specifically, the lettering on the covers of Erich Kästner’s books in the Iwanami Junior Library series, such as “Lisa and Lottie” (“Das doppelte Lottchen”) and “Dot and Anton” (“Pünktchen und Anton”). That reference is actually very close to what I had in mind. It includes things like the title lettering in Satoshi Kako’s picture books, as well as hand-drawn lettering used in well-made children’s books. A friend of mine who is a book designer once said, “Typefaces that try to be cute often go too far, while those that avoid it altogether become too serious—it’s surprisingly hard to find a font that works well in picture books.” When I created an early kana typeface that eventually became the starting point for Momochidori and showed it to them, they responded very strongly to that quality. So your association with a “childhood library” is, I would say, exactly right. During the development of Momochidori, did any feedback from your book designer friends surprise you? In Japanese digital fonts, horizontally or vertically condensed forms were almost non-existent, so a friend told me that at first she felt a bit unsure about how to set the type. I was surprised to hear that even an experienced designer found non-square character forms somewhat

Typography 47

difficult to handle. But once they became used to it, it opened up new possibilities in expression. With variable font technology, things that were difficult become possible—for example, fitting a title onto a book spine. I hear people talk about how useful that is in practice.

Inside the Design Process I had the chance to see sketches of the original hiragana— the early structural studies. Looking at the evolution from those originals to the final version, I noticed changes such as “い” and “て” becoming taller, and the center of gravity of “そ” and “も” shifting lower. Were these kinds of adjustments driven by the constraints of Japanese typography, such as multi-script design and the need to accommodate both vertical and horizontal composition? Yes, very much so. When you design kana, you naturally begin with sketches of “あいうえお.” That is, of course, an essential starting point. But type only really comes alive once it is set into actual text. Once you begin working with it in context, you start noticing subtle things—“it feels a little lacking in personality,” or “it seems slightly too small.” From there, you gradually adjust and refine as you go. Kana plays a very important role in Japanese typography, and its visual impact is quite strong. Because of that, I kept refining the kana right up to the very end of the process. Since kana makes up such a large part of written Japanese, it really defines the overall impression of a typeface. Momochidori’s kana has a sense of playfulness and charm, but what stands out is how carefully it avoids becoming overly sweet. Yes, that’s exactly it. If you exaggerate the curves, the result quickly becomes more pop-like and overtly cute. But extended proportions already carry inherent softness and charm, so I kept the curves restrained and didn’t open the counters too much. That balance is one of the key points of

Momochidori. If it becomes too cute, it can feel a bit cheap in tone, so I was consciously aiming for a more classic, grounded character. The hiragana and katakana in Momochidori have a gentle upward-right rhythm that I really like. I’m especially fond of the katakana—I sometimes set texts with a lot of katakana in Momochidori and just find myself admiring them. At the same time, kanji remain perfectly level. The balance is beautifully resolved, so this isn’t a criticism at all, but I’m simply curious: why weren’t the kanji also given an upward-right slant? It is possible to give them an upward-right slant, but if you do, the type suddenly takes on a much stronger “display” or headline character, which immediately limits how it can be used. Once you lose that sense of “ordinariness,” it becomes harder to use in running text. I am always conscious of what a typeface is expected to do. It is true that introducing that slant takes additional work, but more than that, it would significantly narrow its range of applications. I can imagine that if kanji were also given an upward-right slant, the overall impression might become a little “too much,” so to speak. That’s why I kept the kanji in a more orthodox form, to preserve versatility. Kanji, hiragana, and katakana are all quite different in structure, so they don’t necessarily need to follow the same logic in order to work together harmoniously. ● If you take a more extreme example, in manga typography it is quite common to mix styles—for instance, kanji in a Sans style and kana in Mincho*. Yet most readers will go through an entire book without ever noticing that different typefaces are being used. From a designer’s perspective, though, I understand how those differences in logic can suddenly become quite striking. Even Mincho, which is arguably the most widely used typeface in Japan, already has quite different formal principles for kanji and hiragana. *The standard serif style in Japanese typography.

CD

Communication Design

01

SPATIAL FESTIVAL 2025

🏆�

BEST OF DISCIPLINE, GOLD, 2 × SILVER

19

214, 221, 228 CD

SILVER

DEMO 2025—DESIGN IN MOTION FESTIVAL

22

216 CD

INSIDE THE COLLAPSE OF THE F.D.A.

BRONZE + GOLD

23

217, 255 CD

2 × MERIT

CABF FOURTH EDITION BRANDING

54

237, 249 CD

DELUGE

MERIT

55

237 CD

BRONZE

THE TELEGRAPH MAGAZINE SIGHT

82

256 CD

ALPHABETICAL PLAYGROUND

BRONZE

83

256 CD

MERIT

MOLECULAR TYPOGRAPHY LABORATORY

100

264 CD

BIOGRAPHY OF HUA WENYI

SILVER

101

257 CD

MERIT

VIDEO AFTER VIDEO: THE CRITICAL MEDIA OF CAMP

104

268 CD

CONCERT SEASON 2025/26 – A NEW CHAPTER

BRONZE

105

270 CD

Lettering

02

LT

CARMEN: LA LOW RIDER

BRONZE

109

280 LT

MERIT

HERITAGE NOW FESTIVAL—NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN

122

289 LT

FYSIKA FYSIKA

MERIT

123

288 LT

TD

Type Design

03

VW BESPOKE ARABIC TYPEFACE

SILVER

137

308 TD

MERIT

CASSIS

156

316 TD

COFO SANS ARABIC

MERIT

157

317 TD

MERIT

POLTIK

162

320 TD

REFINED SONG FAMILY

MERIT

163

320 TD

Young Ones

04

YO

GALLERY OF DECAY

🏆🥇

FIRST PLACE WINNER, GOLD

175

330 YO

ECHO MUSIC PARTY

SECOND PLACE WINNER, GOLD

🏆🥈

176

331 YO

THIRD PLACE WINNER, GOLD, MERIT

332, 357 YO

177

🏆🥉 BEADS

BRONZE

UNSTANDERING

338 YO

SILVER

DIALECTICS OF CONTRADICTION

178

334 YO

{ UNSEEN } “UNSPOKEN”

SILVER

179

333 YO

MERIT

BASE UNIT BOOKS

348 YO

SILVER

CUNEIMO DISPLAY

190

353 YO

RUNNING LETTERS

MERIT

191

358 YO

CD

Communication Design

01

Best of Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Merit

18 Judges

1 7 16 16 59

Typography 47—Communication Design

TDC 72 COMMUNICATION DESIGN JURY

LISA SMITH

ALEX CENTER

CAT HOW

CHRIS NOTT

FABIOLA MEJÍA

FELIPE ROCHA

JEREMY MICKEL

JOAO PAZ

JOHANNA ROCA

MARGOT LÉVÊQUE

MAX OTTIGNON

PARASTO BACKMAN

PAULINA REYES

RAPHA ABREU

STUART RADFORD

TODD SIMMONS

TOM CRABTREE

VERÒNICA FUERTE

Typography 47—Communication Design

TDC 72 COMMUNICATION DESIGN JURY JURY PRESIDENT LISA SMITH

● Type has been central to my work since the start of my career, from books including “Bruce Gilden’s A Beautiful Catastrophe” and “the Dries Van Noten 50th Anniversary” publication to collaborations with typographers and type foundries on brands such as Chobani, Burger King, Walmart, and Mozilla. Across these projects, typography has been more than a graphic element—it has shaped each brand’s distinctive voice and visual language from the outset. ● Judging TDC was especially rewarding because of the breadth of work from around the world. It was an honor to serve alongside Rapha Abreu, Parasto Backman, Alex Center, Tom Crabtree, Cat How, Margot Lévêque, Fabiola Mejía, Jeremy Mickel, Chris Nott, Max Ottignon, João Paz, Stuart Radford, Johanna Roca, Felipe Rocha, Verònica Fuerte, Todd Simmons, and Paulina Reyes. Our conversations extended beyond letterforms, reflecting typography’s expanding role across branding, publishing, digital experiences, and beyond. ● It was inspiring to spend time with a group so committed to craft while embracing new perspectives and the future of typography. We hope you find this award-winning collection every bit as envy-inducing as we did.

global brands including vitaminwater and smartwater. ● At CENTER, he has worked with Apple, New Balance, Kin Euphorics, and Liquid Death, while creating brands including United Sodas, Ayoh!, and Bero. He teaches in SVA’s Masters in Branding program, serves on the Art Directors Club board, and cohosts the podcast “Front & Center.” He enjoys reality TV, beach time with his wife Jackie, and cheering for the Knicks and Mets. CAT HOW ● How&How branding agency: Founder, CEO & ECD ● Venice ● Cat How is Founder, CEO, and Executive Creative Director of How&How, a global branding agency with offices in London and LA. A former award-winning arts journalist and design critic, she studied at Central Saint Martins before founding How&How in 2020. She launched the pro-bono climate initiative GetSet, female leadership mentorship program GetEven, and mentors for D&AD Shift, UN Women, Adobe, and Women in Tech. Cat has judged design awards and spoken globally on entrepreneurship, equality, and design. She has received multiple leadership awards (2023–2025), and How&How was named to WOW Company’s Most Admired Agencies list. CHRIS NOTT ● Studio DRAMA: Co-founder & Type Director ● London

