The Type Directors Club returns with its first conference in six years—and the lineup says everything.
There’s a version of a design conference you’ve been to before. The one where inspiration floats around the room with rinse and repeat themes, where panels feel familiar, where you leave energized but not quite sure what changed. Type Drives Commerce, the Type Directors Club’s first conference in six years, is not that conference.
Scheduled for March 13, 2026, at the Pope Auditorium at Fordham University Lincoln Center in New York City, Type Drives Commerce is a single-track, 300-person event built around one stubbornly practical question: what does typography actually do for a business? Not in theory. Not in the abstract. In real organizations, with real budgets, real approval processes, and real stakes.
The answer, it turns out, is a lot. And the people on this stage have the receipts.
A New Era for TDC
For those who’ve followed the Type Directors Club across its 78-year history, this conference marks something more than a return to programming. It signals a new chapter — new executive leadership, a reinvigorated board, and a renewed commitment to making TDC the place where the global typography community gathers to do serious work together. The organization that has shaped how the world perceives language for nearly eight decades is finding its footing for what comes next, and Type Drives Commerce is the clearest expression yet of what that looks like.
Chairing the event is Jolene Delisle, founder of The Working Assembly and TDC Board Member, whose agency has spent nearly a decade building brands for everyone from unicorn startups like Klarna and Zola to cultural institutions like NYC Pride and NYC Tourism. Delisle opens the day with the question that brought everyone here: what does type actually do for a brand — and how do we measure what it’s worth?
It’s the right question at the right moment. Typography is everywhere — on every screen, every package, every sign, every title card — and yet its business impact is chronically underacknowledged. Type Drives Commerce exists to change that.
The Lineup
Let’s be direct: this speaker list is something.
Hosts & Programming
Zipeng Zhu & Lauren Hom will be hosting throughout the day.
Zipeng Zhu—Artist & Creative Director; Dazzle
Chinese-born artist, designer, educator, and founder of the award-winning creative studio DAZZLE in New York City. Apple, Adidas, Adobe, Coca-Cola, Instagram, Microsoft, Netflix, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Uber, MTV, and Samsung.
Lauren Hom—Designer & Lettering Artist; Hom Sweet Hom
Designer and lettering artist best known for turning passion projects into a thriving creative business through the power of the internet. Her clients include Vans, Target, Google, and Adobe.
John Kudos — Managing Partner, KUDOS Design Collaboratory
Global Type Showcase: Curated short films shown throughout the day from countries all over the world discuss the state of type, such as Lebanon, Indonesia, Spain, Thailand, and more. PRINT Awards “2024 Agency of the Year.” 24 years of experience including seven years at Pentagram. Founder of type foundry WeType.
Sessions
How Type Drives Commerce: The Crossroads of Creativity and Commerce
Conference Chair Jolene Delisle sets the agenda: where creativity meets commerce, type is the through line.
Jolene Delisle—Founder, The Working Assembly / Conference Chair
Jolene Delisle is a Forbes Next 1000 honoree and an Adweek Creative 100. Her work has been recognized by TDC, PRINT, D&AD, and The One Show with clients including Klarna, Zola, NYC Tourism, NYC Pride, Evian, and MassMutual.
The Typographic Ecosystem: The Hidden Systems Behind Typography’s Business Impact
Typography drives commerce — but not always in the tidy, direct ways we tend to talk about it. Charles draws on his work with brands-of-brands to unpack how typography functions at scale: as an ecosystem spanning design intent, font systems, governance, workflows, and long-term lifecycle management.
Charles Nix—Senior Executive Creative Director, Monotype
Nix is lead designer for Helvetica Now creating custom typefaces for M&M’s, Progressive Insurance, and the Google Noto project.
Small Details for Big Brands: The Gap Between Design and Approval
How custom typography for global brands is shaped not just by aesthetics, but by story, relationships, and real business constraints — and how a small studio ends up designing type for some of the biggest companies in the world.
Jeremy Mickel—Founder + Type Designer, MCKL
Mickel’s clients include Adidas, Uber, and the LA28 Olympics, through partnerships with Pentagram, Collins, and Wolff Olins as well as Bon Appétit, The Atlantic, Sweetgreen, and MGM Studios.
Serious Irreverence: Building a Type Business Without Losing Your Weird
An irreverent look at what it actually takes to build a thriving type business — with the humor, candor, and warmth Edmondson is known for in the classroom.
James Edmondson—Founder, OH NO Type Co.
Founder of OH no Type Co. and co-founder of Future Fonts, James Edmondson creates custom and retail typefaces for companies including Zapier, among others. He also teaches at Type West and CCA.
Real Talk About Type-Forward Design Work: Balancing Client Needs with Creative Conviction
Sunday Afternoon’s Rich Tu (ECD + Partner), Audrie Poole (EP + Partner), and Tré Seals (Vocal Type, signed artist) discuss what it takes to stand out in today’s design landscape, sharing examples from the studio’s archives and insight into balancing client needs with creative excellence.
