Enter the world’s premier Typography and Typeface design competition

[grahamclif]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

The Type Directors Club has been promoting excellence in typography for over 65 years. This years deadline for entries is December 14, 2012. A list of international judges have been assembled to judge the best work of 2012.
Categories include experimental, digital, self-promotion, posters, motion, student etc.

https://www.tdc.org/type-competition/#.ULUXmaWhD8s

[5star]

Awesome!

Just a question... does the TDC generate money from the book or traveling exhibition(s) of the winning submissions?

n.

[grahamclif]

The Type Directors Club is the leading international organization whose purpose is to support excellence in typography, both in print and on screen. Founded in 1946 by some of the industry’s leading practitioners, the TDC’s earliest membership included Aaron Burns, Will Burtin, Freeman Craw, Louis Dorfsman, Gene Federico, Edward M. Gottschall, Herb Lubalin, Edward Rondthaler, Bradbury Thompson, and Hermann Zapf. With this solid historical background, the TDC today represents the best of today’s type design and type use.

The TDC holds two yearly type competitions: one for the use of type and the letterform in design and the other, typeface design. The winners are reproduced in our Typography Annual, published by HarperCollins Publishers, as well as displayed in seven exhibits that travel worldwide. In addition to celebrating outstanding achievements, the typography competitions and resulting annuals serve as important historical records of typographic trends, and are an invaluable resource for both designers and scholars.

Education has always been an important part of the Type Directors Club’s mission. The TDC began offering lectures in 1947, the second year of the Club’s existence. Called Ten Talks on Type, the lectures were given by James Secrest, Arnold Bank, Gene Ettenberg, Charles Felton, Milton Zudeck, O. Alfred Dickman, Joseph Weiler, Frank Powers, and Hal Zamboni. The series’ success led to it becoming an annual event. In 1958, the Club extended its reach to an international day-long seminar at the Silvermine Artists Guild in New Canaan, Connecticut, which drew 500 attendees.

In 1959, the TDC ran Typography USA at the Biltmore Hotel in Manhattan. Speakers included Saul Bass, Herbert Bayer, Lester Beall, Will Burtin, Lou Dorfsman, Alvin Eisenmann, Gene Federico, William Golden, Allen Hurlburt, Leo Lionni, Herb Lubalin, Paul Rand, Ladislav Sutnar, and Bradbury Thompson.

Among the many speakers and teachers in the intervening years have been Aaron Burns, Klaus Schmidt, Ed Gottschall, Tom Carnase, Bruno Brugnatelli, Milton Glaser, Hermann Zapf, Eileen Hedy Schultz, Ed Benguiat, Olaf Leu, Martin Solomon, Günter Gerhard Lange, and Freeman Craw.

The current lecture and class schedule offered by the TDC continues apace. The Education Committee has been developing course offerings at all levels of proficiency that reflect today’s needs and interests, and the Event Committee continues scheduling monthly Type Salons in our Manhattan space.

The TDC is the home for typography—a physical meeting place and a strong professional affiliation. We welcome all in advertising, communications, education, marketing, and publishing who have a keen interest in type and the written word: graphic designers, art directors, editors, multimedia professionals, students, and entrepreneurs.

The TDC is a not for profit organization.

[5star]

Thanks for the reply, I'll take that as a yes.

n.

[hrant]

Those are some good judges!

hhp

[Chris Dean]

Am I correct in reading that I pay to enter, and if I win, I pay again?

[5star]

That's my point Chris. I was a Governor of a national not-for-profit organization so I know a lot about the sort of parameters within which the TDC can operate.

Hence my question...

Just a question... does the TDC generate money from the book or traveling exhibition(s) of the winning submissions?

Notice I didn't get a direct answer to my question.

And did I miss the TDC's early bird post?

n.

[hrant]

Indeed punishing the winners is the first thing I would change. I've been saying that since the late 90s.

hhp

[5star]

Since the late 90s? Hm.

If this org is anything that I'm familiar with I would say that the TDC is perpetual financial woes ...in fact they might be in a downward spiral. These sort of orgs have two main problems. Firstly it looks inward ...instead of looking outward. Secondly it has an arrogance that comes from a time when it was the only show in town. And, it may very well be top heavy.

Just sayin'

n.

[hrant]

It's been around for a while, and it has some great members. Financial troubles come and go - that doesn't really determine the core spirit of what is essentially a cultural organization.

Much of my own exposure to the TDC has been via James Montalbano, which is of course pretty limiting. Now that James has gone postal I'm interested to see how perceptions -if only my own- will change. And hopefully they'll figure out ways to improve their competitions (like give the judges much more time).

hhp

[hrant]

BTW Graham, could you explain the "experimental" category? Is that something new?

hhp

[grahamclif]

Sure thing, experimental and unpublished categories were introduced in last years competition. We are intrigued to see what folks are coming up with when not toiling on client paying work.

[grahamclif]

Charging a nominal publication/hanging fee on the winners work enables us to keep the initial entry fee price down which we hope encourages more entries.