● Chris Nott is the Co-Founder, Creative and Type Director of Studio DRAMA. He holds a Master of Arts in Visual Communication from the Royal College of Art. ● Studio DRAMA combines the crafted storytelling of a brand design agency with the technical rigour of a type foundry. The studio has created custom typefaces and global design LISA SMITH systems for some of the world’s most recognisable brands, ● Uncommon Creative Studio: Global Chief including Coca-Cola, Condé Nast, Mars, New Balance, Design Officer ● New York, NY NFL and General Mills. ● DRAMA’s mission is to help brands achieve maximum impact by harnessing the power, ● With over two decades shaping some of the world’s most recognized brands, Lisa embeds design at the core of clarity and distinctiveness of typography. business—from identity and communications to immersive brand worlds. ● Previously Global ECD at JKR and ECD at FABIOLA MEJÍA ● SUPERCONTINENTE: Creative Director, Type Designer Chobani, she has led transformative rebrands, redefining how global brands show up in culture. ● A former Cannes and Founder ● Costa Rica Lions and D&AD Jury President, and current President of the Board of Trustees at D&AD, Lisa continues to influence ● Fabiola Mejía is a type design director from Costa Rica. She attended Type@Cooper in NYC and KABK TypeMedia the future of creative leadership worldwide. in The Hague. She runs SUPERCONTINENTE, an exploration platform oscillating between type design and interALEX CENTER disciplinary collaboration. Fabiola is also part of Dinamo ● CENTER: Founder/Creative Director ● Brooklyn Typefaces’ core team. ● Alex Center is a Brooklyn-based designer and founder of CENTER, an award-winning branding studio creating bold, culturally relevant brands. Before founding CENTER, he spent nearly a decade at The Coca-Cola Company, shaping

Typography 47—Communication Design

KUNSTHALLE BASEL SILVER ● PRINT OR DIGITAL: BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM

Judge’s Choice Alex Center ● Kunsthalle Basel’s identity is the kind of branding that makes me insanely jealous, my highest form of flattery. It’s so good that I don’t just want to visit the museum, I want to wear the logo on a hat, a sweatshirt, or a tote bag. The ultimate sign of success. When a brand becomes something people want to belong to, not just buy from or visit, you know you’ve created something special. ● The KB monogram stretches, shifts, and transforms in endlessly surprising ways, yet it never loses its distinctiveness. It has all the intellectual rigor you’d expect from a world-class art institution, but none of the self-seriousness. It’s confident, playful, and just overall cool as hell. The branding alone would make me go out of my way to visit the museum, and there aren’t many institutional identities you can say that about.

p. 32, 33

● Primary Credit: PORTO ROCHA / Brooklyn ● Credits: noncitizen, Charles Carlos, Claren Walker, David Fiz, Etienne Murphy, Felipe Rocha, Gabriela Carnabuci, Giovana Yahiro, Hamilton Yu, Josh Krauth-Harding, Latoya Breu, Leo Porto, Luciana Thiesen, Marcos Rodrigues, Natalee Ranii-Dropcho, Natalie Kilic, Pedro Veneziano, Thales Muniz ● Social: @porto_rocha ● URL: portorocha.com ● Font Name: KB Rhymes (Custom) ● Type Foundry: Maxitype ● Type Design: Jakub Samek ● Client: Kunsthalle Basel ● For Kunsthalle Basel, we developed a typographic brand identity system that balances institutional clarity with avant-garde flexibility. At its core is a bold KB monogram— a custom typographic gesture merging K and B into a single, iconic form. Functioning as both stamp and adaptive device, it can stretch, compress, and rotate, allowing the identity to respond dynamically across applications. ● Typography shapes the institution’s voice. In collaboration with Swiss foundry Maxitype, we created KB Rhymes, a customized humanist serif for headlines that feels intelligent yet welcoming. Paired with Suisse International for body copy, the system achieves clarity, warmth, and authority. ● A dual color approach, neutral alongside artwork, vibrant in type-led compositions, expands expressive range. Designed for print and digital touchpoints alike, the system invites remixing and collaboration, ensuring a structured yet open identity that evolves with the artists and ideas it supports.

Typography 47—Communication Design

ZHAOPING GENERAL MOUNTAIN SILVER ● PRINT OR DIGITAL: BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEM

Judge’s Choice Stuart Radford ● Zhaoping General Mountain Tea stopped me in my tracks. The brilliance lies in a simple but powerful observation: Chinese characters that echo the landscape itself, transforming language into tea fields. It’s an idea that feels surprising yet apt, executed with remarkable economy. The material choices enrich the identity throughout, but it’s the embroidery that elevates the work—its texture mirroring the contours of the terrain. A beautiful piece of design where concept and craft are inseparable.

● Primary Credit: L3branding / Beijing ● Credits: Haodong Li, Gaoda Shen, Lan Wang, Guanru Li, Dong Zheng, Yankun Lyu, Wanyin Zhang, Jiaxin He ● Social: Rednote: 3FOsIKho8Lj ● URL: l3branding.com ● Font Name: Custom Typeface ● Type Design: Guanru Li, Gaoda Shen ● Client: General Mountain ● This rebranding project for the tea brand Zhaoping General Mountain transforms the Chinese character “昭” (Zhao) into the primary visual identity. The character’s structure is deconstructed to form an elegant seal, whose negative space naturally evokes the imagery of cascading tea terraces. This inspired a complete, custom “tea field letterpress” typographic system, where the undulating strokes mimic the landscape, ensuring every brand communication is inherently tied to its origin. ● The strategy was to leverage the pictographic nature of the Chinese writing system to create a distinctive and culturally profound brand asset. This typography-driven approach elevated the brand from a local product to a recognizable ambassador for Zhaoping tea, communicating quality and heritage with sophistication. The custom typeface is consistently applied across all touch points, from packaging to digital media, creating a cohesive and ownable brand language that significantly enhanced brand recognition and market performance.

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Typography 47—Communication Design

THE 13TH POSTER DESIGN COMPETITION OF FAC BRONZE ● PRINT: POSTER

Judge’s Choice Cat How ● What is striking about this poster is the texture … and the tension. That dense web of connective lines between the Chinese and English characters isn’t decoration—it’s the whole argument made visible. Language as infrastructure. Meaning as something built, not just stated. ● The bilingual composition could so easily have been a gimmick: a nod to multiculturalism that flatters itself. Instead, it earns it. Those lines physically pop off the poster and do real work: they make you feel the effort of translation, the impossible closeness and distance between two writing systems that share a wall but not a grammar. ● And then the collision with those stark black and silver blocks. Hard geometry meeting intricate texture—which is kinda unsettling. The contrast isn’t decorative either, it creates genuine spatial tension. Your eye doesn’t know where to rest, and that discomfort is the point. ● This is what the best visual identity work does: it doesn’t explain itself, it performs itself. The message and the form are the same thing. There’s no gap between concept and execution. ● Which is rare. Most posters have a concept. This one is the concept.

p. 69

● Primary Credit: Fine Arts College, Shanghai Normal University ● Secondary Credit: Shanghai Toneking Digital Printing Co, Ltd. / Shanghai ● Credits: Zhengshan Rao / Shanghai, Yiming Zhang / Shanghai, Jun Shen / Shanghai ● Font Name: FZZJ-MaoHFGDKSJW, Connoisseurs ● Type Foundry: FounderType, Thirtypath Studio ● Type Design: Haifei Mao, Jun Herjuna ● Client: Fine Arts College, Shanghai Normal University ● The poster’s core visual element features a bilingual (Chinese-English) typographic composition. Countless delicate lines intricately connect the Chinese and English characters, forming a unique visual texture surface. This textured surface dynamically overlaps and interlocks with the background’s stark blocks of black, silver, and deep gray, creating an intriguing visual space. This approach conveys that the poster design not only delivers its message with precision but also manifests as an intense visual experience—it is a powerful visual manifesto and an unexpected delight.

Typography 47—Communication Design

SNAKEY TRICK BRONZE

CABF FOURTH EDITION POSTER MERIT

● PRINT: PACKAGING DESIGN

● PRINT: POSTER

● Primary Credit: The Jumping Buddha / Shanghai ● Secondary Credit: Peiping Machine / Beijing ● Credits: Dorothy Yebeini Wang, Roger Tientse Lo, Yihe Wang, Yixin Shen ● Social: @the_ jumping_buddha ● Font Name: Custom lettering for logotype and headline typography (both Chinese and English) ● Lettering: Dorothy Yebeini Wang, Roger Tientse Lo, Yihe Wang ● Client: Peiping Machine

● Primary Credit: Ntsal / Cairo ● Secondary Credit: Cairo Art Book Fair / Cairo ● Credits: Nardine Shenouda / Cairo, Valerie Arif / Cairo, Zeina Ahmed Taha / Cairo, Habiba Talaat / Cairo, Natalie Godoloshian / Cairo ● Social: @ntsalcairo ● URL: ntsal.com/design ● Font Name: Custom Lettering for the Arabic Edition Number ● Lettering: Zeina Ahmad Taha ● Client: Cairo Art Book Fair

● Inspired by the classic Shaw Brothers kung fu film Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, this work fuses the visual language of traditional martial arts manuals with contemporary illustration, transforming the spirit and form of kung fu into a modern design aesthetic. ● The typography draws from the fluid strokes of calligraphy—graceful yet powerful—embodying the beauty of “softness overcoming strength.” Each stroke concludes with a serpent-like flourish, expressing agility, resilience, and the flowing rhythm of Eastern energy. ● The design unfolds in four color palettes, each representing a distinct flavor. Every variation takes its foundation from the film’s iconic opening serpent stance, paying homage to the original while infusing new visual vitality. ● Just as every movement in a martial arts manual bears its own name, each flavor carries a unique title and personality. Through the harmony of color, typography, and composition, the series channels vigor, spirit, and life—ushering in a new year brimming with energy and momentum.

● Tactility and interactivity form the foundation of this edition’s visual identity. The graphic language of the fourth Cairo Art Book Fair (CABF) invites visitors into a sensory exploration of paper and print—materials that define the essence of art book fairs. Rather than presenting a fixed design, the CABF 2025 branding positions itself as an invitation, centering design as a collective and inclusive practice that thrives on participation. ● The poster itself remains intentionally incomplete, awaiting the creative contributions of attendees to reach its full expression. This participatory approach reflects a broader belief: that design is not a solitary act, but a shared experience shaped by the hands and imagination of its audience. By inviting fairgoers to actively co-create the visual identity, the branding becomes a living, evolving artifact, one that celebrates both the materiality of print and the collaborative spirit of Cairo’s creative community.

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Typography 47—Communication Design

CONCERT SEASON 2025/26 – A NEW CHAPTER BRONZE ● OTHER

Judges’ Choice Todd Simmons ● I’m always drawn to fewer moves doing the most work. I like the restraint of using only one primary type size, establishing a grid, then staying within that sandbox. It helps the variability be more visible.

