NEW YORK, April 28, 2026 — The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization, has announced 161 finalists from 40 countries for its prestigious TDC72 competition.
This marks the first time the global organization has announced competition finalists in its nearly 80-year history. All finalists will win newly created physical Gold, Silver, or Bronze Type-High awards, or Merits, to be announced on July 16, 2026 at a special TDC72 awards ceremony and exhibition taking place at The Lighthouse in Brooklyn.
The annual global TDC competition celebrates creative excellence in three disciplines: Communication Design, Lettering, and Type Design.
Communication Design: 99 finalists
SMLXL New York has five Communication Design finalists. They include two, working with Mallandrich Barcelona, for “Spatial Festival 2025” for Spatial Festival, one with Principi Barcelona also on “Spatial Festival 2025” for Spatial Festival, one with Principi Barcelona for Orika, and one for Hyundai Cards.
Also with five finalists is Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam, including three working with OpenAI Creative Studio San Francisco on “OpenAI DevDay 2025” for OpenAI, and one each for Aithyra “Transforming Life Science” and their own “DEMO 2025 — Design in Motion Festival”.
The New York Times New York has four TDC72 finalists, including two each for The New York Times Magazine “Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A.” and The New York Times for Kids “The Huge Issue” (one each for the issue and cover).
Four entrants have three Communication Design finalists each: By-Enjoy Fujian, Ntsal Cairo, Pentagram New York, and Porto Rocha Brooklyn.
Lettering: 26 finalists
Kevin Cantrell Studio Mantua leads the TDC72 Lettering discipline with three finalists. They include one each for “TOTG Playing Cards Red Edition”, “Bebemos Playing Cards”, and “La Bible des Cocktails 2025-2026 Cover”.
Tarek Atrissi Design Barcelona has two Lettering finalists, including one working with American University of Beirut Beirut and Rada and Mutaz Sawaf Center for Arab Comics Studies Beirut on “Book design for the Mahmoud Kahil Awards” for Center for Arab Comics Studies at AUB, and the other for “From Bauhaus to Mecca Exhibition Design” on behalf of The Design Museum Den Bosch.
Type Design: 36 finalists
Five entrants were tied with two finalists each in the TDC72 Type Design discipline: Contrast Foundry San Francisco, DualType Guadalajara, TypeTogether Prague, typographies.fr Villeurbanne, and Typotheque The Hague.
About TDC72
For the first time, TDC will present physical Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards starting this year. The new Type-High award was designed and named by longtime TDC collaborator, life member, and organization Chairman Emeritus Graham Clifford.
In addition to receiving Type-High awards or Merits, winners get a digital seal certifying their work is among the world’s best of the year. Winning work will also be featured in the highly respected TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, and showcased in a number of exhibitions that travel to museums, schools, and design organizations around the world.
TDC72 winners are also part of The One Club for Creativity’s prestigious Global Creative Rankings, earning points alongside winners in The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Director Club of Europe (ADCE), and ONE Asia Creative Awards, to chart the world’s leading independent creatives, design firms, ad agencies, production companies, and brands.
The complete TDC72 finalists list can be viewed here.
Follow TDC at tdc.org, IG: @typedirectors
The One Club for Creativity – home of The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) awards, ONE Asia Creative Awards, Type Directors Club competition and scholarships, ADC Young Guns, Young Ones Student Awards, Next Creative Leaders, ONE School, ONE Creator Lab, Where Are All The Black People conference and career fair, Portfolio Night, Creative Week, and more – is the world’s foremost non-profit organization whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community. Revenue generated from entries to its global awards shows goes back into the industry to fund programs that support industry access, creative education, up-skilling, re-skilling, and placement and enhancement of creative careers around the world.
