New York: The Type Directors Club (TDC), a global authority in typography and design, has announced the inaugural winners of its newly introduced Type-High awards as part of the prestigious TDC72 competition. The winners were unveiled at a special awards ceremony and exhibition held at The Lighthouse in Brooklyn.
The 2026 edition marks the debut of the physical Type-High Gold, Silver and Bronze awards, alongside the long-standing TDC Certificates of Merit. The new Type-High awards were named and designed by longtime TDC collaborator, life member and Chairman Emeritus Graham Clifford.
This year, the competition honoured 13 Gold, 26 Silver, 28 Bronze and 92 Certificates of Merit, recognising outstanding achievements across communication design, lettering and type design.
The TDC72 Best of Discipline winners are:
* Communication Design: SMLXL New York with Mallandrich Barcelona for “Spatial Festival 2025” (Spatial Festival)
* Lettering: Neighbour Co. Hong Kong SAR China for “Tattour 2025 Identity” (Tattour)
* Type Design: Adobe Tokyo for “Momochidori Variable Font”, designed by Ryoko Nishizuka and Frank Grießhammer
Among the recipients of the first-ever Type-High Gold awards were Adobe Tokyo for “Momochidori Variable Font”, Base Design New York for “12 Matcha”, Daniel Frumhoff Design New York for “Stanford d.school Yearbook ’24”, Neighbour Co. Hong Kong SAR China for “Tattour 2025 Identity”, SMLXL New York with Mallandrich Barcelona for “Spatial Festival 2025”, Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam with OpenAI Creative Studio San Francisco for “OpenAI DevDay 2025” (winning two Golds in separate categories), The New York Times Magazine for “Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A.”, and Underware The Hague for “Herby, a holographic typeface”, among others.
Studio Dumbar/DEPT Rotterdam emerged as one of the competition’s most successful entrants, securing two Golds, two Silvers and a Certificate of Merit. SMLXL New York followed with one Gold, two Silvers, one Bronze and a Certificate of Merit.
The global jury, led by Communication Design Jury President Lisa Smith, Global Chief Design Officer at Uncommon Creative Studio, New York; Lettering Jury President Mary Kate McDevitt; and Type Design Jury President Aleksandra Samuļenkova, selected winners representing 40 countries and regions. The United States led with 93 winning entries, followed by Mainland China with 23, the Netherlands and Spain with nine each, and the United Kingdom with seven.
In addition to receiving Type-High awards or Certificates of Merit, winners will receive a digital certification recognising their work among the world’s best typography of the year. Their work will also be featured in the upcoming TDC Annual, The World’s Best Typography®, scheduled for publication in September, and showcased in travelling exhibitions at museums, schools and design organisations worldwide.
The TDC72 winners will also earn points in The One Club for Creativity’s Global Creative Rankings, alongside winners from competitions including The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Art Directors Club of Europe (ADCE) and ONE Asia Creative Awards.