Jeremy Mickel ● How much room is there for creativity within constraints? What I love about this identity is how expressive it becomes with so few variables. These posters are built from a single typeface, at a single size, in a single color, set in all caps and mirrored vertically. Yet the results are remarkably rich—evocative of symphonic music without relying on animation or visual effects. The colored-paper logic adds another layer of ingenuity. The system feels timeless and resourceful, equally imaginable as Letraset compositions assembled by hand or as designs created on a computer today.

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● Primary Credit: Neue Gestaltung / Berlin ● Credits: Johanna Zech / Berlin, Nina Odzinieks / Berlin, Pit Stenkhoff / Berlin ● Social: @neuegestaltung ● URL: neuegestaltung.de ● Font Name: Suisse Works, Suisse Int’l ● Type Foundry: Swiss Typefaces ● Type Design: Ian Party ● Client: Staatstheater Mainz ● Our visual concept for the season’s concerts translates musical change into a clear, contemporary design language applied consistently across brochures, posters, postcards, and programs. Precise typographic structures and bold, rhythmic compositions echo the energy and tension of symphonic music. Repeating patterns, arranged with orchestral precision, create a sense of movement that feels almost audible. Vibrant color fields add depth and dynamism, making musical intensity visually tangible. The design balances continuity and renewal within a unified visual system. ● Music is translated into typographic compositions: rhythmic letterforms form abstract structures that echo orchestral movement. Bold color fields amplify this rhythm. Precision, symmetry, and variation ensure coherence across media, creating a strong seasonal identity beyond conventional concert communication.

Typography 47—Communication Design

HYUNDAI CARDS MERIT

OBJET TYPE MERIT

● OTHER

● OTHER

● Primary Credit: SMLXL / New York ● Secondary Credit: Hyundai Cards / Seoul, South Korea ● Social: @smlxl.company ● URL: smlxl.company ● Font Name: Youandi New (Custom Typeface) ● Type Foundry: Aad van Dommelen ● Type Design: Aad van Dommelen ● Client: Hyundai Cards

● Primary Credit: Nutype / Seoul ● Secondary Credit: Slorence / Seoul ● Credits: Yeoreum Kim / Seoul, Hyoin Jeong / Seoul, Jinhee Kim / Seoul, Seulki Kim / Seoul, Suhyun Lee / Seoul, Zeeun Kim / Seoul ● Social: @nutype.info ● Font Name: NU Amorphic, NU Colloco, NU Plumb ● Type Foundry: Nutype ● Type Design: Seulki Kim, Jinhee Kim, Suhyun Lee

● Visual identity for Hyundai Card’s new credit card line: X-Cut and X-Save. ● Targeted at different segments within a young and active audience, each of the six cards needed to express a distinct character while remaining part of a cohesive system. The brief required the names X-Cut and X-Save to remain in the foreground, ensuring their prominence across all applications. ● The proposal is built as a purely typographic identity with the “X” as the central structural element. Depending on the product, the words “Cut” and “Save” intersect with the X, creating a distinctive visual code. Color and typographic variation allow the system to flex while maintaining recognition. ● The cards are designed to function seamlessly in both vertical and horizontal orientations, reinforcing adaptability across physical and digital contexts.

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● Objet Type is an experimental crossover between the immaterial and the material, born from a collaboration between a digital type design studio and a ceramic lifestyle studio. Driven by a desire to transcend the screen, we sought to give physical body to intangible font files. We extracted core characteristics from pottery to design three unique typefaces. These digital letters were then re-materialized into tangible ceramic objects. By merging the mathematical precision of vector outlines with the organic unpredictability of fired clay, this project challenges the traditional boundaries of typography. It manifests type not merely as visual information, but as a tactile reality with weight and texture.

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Lettering

02

LT

Best of Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Merit

16 Judges

1 2 4 5 14

Typography 47—Lettering

TDC 72 LETTERING JURY

MARY KATE McDEVITT

AMY HOOD

ANDREA PIPPINS

BRETT STENSON

JEFF ROGERS

JEN MUSSARI

JOANNA MUÑOZ

KEN BARBER

KYLE LETENDRE

MARTINA FLOR

NDUBISI OKOYE

SCOTT BIERSACK

SHAUNA LYNN PANCZYSZYN

SIMON WALKER

VÍCTOR MELÉNDEZ

WHITNEY NETTLES

Typography 47—Lettering

TDC 72 LETTERING JURY JURY PRESIDENT MARY KATE McDEVITT

surface design. Her work often emphasizes humor, human connection, and approachable charm, making it well-suited to lifestyle and consumer brands. ● Mary Kate has produced commercial work for clients across publishing, retail, and hospitality, and her lettering and illustrations appear on products, posters, book covers, and editorial spreads. She also creates personal projects and limited-edition prints that showcase her distinctive voice and commitment to craft. ● In addition to client work, Mary Kate is active in the creative community—sharing process insights, lettering techniques, and inspiration through workshops, talks, and social media. ● Trained in graphic design, she combines strong typographic sensibilities with a hand-made aesthetic, balancing precision and spontaneity. Her practice values storytelling, accessibility, and the tactile qualities of hand-lettering, aiming to bring warmth and personality to both commercial and personal projects.

● I was thrilled to be the TDC72 Lettering jury president. TDC has been a consistent inspiration throughout my career. Cracking open the new annual to immerse myself in the best typography created that year is as exciting as it was 20 years ago. Even finding a 1983 TDC annual at a used book shop is equally as inspiring. The opportunity to see the other side of the operation is a fascinating experience. I was tasked with choosing the lettering jury. I wanted the jury to reflect the diverse lettering community with distinct styles and methodologies. I reached out to lettering artists of different backgrounds, concentrations, AMY HOOD and expertise, all of whom I believe drive the ● Hoodzpah: Co-founder & Creative Director ● Anaheim lettering community forward. ● It was a joy to partake in thoughtful and lively dialogue about ● Amy Hood is a designer and co-founder of Hoodzpah, the entries. The potential erasure of handmade Inc, a brand identity studio in Southern California that has skills in the design world was a repeating theme worked with companies like Disney, 20th Century, Nike, The Lakers, SeatGeek, and Netflix. Amy’s logo and identity throughout our discussions. I believe it is more work centers around custom lettering solutions. She is the important than ever to celebrate the craft of font designer behind Palm Canyon Drive, Beverly Drive, lettering and typography. It became apparent, and Redondo Ave. When she’s not stress-watching Laker going through the entries, that craft is indeed still games, Amy can be found at the beach plein-air doodling important to many of the entries, and that was and practicing her Smashball back hand. She co-authored the book “Freelance, and Business, and Stuff: A Guide for inspiring to see. Whether it was a book cover Creatives” (and its related online course) with her sister or immersive exhibition design, we carefully Jennifer based on the Professional Practices class they considered what it meant to be an award wintaught at Laguna College of Art & Design. ner. In our discussions during the jury process, we found the entries with stories, craft, and ANDREA PIPPINS ● Art Punch Studio AB: Illustrator ● Stockholm thoughtfulness to be the most meaningful. I left the experience with a new appreciation for our ● Andrea Pippins is a Stockholm-based American craft and a drive to push myself. I hope it will designer, illustrator, and author whose work celebrates inspire the readers to pursue lettering with the culture and creativity while empowering women and chilpassion and craft reflected in the winners of the dren. She is the author and illustrator of “Who Will You Be?” and “The Spark in You,” and the illustrator of the “Young, TDC72 Lettering category. MARY KATE McDEVITT ● Illustrator, Hand-letterer, and Designer ● Philadelphia, PA ● Mary Kate McDevitt is an illustrator, hand-letterer, and designer known for her warm, whimsical style and thoughtful typographic work. Mary Kate attended Tyler School of Art and has been creating lettering and illustration for clients since 2007. She blends hand-drawn lettering, playful character illustration, and rich color to create engaging pieces for editorial, packaging, branding, and

Gifted, and Black” series. Andrea has collaborated with brands including Five Below, Instagram, MTV, Nick Jr., and Sephora, and her work has been featured in O: The Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, Essence, and more. BRETT STENSON ● Young Jerks: Senior Art Director ● Portland

● I am Senior Art Director and Illustrator at Young Jerks as well as an independent artist, focusing on sculptural illustration and painting. My top 3 things to do are riding bikes, hoarding folk art and playing any kind of game.

Typography 47—Lettering

CARMEN: LA LOW RIDER BRONZE ● MOTION: CREDITS OR TITLES

Judge’s Choice Andrea Pippins ● Overall, this project is a rich exploration of culture and identity. The lettering and visual system immediately draw the viewer in, capturing the colors, energy, and spirit of the subject matter with vibrancy and character. The various elements work together to create a dynamic visual and storytelling experience.

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● Primary Credit: Cyla Costa Studio / Curitiba ● Secondary Credit: LatimLove / Lisboa ● Credits: Cyla Costa / Curitiba, Bruna Castro / Lisboa, Aline Kaori / São Paulo ● Social: @cylacosta ● URL: cylacosta.com ● Font Name: Custom Lettering ● Type Foundry: Cyla Costa Studio ● Lettering: Cyla Costa and Aline Kaori ● Client: LatimLove ● Carmen: La Low Rider is a short documentary that tells the story of Carmen, a bold and unapologetic Mexican entrepreneur whose life has been shaped by resilience, work, and identity. Shot in a single day, the film captures her journey as a business owner, her deep connection to car culture inherited from her father, and the toughness forged by lived experience. We were invited to design the film’s title as well as the lettering system for both digital and print promotional materials, translating Carmen’s powerful personality into a cohesive visual language. Through expressive typography and a color palette inspired by Carmen herself, the design amplifies her presence and supports the narrative with authenticity. Some stories are meant to be told and Carmen’s is one of them.

