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Type Directors Club x COLLINS

The Type Directors Club (TDC), a 65-year-old institution devoted to the sacred art of typography, found itself facing an age-old challenge: how to inspire a new generation of designers to enter its 60th International Typography Competition. The TDC, after all, isn’t interested in the ordinary—it seeks the bold, the revolutionary, the future of form itself.

COLLINS collaborated with the organization to create a campaign that would resonate with both the TDC’s venerable legacy and the ambitions of young designers eager to break from convention. Our strategy, “Find the Future of Form,” spoke to this dual desire. The TDC wants to unearth the most remarkable typographic expressions, and designers yearn to create work that defies the familiar, that rises above the noise.

For our campaign, “A New Generation,” we built a bespoke software application. It generated typographic expressions that constantly shifted, influenced by real-time data streams.

A microsite allowed designers everywhere to engage with the software, crafting their own unique creations—a playground for the type-obsessed.

We also produced a short documentary film, turning the lens on design luminaries and posing the question: “What happens when typography becomes conscious?” The film enriched the campaign, deepening the conversation around the evolution of typography in a digital age.

The campaign extended into the annual, documenting the most remarkable typography of the year.

And a limited edition poster.

“A New Generation” was a first-of-its-kind fusion of data visualization, context-aware computing, and co-creation expressed across print, film, and digital. It invited designers to not just participate, but to actively shape the future of typography, ensuring that the TDC’s search for excellence remains as vital as ever.

Credits

Tom Wilder

Leland Maschmeyer

Brett Renfer

Brian Collins

Hugo & Marie