MAM
Type Directors Club opens call for entries for global TDC70 Competition
Mumbai: The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization, has opened the call for entries for its prestigious TDC70 competition.
As changed last year, the program is a single competition under the TDC70 umbrella consisting of three disciplines: Communication Design, Lettering, and Type Design.
The Communication Design discipline encompasses any design or creation that uses type, lettering, or written language as a significant element, and is an expansion of what was previously the TDC Communications Design discipline. Typography includes graphic design, UI/UX, environmental design or architecture with typographic elements, film, animation and motion design, social media campaigns, new media, and anything else where typography is used.
The dedicated discipline for Lettering is for work where the letters were created or modified. This includes contemporary lettering, traditional calligraphy, sign painting, wordmarks and custom logos, digital or analogue distortions, eccentric display typefaces, and more. This new discipline, now in its second year, has its own dedicated jury, made up of some of the world’s leading lettering practitioners and experts.
Type Design is for entries showcasing the design of typefaces. It also allows for entries of any thematically applicable code or software, such as software for creating or generating type.
To be eligible, work must have been produced or published in the 2023 calendar year. Early bird deadline for entry is 27 October, with entry fees increasing for the regular deadline of 8 December, and final deadline on 26 January 2024.
Juries will be announced shortly. Across the three juries, TDC70 will have native experts for writing systems spanning Arabic, Cyrillic, Indic, CJK, Thai, and select African scripts. While the competition always accepted international and multilingual entries, the addition of more judges in recent years was a reflection of TDC’s commitment to have a greater number of the most appropriate experts judging designs for which they have a deep knowledge.
The TDC competition regularly receives entries from more than 60 countries. To make TDC70 as accessible as possible on a global level, the organization is offering significant regional discounts on entry fees.
Approximately half of the world’s countries qualify for a 60 percent discount, and another quarter of them receive a 20 per cent discount, with only the most economically prosperous countries and regions paying the full entry fee. Additional discounts are also available to TDC members and students.
Winners of TDC70 receive a Certificate of Typographic Excellence and 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 eight exhibitions that travel to museums, schools and design organizations around the world.
TDC70 winners are also part of The One Club’s prestigious Global Creative Rankings, earning points alongside winners in The One Show and ADC Annual Awards to chart the world’s leading independent creatives, ad agencies, production companies, and brands.
This year’s TDC70 competition committee is chaired by Eric Q. Liu, typographer, editor, podcaster and writer with The Type in Tokyo, with support from TDC Advisory Board members John Kudos, managing partner, KUDOS Design Collaboratory and KASA Collective, New York, and Trisha Tan, design director, Brooklyn, NY.
Branding for this year’s competition was created by Wolff Olins, with fonts generously donated by Neubau, based in Berlin.
“Each year, the TDC has epitomized the essence of the current era,” said Wolff Olins global principal Thomas Wilder. “This year, we wanted to challenge the all-too-common approach of looking to the future or to the past, and instead bring urgency and importance to the present moment. We set out with the idea ‘Made For Now’ to design with the power of ephemerality in an ever-changing world.”
“TDC’s annual competition strives to always remain relevant to the greater typographic community in all regions and cultures, and we’re excited to accept and celebrate entries in more disciplines and styles than ever before,” said Type Directors Club executive director Carol Wahler.
MAM
Promotedge marks 11 years with expansion into D2C and performance marketing
Kolkata-based agency strengthens global footprint and launches new platforms.
MUMBAI: Promotedge has spent 11 years quietly building momentum and now it’s ready to take a much bigger leap. The Kolkata-based integrated marketing and branding agency, founded in 2015, has completed 11 years of steady growth, evolving from a local creative firm into a full-service marketing partner with a growing international presence. With operational hubs in the US and Canada through its platform PromotEdgeDigital, the agency now serves clients across India, the US, Canada, Australia, and the Middle East.
Over the past 11 years, Promotedge has partnered with more than 200 businesses across diverse industries. Guided by its “Digitally Desi” philosophy which blends cultural insight with data-driven execution, the agency offers end-to-end services including web solutions, digital marketing, creative design, brand planning, and audio-visual production.
In its eleventh year, the agency made significant strides by developing branded IPs and content series for the automotive and industrial sectors, creating audio-visual content for international sporting bodies like the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, and strengthening its performance marketing capabilities, particularly on quick-commerce platforms such as Zepto, Blinkit, Flipkart, and Swiggy Instamart.
To further boost its D2C focus, Promotedge has integrated the operations of Fizzle Digital into its performance marketing division, now led by founders Avi Saraf and Jhalak Agarwal. The agency continues to serve B2B clients in sectors like steel, energy, engineering, and infrastructure.
Beyond traditional services, Promotedge has introduced new platforms. DesiMachines is an online marketplace for heavy engineering and construction equipment, supported by two financial institutions and six top OEMs. The agency also launched Pexora, a joint venture with Prodigy focused on workspace design, branding, experiential marketing, and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) solutions in Eastern and North Eastern India.
Additionally, Promotedge nurtures The Trip Space, a boutique travel brand that curates personalised, luxury journeys for high-net-worth travellers.
Promotedge CEO Saurav Agarwal said, “PromotEdge has always been built with a long-term vision. Our goal is to develop capabilities that provide long-term value to our clients.”
As it approaches its 12th year, the agency plans to expand its global clientele, deepen D2C and performance marketing capabilities, invest in AI-enabled solutions, and strengthen its platform-led initiatives.
From a modest start in Kolkata to building platforms and partnerships across borders, PromotEdge is proving that smart, culturally rooted marketing can travel far and deliver real impact. The agency is clearly gearing up for an even bigger chapter ahead.