Typography 47—Lettering

CAPTION WITH INTENTION MERIT

TRUST FALLS ALBUM COVER MERIT

● MOTION: KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY

● MOTION: KINETIC TYPOGRAPHY

● Primary Credit: Omnicom / Chicago ● Secondary Credit: Omnicom Production / Chicago, Pes Motion Studio / Chicago ● Font Name: Roboto ● Type Foundry: Google with variants developed by Font Bureau and Commercial Type ● Type Design: Christian Robertson ● Client: Rakish Entertainment

● Primary Credit: Blank Is The New Black / Chicago ● Credits: Thomas Quinn / Chicago ● Social: @tqvinn ● URL: blankisthenewblack.com ● Font Name: Heading Now ● Type Foundry: Zetafonts ● Type Design: Francesco Canovaro, Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini, Andrea Tartarelli, Mario De Libero ● Client: Fascinator

● Filmmaking has evolved in countless ways, yet film captions haven’t. For 50 years they’ve remained static white terminal font on black and have been merely functional. Deaf and hard of hearing audiences rely on those outdated captions that lag dialogue, miss emotional nuance, and fail to identify who’s speaking. There was a glaring need for change. ● Caption with Intention transforms captioning with a dynamic, motion-typography driven system that syncs with speech, uses expressive typography to show tone, and color-codes characters for instant recognition. ● Caption with Intention was developed closely with the Deaf community over the course of 10 months, testing features via dozens of different stimuli to create a Deaf-community validated design system. ● Caption with Intention is an invitation to make cinema more inclusive for the 1.5 billion Deaf and hard of hearing people who deserve to experience it fully.

● The album cover for “Trust Falls” by the band Fascinator in an animated form for streaming service video displays and in a static form for physical media. The client wanted something that would look good on a vinyl jacket and have an attention grabbing companion to play on streaming services that feature short form videos. The typography itself played with a central point of a circle to create disjointed by recognizable letterforms while creating a visual that feels referential to a vinyl record.

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Typography 47—Lettering

STANFORD D.SCHOOL YEARBOOK ’24 GOLD ● PUBLICATION / EDITORIAL: EDITORIAL / CATALOG / MAGAZINE

Judge’s Choice Ken Barber ● For the past few years, I’ve looked forward to Daniel Frumhoff’s Stanford d.school Yearbook design for its inventive typography and lettering, and the 2023–24 edition did not disappoint. While Hulises Ortiz’s cover lettering draws in readers with colorful, nearly abstract, overprinted letterforms, the interior work by Zrinka Buljubašić is the real standout. ● Her freeform lettering, in particular, cleverly reduces letters to a handful of basic shapes that overlap to create more complex forms, an approach that feels perfectly at home in a publication that celebrates collaboration and experimentation. The letters have a cut-paper quality and playful energy, but reveal an extraordinary level of craft. Their simplicity is almost deceptive; the letters are eye-catching and instantly recognizable, yet the ingenuity required to distill them to so few elements is easy to overlook—even if the lettering isn’t.

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● Primary Credit: Daniel Frumhoff Design ● Secondary Credit: Daniel Frumhoff, Hulises Ortiz, Zrinka Buljubašić, Stanford University d.school ● Credits: Klim Type Foundry, Grilli Type, 205TF, Daniel Frumhoff, Hulises Ortiz, Zrinka Buljubašić, Patrick Beaudouin, Nan Cao, Scott Doorley, Jennifer Brown, Charlotte Burgess-Auburn, Laurie Moore ● Social: @dfrumhoff ● URL: danielfrumhoff.com ● Font Name: Verve Display ● Type Design: Zrinka Buljubašić and Daniel Frumhoff ● Client: Stanford University d.school ● The Stanford d.school Yearbook is an annual publication that celebrates the school year’s activities and events. Overlapping joyful colors represent the intersections of educators, students, and community coming together to share ideas. Featuring bold typography, custom lettering and a vibrant color palette, the publication captures the school’s innovative methods. This yearbook is divided into the following three sections: “Teach & Learn: Shaping Curriculum and Community in a Changing World,” “Impact & Access: Sharing Design Ideas and Tools” and “Explore & Imagine: Building the Future Foundations of Design.” Each of the book’s three sections is color coded for easy navigation.

Typography 47—Lettering

BOOK DESIGN FOR THE MAHMOUD KAHIL AWARDS SILVER ● PUBLICATION / EDITORIAL: BOOK / MAGAZINE COVER

Judge’s Choice Amy Hood ● This book is so beautifully designed and so full of joy. It perfectly fits the brief, celebrating and enhancing the artistry featured. These are the kind of books that got me excited about art as a kid and made me realize how art could lead to a career. It’s joyful and inspiring.

● Primary Credit: Tarek Atrissi Design / Barcelona ● Secondary Credit: American University of Beirut / Beirut, Rada and Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies / Beirut ● Social: @atrissi ● URL: atrissi.com ● Font Name: Custom Lettering ● Lettering: Tarek Atrissi Design ● Client: Center for Arab Comics Studies at AUB ● Book design for the Mahmoud Kahil Awards, the annual publication showcasing award-winning projects in comics, illustration, and cartoons by artists from across the Arab world. For the 2025 edition—which marked the 10th anniversary of the awards—we developed a typographic design featuring custom Arabic lettering, blending influences from classical Arabic calligraphy with the expressive, display-oriented lettering often found in vintage Arabic comic books. This distinctive style was enhanced with playful, celebratory details—most notably in the transformation of diacritic dots into star-like shapes. A defining feature of the project was the integration of selected illustrations by award-winning artists directly into the visual language of the identity. The interplay between the expressive lettering and the rich, narrative-driven illustrations gave the compositions remarkable depth and texture—bridging tradition and storytelling with contemporary design sensibilities.

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TD

Type Design

03

Best of Discipline Gold Silver Bronze Merit

12 Judges

1 2 6 7 19

Typography 47—Type Design

TDC 72 TYPE DESIGN JURY

ALEKSANDRA SAMUĻENKOVA

ABRAHAM ABEBE

EUNYOU NOH

IRENE VLACHOU

KRISTA RADOEVA

NAMRATA GOYAL

LARA CAPTAN

MATTHIJS SLUITER

MINT TANTISUWANNA

SHOKO MUGIKURA

SOL MATAS

TERESA MOU

Typography 47—Type Design

TDC 72 TYPE DESIGN JURY JURY PRESIDENT ALEKSANDRA SAMUĻENKOVA

● In my conversations with the jury members, one observation surfaced again and again—the judging process was overwhelming. I share that sentiment. Great type was submitted in great quantity: designed for different purposes, across different writing systems, and at vastly different scales and scopes. ● And yet we somehow had to sort the excellent from the great. That’s when epistemic responsibility kicks in particularly hard, making you question all you think you know about type design. I found comfort in knowing that the jury covers as much typographic ground as such a small group of professionals possibly can. I was often glad when my fellow jurors saw things differently from me, confirming the diversity of perspectives within the jury. Type design is shaped by many factors and emerges from many places. I believe it must be evaluated through an appropriately broad lens. ● I think the works we selected reflect the breadth of contemporary type design and the ongoing exploration of what type can be and do across the world’s writing systems. ● If our struggle to narrow down the selection is any indication of the state of the field—it is surely thriving.

College & State University. He is the author of an experimental typography book combining short stories and poems, and a poetry collection, both written in his native Amharic. His visual research focuses on developing Ethiopic (Ge’ez) and Latin typefaces that merge traditional practice with digital innovation to ensure the visibility of the Ge’ez writing system across cultural and technological spheres. His work seeks to spark broader interest in the African writing system, particularly the Ge’ez script, and to contribute meaningfully to the fields of design, linguistics, and visual culture. Several of his Ge’ez typefaces are used across Ethiopian television, digital and print media, film, and music. EUNYOU NOH ● Sandoll / NohType: Type Design Director, Sandoll / Founder, NohType ● Seoul ● Eunyou Noh, PhD, is a type designer and researcher based in Seoul, South Korea. She is the type design director at Sandoll and the founder of NohType, where she leads projects exploring the intersections of Hangul and global typography. Her work includes research on optical sizing in Hangul type design. IRENE VLACHOU ● Independent: Type Designer, PhD candidate in the Dept. of Product & Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean ● Syros

● Irene Vlachou is a type designer based in Greece. She holds an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading. She has collaborated with international type foundries and corporations, working as a type designer and a consultant for Greek typefaces. Her work includes ALEKSANDRA SAMUĻENKOVA lectures and workshops on Greek typeface design and ● Type Designer ● Haarlem, Netherlands variable fonts, as well as creating technical manuals for ● Aleksandra Samuļenkova is a Latvian-born type designer the Greek script. From 2013–2019, she was a senior designer and variable font expert at TypeTogether. On based in the Netherlands. She designs for Latin, Cyrillic behalf of the Greek Open Source Community (GFOSS), and (occasionally) Greek, and consults on the former two she is a mentor on the expansion of Greek libre fonts for scripts. Aleksandra is known for her typeface Pilot—one the GSOC (Google Summer of Code) program. In 2019 of the few contemporary type designs that has been cast she co-writted the experimental project “FauxFoundry,” a in metal, as well as for her award-winning Cyrillic and webfont service offering fallback fonts, creating instantly Greek extensions of notable typefaces such as IBM Plex. the missing Greek character set. During the spring Aleksandra also specializes in designing diacritics and special characters for the Latin script, and enjoys lecturing semester of 2022, she was an artist-in-residency at La Becque, and a visiting professor on the Master Type on the topic at various educational institutions, among Design program at ECAL, Lausanne. She currently works others—her alma mater—Type and Media Master program full time as a freelancer type designer, specialising in OEM at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague. system fonts. Since 2025 she is a PhD candidate at the Department of Product & Systems Design Engineering, of ABRAHAM ABEBE the University of the Aegean, in Syros, Greece. Her work ● Georgia College & State University: Associate includes: Colvert Greek (2012, typographies.fr), Parmigiano Professor of Art–Graphic Design ● Milledgeville Greek (2014, Typotheque), SamsungOne Greek (2016, Brody Associates), LL Bradford Greek (2016, for the brand ● Abraham Abebe is a bilingual type designer and identity of Documenta14, Laurenz Brunner), LL Unica77 Associate Professor of Art in Graphic Design at Georgia