The TDC entry fees are very competitive with the other award organizations.

[J.Montalbano]

Sorry to show up unannounced.

One of my colleagues tipped me off to this thread. I see not much has changed since I "went postal". Is that what it is Hrant? Deciding that reading your endless shit is "going postal" well if that is the case I'm surprised that the majority of the folks here have not "gone postal" already.

Regarding "improving" the competition. Aren't you always going on about improving this or that? No skin off of your ass huh. Regarding the judges needing more time. This has been one of your idiot obsessions for years now. Hasn't it? Every year at the end of the competition, I ask the judges, "Did you have enough time." Their answer, every year is "Yes. Plenty of time, no reason to change the way this goes."

Weren't you going to organize some special type design competition? I remember you going on and on about it a while ago. What happened? Too real for you?

[hrant]

Graham, FYI I myself am only focusing on the type design part.

keep the initial entry fee price down which we hope encourages more entries.

If you don't mind let's do the math (although roughly). Last year there were 173 entries and 13 winners. Choosing a mid-range entry (Type Family, Non-Member) this year's entry fee is $110 and the publication/hanging fee is $100. If you split 13 × $100 = $1,300 into 173 you get $7.51. So if you charged $118 (instead of $110) to enter but did not charge a publication/hanging fee you'd about break even.

Now, I have to agree that charging $8 more might reduce the number of entries, but maybe not worrying about the $100 fee for winning might offset that. But most of all: it's more straight-forward, more honest; right now it really feels like a "hidden cost" to some people (even though I admit it's not really hidden).

hhp

[eliason]

If the incremental money is really funding the publication and hanging of the winners' works, it seems "more straightforward, more honest" to me to have those costs borne by those winners, rather than subsidized by the losers who get nothing out of it.

[hrant]

It's a competition: losers aren't supposed to be rewarded, and winners aren't supposed to be punished. It's not the US tax system. :-)

The one thing a loser should -and does- get is anonymity.

BTW I can't think of any other type design competition that has ever charged winners anything. Is it common practice in other types of design competitions?

hhp

[Chris Dean]

Personally, I’ve always felt competitions cheapen the profession. I don’t remember the last time I saw a surgery competition. And who would the judges be? The test patients ;P

[5star]

If not adverse to paying my share ...just as long as TDC doesn't profit or gain, in any form, from the publication or the traveling exhibition of the winner work/property. Hence my original question. Why should I be /forced/ to pay for your profit/gain.

Can I opt out of the publication and traveling exhibitions?

That would be my choice ...I've already won the prize ...and I opt out of the publication and the traveling road show.

Take the cash and run!!!

n.

[hrant]

Why should I be /forced/ to pay for your profit/gain.

Well, you're not forced to enter the competition. And I don't think anybody expects you to enter to make the TDC better off; people expect you to enter hoping to get something out of it. You know, a mutually-beneficial gambit.

BTW, I do think "the TDC is a not for profit organization" is a pretty good answer to your question.

Can I opt out of the publication and traveling exhibitions?

Officially, yes. But from what I understand (at least as of the last time I managed to "extract" the info) no winner has ever done that. So I guess that scenario hasn't been tested - but if push comes to shove I'd expect the TDC to exclude you lest it sets a damaging precedent.

BTW, there's no cash - it's strictly fame & glory.

hhp

[5star]

BTW, there's no cash - it's strictly fame & glory.

hhp

Madness!!!

n.

[JamesM]

> I don’t remember the last time I saw a surgery competition

True, but in the medical world there are various levels of certification, but in the U.S. there is no certification for designers; anyone can call themself a designer. So I think some professionals view awards as something to show clients as a way of validating their abilities. Contest fees are part of the cost of doing business.

[Thomas Phinney]

I have no idea why Graham can't answer a direct question, but I'll share my understanding from the outside.

The entry fees cover the expenses of bringing the judges together for judging, which presumably include airfare, hotel and meals for those who are outside NYC.

The winners' fees contribute towards the expenses of mounting the traveling exhibit and showing it at other conferences and locations. For example, the TDC award winners are typically shown in a huge display at both TypeCon (somewhere in the US) and ATypI (somewhere else in the world).

As ATypI Treasurer, I can attest that ATypI pays a goodly chunk of the costs of getting the exhibit to our conference (this year was Hong Kong). However, my recollection is that we aren't normally covering all the costs. For example, the costs of actually printing each entry out as a big full-color poster....

[charles_e]

@ Mr. Dean:
Personally, I’ve always felt competitions cheapen the profession.

So, what kind of measurements don't cheapen the profession?

[5star]

Thanks Thomas, I'm cool with whatever... I understand it's all a labor of love anyways.

Hey Graham, into which category should I enter a sculpture? Communication Design seems right. And for a historical reference ...think artist Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture.

Even though I'll have to pony up for the Jan. 15the submission deadline ...I think it's time to raise the bar.

n.