Typography 47—Type Design

🏆

BEST OF DISCIPLINE

MOMOCHIDORI VARIABLE GOLD

● TEXT, DISPLAY: TYPEFACES VARIABLE FONT ● Primary Credit: Adobe / Tokyo ● Social: @ryon106, @frankrolf ● URL: fonts.adobe.com/fonts/momochidorivariable ● Font Name: Momochidori ● Type Foundry: Adobe ● Type Design: Ryoko Nishizuka, Frank Grießhammer ● Client: Adobe

● This project challenges the longstanding square paradigm of Japanese type design. ● While Japanese characters have traditionally been constructed within a 1000 × 1000 unit framework, this typeface redefines the glyph boundary through a variable proportional system shifting between 870 × 1130 and 1130 × 870. ● Built as a multi-axis variable font, it integrates proportional transformation, weight variation, and an independent italic axis for the Latin script within a unified structure. As one dimension expands and the other compresses, structural coherence and legibility are preserved across continuous interpolation. ● Kana reference moments of historical expressive freedom, while kanji are systematized to support an extensive character set. In both vertical and horizontal composition, proportional flexibility generates new rhythmic possibilities beyond uniform square metrics. ● By incorporating COLRv1 color technology, the project extends variable typography into layered color expression within a single font architecture. READ MORE: TDC72 Type Jury member Shoko Mugikura interviews Momochidori designer Ryoko Nishizuka (p. 8)

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Typography 47—Type Design

MOMOCHIDORI VARIABLE GOLD

Judges’ Choice Teresa Mou ● This type family features a wide range of variations, and across different weights, it maintains clarity, readability, legibility, smoothness, and overall comfort in reading. As a whole, it feels balanced, soft, clear, and visually pleasing.

Eunyou Noh ● I was deeply impressed by its technical execution and how it pushes the boundaries of variable technology within the complexity of Kanji characters.

Shoko Mugikura ● Momochidori is definitely my choice, for several reasons. ● The design achieves a lovely balance between retro flair and a contemporary feel. The hiragana, for example, has subtle calligraphic details, yet they are rendered in a very crisp way. It feels slightly nostalgic, but never overly so, and still comes across as modern. ● I also appreciate how the team strives to capture a sense of Japaneseness rather than pursuing a more universal design approach. ● Another aspect is the excellent match between the technology and the Japanese writing system. Variable fonts are particularly interesting in Japanese typography because we can set text both vertically and horizontally. Given how common it is to combine the two in editorial design, I can imagine how useful a typeface like this will be for designers in Japan. ● The font embodies the playful yet highly professional spirit of the Adobe Japan team. It is an ambitious project that could only be realized by a team of such expertise. ● As someone from a small independent foundry, I can only look on with admiration and a little envy!

Typography 47—Type Design

VW BESPOKE ARABIC TYPEFACE SILVER

LAVA CHEROKEE SILVER

● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: SINGLE STYLE TYPEFACE

● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: SINGLE AXIS TYPE FAMILY

● Primary Credit: Maktoob / Brooklyn ● Credits: Khajag Apelian, Wael Morcos, Lana Soufeh ● Social: @waelmorcos, @khajag, @lanasoufeh ● Font Name: Headlines (Custom Typeface) ● Type Foundry: Maktoob ● Type Design: Wael Morcos, Khajag Apelian, Lana Soufeh ● Client: VolksWagen

● Primary Credit: Typotheque / The Hague ● Credits: Chris Skillern / Tulsa, OK + Rafał Buchner, Liang Hai / The Hague ● Social: @typotheque ● URL: typotheque.com ● Font Name: Lava Cherokee ● Type Foundry: Typotheque ● Type Design: Chris Skillern

● The Volkswagen Arabic typeface was conceived as a way to visually translate the essence of the Volkswagen GTI into Arabic letterforms. The design process drew heavily from the car’s dual nature: its heritage as a cultural icon and its reputation for speed, precision, and innovation. The approach of the typeface aimed to blend the expressive qualities of Arabic calligraphy. Taking inspiration from the Ruqaa script—fluidity, movement, and speed—with the sharp geometry and restraint of modern type systems. This balance allowed the letters to feel at once dynamic and grounded, reflecting both the agility of the GTI and the depth of Arabic visual tradition.

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● After five years of community-partnered research with First Nations communities in the United States, Typotheque published Lava Cherokee, designed by the Cherokee Nation citizen and type designer Chris Skillern. ● Significant research has gone into developing the fonts, including the history, contemporary usage, and conventions of the syllabary, in order to provide today’s readers with a cohesive typographic experience based on how they perceive the writing system.

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Typography 47—Type Design

PEZZI, A SCENE-STEALER TYPEFACE SILVER ● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: MULTIPLE AXIS TYPE FAMILY

Judge’s Choice Krista Radoeva ● Pezzi is the kind of project that takes a moment to fully comprehend. Its references seem to pull in different directions; each weight pushes the design into increasingly unexpected territory. But beneath all that abundance lies a remarkably disciplined system, with the duplexed structure acting as the thread that ties everything together. What could have been an overwhelming collection of exuberant ideas became a coherent and deeply considered piece of type design. Its confidence is matched by its craftsmanship, and that combination is what made it my Judge’s Choice.

● Primary Credit: Underware / The Hague ● Credits: Akiem Helmling / The Hague + Bas Jacobs / Amsterdam + Sami Kortemäki / Helsinki ● Social: @underwarefoundry ● URL: underware.nl ● Font Name: Pezzi ● Type Foundry: Underware ● Type Design: Akiem Helmling, Bas Jacobs, Sami Kortemäki ● A scene-stealer typeface—a set of 5 display font styles and 2 collections of automatons. This display family, ranging from a ultra thin to an extremely black style, forms a limited but indelible typographic palette. If typography were fashion, this typeface would not be those practical jeans or comfortable trainers, but rather that one dress that makes you an unforgettable entrance at a luxurious party. Note the special feature: all styles are duplexed! The width of a letter is identical in every weight. A text set in Light will not shift when you change the font to Regular or Black. This offers new possibilities, especially in the web and with variable font format, which allows for seamless transformation from one style to another. As with anything with a distinctive flavour, use it sparingly. But hey, sometimes a project stands or falls on that little bit of distinctive character.

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Typography 47—Type Design

POLTIK MERIT

REFINED SONG FAMILY MERIT

● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: SINGLE AXIS TYPE FAMILY

● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: SINGLE AXIS TYPE FAMILY

● Primary Credit: TypeTogether ● Credits: Patrycja Walczak ● Social: @type_together @pattiwalczak ● URL: type-together.com ● Font Name: Poltik ● Type Foundry: TypeTogether ● Type Design: Patrycja Walczak ● Client: TypeTogether

● Primary Credit: Tong Xin / Hangzhou ● Font Name: Refined Song ● Type Design: Tong Xin

● Inspired by the retro aesthetics of Polish product design, this is a two-toned type family with a reverse contrast text and an eye-catching display headliner for a stylish, expressive presence. The ten text styles (five upright with matching italics) are sans-serif and designed for versatility across various uses. ● Cheeky, funky, and reliable on any screen or page, this family covers the spectrum for both digital and print needs. It comes with two display styles, ten text styles, full Latin support covering over 200 languages, some playful ornaments like arrows, circled numerals, shapes, and manicules, and is also available as two variable fonts. ● Warm and quirky in the lighter weights, its character becomes more expressive the bolder it gets, and the display styles bring in a full dose of retro charm.

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● This is a type family that includes both regular and italic styles. The regular style is a modern interpretation of Song dynasty woodblock editions. The italic style can be used for quotations, annotations, auxiliary information, and similar purposes, to establish a visual rhythm and hierarchy within the text. Both the regular and italic styles maintain the same overall character, and either can be used standalone as a display typeface.

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Typography 47—Type Design

ROSHAN MULTISCRIPT FONT FAMILY MERIT ● TEXT + DISPLAY TYPEFACES: SINGLE AXIS TYPE FAMILY

Judge’s Choice Lara Captan ● I chose to spotlight the Roshan type family because it makes for a poetic high-contrast display typeface. Through the abstraction of pen movements, their flow from one character to another, and the decision to semi-open counter forms, Roshan Arabic emanates some of the mysticism of its concept (springing from Sufi practices and their relationship to Arabic calligraphy). The digital curves of the Arabic are well drawn, contrast is generally well positioned, and the overall treatment of character shaping and relative proportions is also adequate. The attentive design decisions and surprising tapered terminals result in a typeface that carries itself pleasantly on the page.

● Primary Credit: Sina Fakour / Beirut ● Secondary Credit: Typotheque Arabic ● Social: @sinafakour ● URL: sinafakour.com ● Font Name: Roshan ● Type Foundry: TPTQ Arabic ● Type Design: Sina Fakour ● Roshan is a high contrast multiscript typeface with close connections to calligraphic traditions. While the Arabic is inspired by the rounded forms of Persian Naskh and Maghrebi writing styles, its Latin is incised, in contrast with the more common practice of pairing a serif typeface counterpart to a high contrast Arabic. This makes the two scripts even more distinct in a multiscript context. ● Roshan comes in six weights ranging from Extralight to Bold. While it is intended for display use, it is also suitable for short blocks of text.

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Young Ones

04

YO

Winners Gold Silver Bronze Merit

9 Judges

3 2 8 14 33

Typography 47—Young Ones

🏆

FIRST PLACE WINNER

GALLERY OF DECAY GOLD

Statement Eduarda Nieto ● This project is a strong representation of excellence in contemporary type design, precisely because it brings together nature, analog, and primitive movements, and technology to create something unexpected, mutable, and adaptable. There is no more compelling way to explore this than through typographic form.

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● LETTERING ● DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY: CODING / SCRIPTING ● Primary Credit: Maryland Institute College of Art / Baltimore ● Student / Team Name: Athang Samant ● Judge’s Choice: Benjamin Abesamis ● Gallery of Decay is a code-based typographic tool that generates five letter systems inspired by organisms involved in decomposition. The project involves using the following computational growth models: differential line algorithms for amoeba and maggots, Physarum simulations for fungal spores, and Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion for bacteria and mold. ● This project translates biological decay into evolving typographic forms. ● Developed as coursework at MICA under the AKA (Alter Ego) brief, the project led me to imagine myself as a microbiologist studying agents of decay. This perspective reframes typography as a living system, prompting a reflection on death, decomposition, and the cyclical nature of life rather than decay as an end state.

Typography 47—Young Ones

🏆

SECOND PLACE WINNER

ECHO MUSIC PARTY GOLD

Statement Jean-Philippe Dugal ● Echo Music Party was one of those very rare submissions where the jury reached an immediate consensus. For us, every single layer was perfectly aligned: the theme, the mechanics, the narrative, and the grid. It makes incredible sense, achieving so much with a great economy of means. Its graphic choices, particularly the highly structured typography, felt uniquely relevant to addressing the event: an electronic underground music party. The medium and technique used to craft this type demonstrate remarkable control. Personally, I was charmed by the absolute consistency and attitude of the project. It is exactly what I was looking for: a powerful story and purpose, driven by a graphic proposition that is both creative and perfectly fitting. Great work.

● COMMUNICATION DESIGN ● OTHER ● Primary Credit: Class Tao / Shanghai ● Student / Team Name: Weiran Liang ● Social: @vleung_ ● Echo Music Party is a spontaneous underground music event. The design was inspired by the process of connecting and composing with tools. ● I created a 3x3 matrix and developed a set of playful typefaces and typographic styles by defining rules for how strokes move through it. These elements and rules were then translated into the spatial design of the venue, creating a unique environment where my musician friends and I could enjoy electronic music together.

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Typography 47—Young Ones

THE LABOR OF LOVE BRONZE

UNSTANDERING BRONZE

● COMMUNICATION DESIGN ● PUBLICATION / EDITORIAL: BOOK

● COMMUNICATION DESIGN ● PUBLICATION / EDITORIAL: BOOK

● Primary Credit: Parsons School of Design / New York ● Student / Team Name: Anjali Arasasingham ● Social: earthtoanjali ● Judge’s Choice: Chisaokwu Joboson

● Primary Credit: Rhode Island School of Design / Providence ● Student / Team Name: Jyot Thind ● Social: @jyotkaurthind

● Cooking, cleaning, tending, bathing, mixing, scrubbing, brushing, nursing, holding, stirring, sewing, threading, embroidering, weaving, knitting, crocheting. ● “The Labor of Love” interrogates maternal labor by connecting housework with feminine craft. Every messy stitch, loose thread, and reworked strand celebrates craft while questioning the labor expected of women and mothers, where a needle becomes both a political tool and an instrument of devotion. ● Through design, the project exposes the oppressive patriarchal systems surrounding motherhood while preserving the beauty of maternal love. Inspired by birth certificates, sewing manuals, and scrapbooks, strict grids, bureaucratic hierarchies, intersecting type, pulled words, and fully spelled-out page numbers evoke repetitive labor. I hand-sewed and pierced typographic pieces with fabric doilies and paper using the skill my grandmother taught me. Images printed on sheer paper emulate the intimacy of a scrapbook. ● By juxtaposing floral childhood memories with patriarchal systems through the lens of craft, “The Labor of Love” reveals the unseen gestures mothers perform daily. Motherhood is hard, tedious, and unfair, yet beautiful and meaningful. It is a labor of love.

p. 192

● “Understandering” is a publication that explores how English operates within multilingual societies, particularly within families navigating generational language shifts. As English has become tied to globalization and social mobility, it often creates divides across generations, accents, and cultural contexts. ● The book is structured around twenty-six alphabetically arranged entries based on neologisms that reflect the slippages and transformations that occur when English moves across languages. Essays, interviews, and visual experiments examine how language intersects with power, class, and identity. Its folded page structure requires readers to unfold the book to access the content, referencing the taboo of dog-eared pages. This interaction mirrors the fragmented and participatory nature of multilingual conversation, where meaning often emerges through negotiation and partial understanding.

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Typography 47—Young Ones

TYPOLAB MERIT

SUPERFICIAL MERIT

● COMMUNICATION DESIGN ● DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY: WEBSITE / MICROSITE

● COMMUNICATION DESIGN ● ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN: INSTALLATION / ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

● Primary Credit: IED Madrid—Istituto Europeo di Design / Madrid ● Student / Team Name: Gonzalo Muñoz ● Social: @gonzalomunoz.work

● Primary Credit: California College of the Arts / San Francisco ● Student / Team Name: Andrea Manrique, Lucie Tran, Grace Cao, Julie Du ● Social: @timesoldroman.pod

● TYPOLAB is a digital type foundry platform designed to transform academic typography projects into active public resources. While many typefaces are developed in educational contexts, they often remain confined to classrooms or static archives. TYPOLAB addresses this by creating a digital platform where experimental fonts by graphic design students can be explored, tested, and distributed. ● The platform allows users to interact with typefaces in real time, experiment through testing tools, and access editorial insights into each project’s design process. By foregrounding experimentation, research, and process, TYPOLAB reframes academic work as an evolving design ecosystem rather than isolated student exercises. ● Developed as an end-to-end digital product for desktop and mobile, the platform integrates research, benchmarking, information architecture, user flows, wireframing, visual system development, and high-fidelity prototyping. The interface is organized into four core sections— Typefaces, Insights, Shop, and About—creating a clear structure for discovering and engaging with typographic work. ● Conceived as a modular, expandable system, TYPOLAB continuously integrates new typefaces, objects, and editorial content, positioning learning, experimentation, and emerging designers within a shared digital platform.

p. 184

● Superficial is an exhibition identity and environmental typography system developed for CCA’s Spring 2025 Senior Show, exploring what it means to design within a culture obsessed with surfaces. Translated into physical space, the project uses large-scale, distributed typography and modular components embedded throughout the exhibition environment. Type appears across walls, floors, and temporary structures, emphasizing fragmentation, repetition, and impermanence as visitors move through the space. ● Rather than functioning as a static title wall, Superficial operates as an installation that evolves through interaction. Disposable materials, partial visibility, and repeated typographic elements mirror how contemporary visual culture circulates information: quickly, endlessly, and without permanence. By treating the surface as both material and structure, the installation reveals how typography actively shapes spatial experience, guiding movement, framing perception, and constructing meaning within the built environment.

p. 185

Community

Members

Index

Typography 47—Appendix

TDC Community Advisory Board 2025 Steering Committee Christopher Sergio, Macmillan Publishers John Kudos, KUDOS Design Collaboratory Advisory Board Members Sahar Afshar, Dogray Type Parasto Backman, Studio Parasto Backman Jolene Delisle, The Working Assembly Min Lew, Base Design Eric Liu, The Type Elaine Lopez, Parsons School of Design Lloyd Osborne, Osborne Shiwan Juan Carlos Pagan, Sunday Afternoon Shabnam Shiwan, Osborne Shiwan Trisha Tan, Chase Travel, J.P. Morgan Chase David John Walker, Yale University Zipeng Zhu, Dazzle TDC Staff Joe Newton, Executive Director Griffin McCabe, Program Manager Carol Wahler, Executive Director Emeritus

TDC Presidents Frank Powers, 1946–1947 Milton Zudeck, 1948 Alfred Dickman, 1949 Joseph Weiler, 1950 James Secrest, 1951–1953 Gustave Saelens, 1954–1955 Arthur Lee, 1956, 1957 Martin Connell, 1958 James Secrest, 1959–1960 Frank Powers, 1961–1962 Milton Zudeck, 1963–1964 Gene Ettenberg, 1965–1966 Edward Gottschall, 1967–1968 Saadyah Maximon, 1969 Louis Lepis, 1970–1971 Gerard O’Neill, 1972–1973 Zoltan Kiss, 1974–1975 Roy Zucca, 1976–1977 William Streever, 1978–1979 Bonnie Hazelton, 1980–1981 Jack George Tauss, 1982–1983 Klaus F. Schmidt, 1984–1985 John Luke, 1986–1987 Jack Odette, 1988–1989 Ed Benguiat, 1990–1991 Allan Haley, 1992–1993 B. Martin Pedersen, 1994–1995 Mara Kurtz, 1996–1997 Mark Solsburg, 1998–1999 Daniel Pelavin, 2000–2001 James Montalbano, 2002–2003 Gary Munch, 2004–2005 Alex W. White, 2006–2007 Charles Nix, 2008–2009 Diego Vainesman, 2010–2011 Graham Clifford, 2012–2013 Matteo Bologna, 2014–2015 Doug Clouse, 2016–2017 Paul Carlos, 2018–2019 Elizabeth Carey Smith, 2020–2021 Chris Sergio, 2024–present

TDC Medal Recipients Hermann Zapf, 1967 R. Hunter Middleton, 1968 Frank Powers, 1971 Dr. Robert Leslie, 1972 Edward Rondthaler, 1975 Arnold Bank, 1979 Georg Trump, 1982 Paul Standard, 1983 Herb Lubalin, 1984 (posthumously) Paul Rand, 1984 Aaron Burns, 1985 Bradbury Thompson, 1986 Adrian Frutiger, 1987 Freeman Craw, 1988 Ed Benguiat, 1989 Gene Federico, 1991 Lou Dorfsman, 1995 Matthew Carter, 1997 Rolling Stone magazine, 1997 Colin Brignall, 2000 Günter Gerhard Lange, 2000 Martin Solomon, 2003 Paula Scher, 2006 Mike Parker, 2011 Erik Spiekermann, 2011 Gerrit Noordzij, 2013 David Berlow, 2014 Louise Fili, 2015 Émigré, 2016 Gerard Unger, 2017 Fiona Ross, 2018 Wim Crouwel, 2019 Rubén Fontana, 2020 Akira Kobayashi, 2022 Jan Middendorp, 2023 Margaret Calvert, 2024

A—Z

General

Index

Typography 47—Appendix

General Index A—E ● 3% Design Studio, 238 6JUNFENG LAB., 242 12 Matcha, 34, 224 500l/s, 203, 357 2024 Sorrow Trilogy Poetry Show, 67, 244 《域Dwelling-Wandering Field 》192 { unseen } “unspoken,” 179, 333 元常隶楷体, 202, 356 刘梓霄, 361 李昱彤, 356 潮CHAO, 181, 335 灵宪四屏体, 204, 361 赵靖轩/郑傲秋, 335 龙吟体, 155, 316 ● ABC’s of Afrikaans, 185, 340, 350 Accent is Beautiful, 195, 348, 355 A Century of Sporty Types, 63, 247 Acoustica Latin + Devanagari, 200, 355 A Critter Carol, 114, 282 Adobe, 304 Aether, 207, 360 Aithyra—Transforming life science, 53, 235 Aksharaala Aata, 206, 349 Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules, 92, 261 Alicia Eggert, 268 Almandin, 169, 324 Alphabetical Playground, 83, 256 Alzheimer’s disease, 199, 351 Andrea Manrique, 339 AN Interior Top 50 Architects & Designers, 119, 284 Anjali Arasasingham, 338 Another Menu, 183, 334 Ants of the Prairie Website, 30, 221 Apophenia 2, 93, 262 Apple Design Team, 229, 325 Apple Watch Flow Face, 39, 229 Arauna / Paratext, 286 Arden Studio, 267 ArtCenter College of Design, 334, 342 Atelier Andrea Gassner, 266 Athang Samant, 330, 355, 356 Aton, 218 Auckland University of Technology, 333, 340, 348, 350, 355 Aufgetischt. Eine kulinarische

Weltreise, 96, 262 A Very Long Now, 102, 268 A Visual Journey of Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market, 91, 261 ● Balenciaga—Gift for The Year of the Snake, 61, 223 Barra Slow Festival, 52, 236 Base Design, 220, 224, 237, 240 Base Unit Books, 190, 348 Beads, 177, 332, 357 Bebemos Playing Cards, 113, 290 Bedow, 247 Beijing Institute of Technology, 345 Beijing Jiaotong University, 347 Beijing June’rain Culture Development Co., Ltd., 265 Beings, 31, 222 Bel Monasba Greeting Cards, 76, 253 Betty Liu, 358 Biography of Hua Wenyi, 101, 257 BLACKBOW, 238, 250 Blank Is The New Black, 281 Bob Marley Hope Road Experience Poster Wall, 118, 287 Bogeum Jung, 337, 353 Bond Creative Agency, 219 Book design for the Mahmoud Kahil Awards, 130, 293 Book of Songs—Folk Art, 187, 341 Bottega, 51, 236 Brad Bartlett Design, 266 Breakpoint, 196, 353 Bruch—Idee&Form, 225 Built in Type: MSG, 180, 333 BY-ENJOY, 217, 231, 251 ● CABF Fourth Edition Branding, 54, 237 CABF Fourth Edition Poster, 249 Calendar, Ltda. 2026, 46, 232 California College of the Arts, 336, 339, 349 CAMPEÃ, 242 Caption with Intention, 29, 135, 215, 281 Carmen: La Low Rider, 109, 280 Carnegie Mellon University, 332, 357 CASA LOEWE Shanghai, 56, 234 Cassis, 156, 316 Catich Color, 172, 326 Chai Jixuan, 346

Chinese paper-cutting combined characters, 121, 285 Chungyu, Liao, 337 Ciclope Festival, 117, 279 Ciel, 147, 310 Cigarettes and Lungs, 127, 290 Class Tao, 331, 334 CMD Chengmei, 252 CoFo Raffine, 145, 312 CoFo Sans Arabic, 157, 317 Concert Season 2025/26 – A New Chapter, 105, 270 Councilman Justin Brannan Branding, 132, 295 Corn-Free Doesn’t Mean Joy-Free; The Making of Cob, 79, 253 Cossette, 232 Cuneimo Display, 190, 353 Custom Type Family for VG, 148, 311 Cyla Costa Studio, 280 ● Dalin Li, 285 Daniel Frumhoff Design, 292 Daniélle Heystek, 340, 350 Davide Pagliardini, 291 D&D Creative, 235 Deborah Khodanovich, 352, 354, 359, 360 Deluge, 55, 237 DEMO 2025—Design in Motion Festival, 22, 216 Design by Disruption, 279 Design Harder, 95, 263 Des Wade, 245 Dialectics of Contradiction, 178, 334 dimple, 143, 311 Display Typeface, 205, 359 Douyin E-Commerce, 322 Douyin Faxian Sans, 161, 322 Dual Casual, 170, 324 Dwelling-Wandering Field, 345 ● Echo Music Party, 176, 331 Edgar, 151, 313 Elisava School of Design and Engineering, 349 Emily Dickinson, 193, 345 Emirhan İvecan, 346 Eugime Lee, 360 Every ( different ) kind of, 72, 250 exPoP!!!!! Saikai 2025, 47, 229

Foundries

Fonts

Index

Typography 47—Appendix

Fonts A—S

● ABC Gravity, 251 ABC Maxi Round, 262 ABC Monument Grotesk, 266 Adelia, 218, 219 Aether, 262 Alphabetical Playground Collection (Custom Typeface), 256 Amandin, 324 Around (Custom Typeface), 267 AT Name Sans, 268 Austin News, 256 ● Bad News, 259 Baskerville, 335 BB Pixel (Custom Typeface), 223 Bingo, 232 BN Branch Cutoff, 258 BN Brick Rounded, 258 BN Catalina, 258 BN Dallilah Rounded, 258 BN Dope, 258 BN Dunk, 258 BN Eclipse, 258 BN Equipt, 258 BN Gamma, 258 BN Giggle, 258 BN Grizzly, 258 BN Hooha, 258 BN Reeder, 258 BN Rendall Script Cursive, 258 BN Rockies, 258 BN Sammy, 258 BN Smash Black, 258 BN Squire, 258 BN Swoosh, 258 BN Zeeka, 258 Bookmania, 289 BR-PostPost, 225 ● Cassis, 316 Catich Color, 326 Chronicle, 294 Chusung 16, 242 Ciel, 310 CoFo Raffine, 312 CoFo Sans Arabic, 317 Common Serif (Custom Typeface), 263 Connoisseurs, 248 Custom Typeface based on 1925 Underwood No. 5 Standard Typewriter, 232

Custom Typeface for HNZ Constructions, 235 Custom Typeface—Variable font recreated based on Swissnow (Latin) and Founder Variable Lanting Hei (Chinese), 217 ● Darvish, 233 DaVinci Display, 264 Die Grotesk, 222 dimple, 311 Doblado (Custom Alphabet), 284 Dual Casual, 324 ● Edgar, 313 ● F37 Caslon, 230, 241 Fairmount Serif (Custom Typeface), 240, 318 Fang Zheng Bang Shu KaiTi, 265 Fasteners, 269 Fit Kannada, 315 FKT Sinvoll Sans Mono, 247 FZShuSong, 289 FZZJ-MaoHFGDKSJW, 248 ● GC16, 224 Graphik, 216 Greed, 231 GT Planar VF, 219 ● Hanyi Xuan Song, 257, 265 Harber, 236 Heading Now, 281 Headlines (Custom Typeface), 308 Heliuk, 254 Helvetica Neue, 217 Helvetica Now, 247 Herby, 306 ● KB Rhymes, 222, 225 KB Rhymes (Custom), 226 Klangwelt Resonance (Custom Typeface), 241 Knockout, 220, 252 Kokomo Script, 285, 290 Kreuzstich, 266 ● Lava Cherokee, 308 Longyin Ti, 316 Luciole Math, 317

● Mantice (Custom Typeface), 291 Marsella, 318 Maurizio, 319 Mazhik, 312 Miniature, 221 Molecular Square/Rounded (Custom Typeface), 264 MoMA Wrong (adapted from MoMA Sans), 268 ● Neue Haas Grotesk, 214, 221, 228 Neue Helvetica, 245 Njörður Display (Custom Typeface), 218 Noto Sans, 239 NT Dapper, 261 NT Zeu, 261 NU Amorphic, 271 NU Colloco, 271 NU Plumb, 271 NYT Mag Sans (Custom Typeface), 259, 260 ● Oja Display, 315 OpenAI Sans, 216 OpenAI Sans (Custom Typeface), 223, 269 ● Pezzi, 309 Politip, 236 Poltik, 320 PP Playground, 260 ● Rabari Bharat, 325 Rabari Rangberangi, 325 Refined Song, 320 Roboto, 215, 281 Romie, 237 Roshan, 321 ● Sahn, 313 Seduire Sans, 290 Seduire Sans (Custom Typefaces), 285 Segmentor, 307 SF Symbols 7 (Custom Typeface), 325 SF Wood, 282 Source Han Serif, 246 Source Serif, 294 Suisse Int’l, 270 Suisse Works, 270

A—W

Judges

Index

Typography 47—Appendix

Judges A—W ● Abraham Abebe, 301, 307 Aleksandra Samuļenkova, 301, 326 Alex Center, 211, 226 Amy Hood, 275, 293 Andrea Pippins, 275, 280 ● Bai Fengkun, 337 Benjamin Abesamis, 330 Brett Stenson, 275, 286 ● Cat How, 211, 248 Chisaokwu Joboson, 332, 338 Chris Nott, 211, 258 ● Du Nieto, 349 ● Eduarda Nieto, 330 Eunyou Noh, 301, 305 ● Fabiola Mejía, 211, 267 Felipe Rocha, 211, 246 ● Irene Vlachou, 301, 306

● Jean-Philippe Dugal, 331, 352 Jeff Rogers, 275, 297 Jen Mussari, 276, 279 Jeremy Mickel, 212, 270 Joanna Muñoz, 276, 284 João Paz, 212, 244 Johanna Roca, 212, 215 ● Ken Barber, 276, 292 Krista Radoeva, 302, 309 Kyle Letendre, 276 ● Lara Captan, 302, 321 Lisa Smith, 211, 243 ● Margot Leveque, 212 Margot Lévêque, 265 Martina Flor, 276, 289 Mary Kate McDevitt, 275, 297 Matthijs Sluiter, 302, 314 Max Ottignon, 212, 245 Mint Tantisuwanna, 302, 310 Myka Arnado, 354

● Namrata Goyal, 302, 306 Ndubisi Okoye, 276, 287 ● Paola Vecco, 344 Parasto Backman, 212, 233 Paulina Reyes, 212, 224 ● Rapha Abreu, 213, 228 Ryan Williamson, 360 ● Scott Biersack, 277, 282 Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn, 277, 294 Shoko Mugikura, 302, 305 Simon Walker, 277, 278 Sol Matas, 302, 319 Stuart Radford, 213, 227 ● Teresa Mou, 302, 305 Todd Simmons, 213, 270 Tom Crabtree, 213, 254 ● Verònica Fuerte, 213, 257 Víctor Meléndez, 277, 279 ● Whitney Nettles, 277, 295

A—Z

Clients

Index

Typography 47—Appendix

Clients A—Z ● 12 Matcha, 224 233 Gallery, 242 ● Adobe, 304 Aithyra, 235 Amnistie internationale Canada francophone, 232 AN Interior, 284 Antalis (Hong Kong) Limited, 261 Ants of the Prairie, 221 Aperture Foundation, 261 Apophenia Press, 262 Apple, 229, 282, 325 ArtCenter College of Design, 266 Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), 240 Artist Julie Wolfe, 262 ● Balenciaga, 223 Bebemos, 290 Beings, 222 Bel Monasba Greeting Cards, 253 Bob Marley Hope Road Experience, 287 Book Fair, 249 Book Ideas, 263 Bottega, 236 ● Cairo Art Book Fair, 237, 249 Center for Arab Comics Studies at AUB, 293 Ciclope, 279 Citic Press Corporation, 265 Cob Foods, 253 ● David Byrne Social, 243 David Yurman, 264 Deluge, 237 Douyin, 322 ● ESAPA, 267 ● FALLA CORONA, 296 Fascinator, 281 Fine Arts College, Shanghai Normal University, 248 Flores, 238 Format Design, 234 Fort Worth Public Art, 268 Frere-Jones Type, 313 FYSIKA FYSIKA, 288

● GDC Award, 217, 231, 251 Gemeinde Kössen, 266 General Mountain, 227 Glomma, 255 Grafis Nusantara, 258 ● Hachette-Livre, 294 Hi-lighter, 251 HNZ Constructions, 235 Hyundai Cards, 271 ● ICAMCSD, 236 Iceland Symphony Orchestra, 218 Institut Ramon Llull, 286 ● Johnson Controls, 245 Justin Brannan, 295 ● Klangwelt Toggenburg, 241 Kunsthalle Basel, 222, 225, 226 ● LatimLove, 280 LOEWE, 234 Lynn Pauley, 297 ● Mantice Spirits, 291 MoMA, 268 Moropoulos Winery, 254 ● Netflix, 283 NiEW, 229 Ningbo University, 257 Njörður, 239 Norrin, 219 ● Objektiv by Dnevnik, 259 OpenAI, 216, 223, 269 Orika, 247 Orkest Phion, 219 ● PEIPING MACHINE, 249 Personal, 260, 263, 307 Philadelphia Museum of Art, 240 PostNord, 247 Post Post Hotel, 225 ● Qianmen Street Management Committee, Tianjie Group, 238, 250

● Rakish Entertainment, 215, 281 ● Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim, 262 Shandong University, 244 Shanghai Bianyan Culture Communication Co., Ltd., 290 Shui On Xintiandi, 289 Slanted Publishers, 264 Spatial Festival, 214, 221, 228 Staatstheater Mainz, 270 Stanford University d.school, 292 Studio Art Gallery of South Australia, 220 Studio Dumbar/DEPT, 216 Studio Njörður, 218 ● Tattour, 278 Tavern on the Green, 285 TEDx PetalingStreet, 239 Théâtre aux Écuries, 231 The Butter, 230, 283 The Design Museum Den Bosh, 296 The New York Times for Kids, 259, 260 The New York Times Magazine, 217, 255 The Public Theater, 220, 252 The Royal Institute of Philosophy, 230, 241 The Telegraph Magazine, 256 Tianjin University of Technology, 285 Type Week, 233 ● UDRA STUDIO, 242 Underware, 306 United Nations, 288 ● VG – Verdens Gang AS, 311 VolksWagen, 308 ● Youcishan, 246 ● Zhenzhen Culture, 252

Typography 47—Appendix

Imprint TYPE DIRECTORS CLUB 450 W 31st St, 6th Floor New York, NY 10001 Tel: 212 979 1900 tdc@oneclub.org The TDC is part of The One Club for Creativity Slanted Publishers UG (haftungsbeschränkt) Nördliche Uferstraße 4–6 76189 Karlsruhe Germany T +49 (0) 721 85148268 info@slanted.de slanted.de @slanted_publishers © Slanted Publishers Karlsruhe, 2026 © Texts by the authors All rights reserved. 978-3-69202-013-6 1st edition 2026

Editors Type Driectors Club NY Project Management: Yash Egami (Chief Operating Officer, The One Club for Creativity) Griffin (Griff) McCabe (Program Manager, Type Directors Club) Joe Newton (Executive Director, Type Directors Club) Carol Wahler (Executive Director Emeritus, Type Directors Club) Design Creative Direction: Lars Harmsen, Marian Misiak Design: Lars Harmsen, Pola Małaczewska, Marian Misiak Final Design: Julia Kahl Publishing Direction: Lars Harmsen, Julia Kahl Production Management: Julia Kahl Custom typeface and icons (cover and interior) by Morcos Key. morcoskey.com Production Printer: printmedia experts / printmedia-experts.de Fonts: Milling, Noto sans

tdc The Type Directors Club (TDC), based in New York City, is an international organization dedicated to typography, type design, and letterform education. Since 1946, the TDC has brought together a global community of type and design professionals, promoting excellence through its competitions, exhibitions, talks, and publications. It supports emerging talent and celebrates typographic innovation across disciplines. Slanted Publishers Slanted Publishers is an independent design, publishing and media house founded in 2014 by Lars Harmsen and Julia Kahl. They publish the award-winning print magazine Slanted biannually featuring global design and culture. Since 2004, the daily blog highlights international design and showcases inspiring video interviews. Slanted Publishers initiates and creates publications, focusing on contemporary design and visual culture, working closely with editors and authors to produce outstanding publications with meaningful content and high quality. Slanted was born from great passion and has made a name for itself across the globe. Its design is vibrant and inspiring—its philosophy open-minded, tolerant, and curious.

Typography 47—Appendix

Imprint Lars Harmsen Juggling roles like head of design at Munich-based agency Melville Brand Design and steering the ship at Slanted Publishers together with Julia Kahl. He’s been dishing out typographic wisdom since 2011 at Dortmund University and even took his show to the American University of Sharjah. Ever the multitasker, he runs the 100for10 book series and pilots Poster Rex’s silkscreen extravaganzas. He’s practically an artistic library with a mountain of design, typography, and photography books under his belt. And as the clock keeps ticking, he’s left wondering: What’s the grand purpose of this circus, anyway? Pola Małaczewska Research freak and a communication designer. Besides digging through the archives, she works as an independent designer—crafting brands, books and cultural projects. Collaborates with Three Dots Type. Marian Misiak A jet-lag-proof typographer, type designer, author of books and type specimens. He is the founder of Three Dots Type, a platform that distributes fonts with stories. A frequent collaborator with Slanted Publishers and other culturally driven creatives.

Disclaimer All rights reserved. This publication, including all texts, images and design elements, is protected by copyright. Any reproduction, adaptation, translation or distribution beyond applicable copyright law requires the publisher’s prior permission. The contents have been prepared with care; however, the publisher and editors do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or currency of the information provided. Liability is excluded to the extent permitted by law. The German National Library lists this publication in the German National Bibliography; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at dnb.de

Thanks The Type Directors Club in New York has a 80 year history shaped by the people who have sustained, challenged, and advanced it. We extend our deepest gratitude to Carol Wahler, who served as Executive Director of the Type Directors Club from 1983 to 2025 and, in doing so, helped write an extraordinary chapter of its history. Her imprint on the Club— and on this publication—is profound. Our sincere thanks go to all the judges who dedicated their time, expertise, and care to reviewing this year’s many submissions. From 1,500 entries representing 68 countries, more than 30 writing systems, our expert juries selected 220 outstanding projects. Each judge’s individual opinion carries equal weight in this process. While judging takes place online today, it was historically conducted in person using what became affectionately known as the “cup and token” system. Every entry—whether a physical piece such as a poster, book, or type specimen, or a digital work presented in print or on screen— was accompanied by a small cup into which judges placed their tokens. Throughout this book, a dot motif ● echoes this element of TDC history: a small symbol of a longstanding commitment to considered and equitable judging. Finally, we thank all the contributors whose work fills these pages. Your submissions are a testament to the living conversation between form, function, language, culture, and the moment in which design is made. Without your work, curiosity, and commitment, this publication—and the community it represents—would not exist.

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● The book is a resource for typographic exploration,

special index listing the principal typefaces used and the names of their designers. Tcontaining insights into the state of the art, including project descriptions, essays and jury commentary, plus indexes of the typefaces, designers, and agencies involved in each project. Featured countries include Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, San Marino, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, and more. We hope you enjoy the journey.

● “The World’s Best Typography” annual has been a travelogue and global showcase for exceptional typographic work; typography not as a static discipline but as a living conversation between form, function, and cultural moment. Contained herein is a curated selection, drawn from nearly 1500 submissions across 68 countries, 281 cities, and more than 30 writing systems. From that abundance, our expert juries selected the 220 greatest projects. The work assembled in these pages has reached the top through passion, vision, innovation, and sometimes sheer audacity. The best global student work is included here, too, allowing us to cast our eye forward to what the future of the profession may hold. The book is a resource for typographic exploration, containing insights into the state of the art, including project descriptions, essays and jury commentary, plus indexes of the typefaces, designers, and agencies involved in each project.

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