Rich Tu, Audrie Poole & Tré Seals—Sunday Afternoon / Vocal Type
Rich is an ADC Young Guns winner, as well as a Paul Manship Medallion recipient. He designed the FIFA World Cup poster and previously at JKR, MTV, and Nike. Audrie Poole has worked with Nike, IBM, Microsoft, and Burton Snowboards. Tré Seals is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. Vocal Type foundry creates fonts inspired by progressive movements as well as custom work for Spike Lee, Stacey Abrams, TIME Magazine, and the 2024 Harris-Walz campaign.
Afternoon Keynote
Jessica Hische—Lettering Artist & Type Designer
Hische’s clients include Barack Obama, Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom titles), The Criterion Collection, NPR, Mailchimp, The United States Postal Service, Target, Hallmark, and Penguin Books. She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, an ADC Young Gun and a New York Times best-selling author.
On Typographic Indecision: Keep It Simple, Sis.
Overindexing on typographic choices can pull a designer too close to the work. Brent explores making typeface choices quickly and automatically — playing with the familiar and reworking those blocks — and situating them in a broader art-directed world.
Brent David Freaney—Grammy-Winning Creative Director & Founder, Special Offer, Inc.
Freaney is a grammy-winning creative director. His company Special Offer, Inc. shapes visual worlds for music, culture, and emerging brands. The company’s work includes includes ongoing collaborations with Kylie Jenner, Charli XCX (BRAT campaign) with Troye Sivan (SWEAT Tour), Rosalia’s LUX, Tame Impala, and Louis Vuitton.
Panel Discussion
The Law of the Letter: The Rules of Type — and the Case for Reform
Type licensing is complicated, often misunderstood, and full of landmines. This panel unpacks the limitations and opportunities of font licenses, how they shape design decisions, and whether a “right to repair” movement for digital typefaces is overdue.
Gary Fogelson—Partner, Other Means
Other Means works with institutions and brands contributing to contemporary culture, including MoMA PS1, Yale School of Art, Baggu, Forensic Architecture, The Shed, and Japan Society.
Christine Bateup—Counsel/Director of Business and Licensing Frere-Jones Type.
Christine Bateup has a JD from NYU Law.
Phil Carey-Bergren—VP Global Licensing & Strategy, Monotype
Phil turns complicated legal terms into practical guidance for creative teams.
Chris Knott—Co-Founder and Type Director, Studio Drama
Studio Drama creates custom typefaces and global design systems for Coca-Cola, Condé Nast, Mars, New Balance, NFL, and General Mills.
How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Licensing and Draw My Own Type
Barbie. Severance. Wuthering Heights. All Custom. Here’s Why. Broadcast and cinema licensing fees vary wildly from foundry to foundry. Teddy discusses how avoiding licensing complexity became a creative strategy — and the distinction between how type functions inside a film versus how it functions in marketing one.
Teddy Blanks—Emmy-Winning Title Designer, Co-Founder, CHIPS
Blanks has created title sequences for Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar), Ben Stiller (Severance — 2x Emmy winner), and Robert Eggers (Nosferatu, The Lighthouse). This is Teddy’s first talk in 8 years.
My Type of Business: How Custom Type Drives Brand Relevance and Cultural Authority
From leveraging Apple’s type to transform retail into a cultural destination, to a flexible typographic voice for KANAL–Centre Pompidou, to a bespoke typeface for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — an eclectic look at how type translates business strategy into irrational brand love.
Min Lew—Managing Partner & Executive Creative Director, Base Design NYC
Lew’s clients include MoMA, Apple, Harvard, The New York Times, Meta, and Pharrell Williams. Min is also a board member of AIGA/NY, NYCxDESIGN, TDC, and is a National Design Award nominee.
Why The Conference Matters
Three hundred tickets. One stage. No parallel sessions.
Type Drives Commerce is tailored for senior creative professionals — creative directors, design VPs, brand leaders, agency principals — who have moved past needing inspiration and are ready to talk about how design work actually gets made, approved, funded, and measured. The people on stage have done exactly that, at scale, for some of the most recognized organizations in the world.
TDC has always been where the typography community comes to take stock of where the field is headed. This March, after six years away from the conference stage, it’s making that case with a program that doesn’t hedge. Typography is a business tool, through creative dynamics and culture. The people who understand that — and can demonstrate it —will be in the room.
That’s rare, and it’s intentional.
Type Drives Commerce takes place March 13, 2026 at the Pope Auditorium, Fordham University Lincoln Center, New York City. Tickets and full schedule at conference.tdc.org. PRINT readers can use this code for a special 10% discount: FriendsofTDC10.
The post Exploring the Intersection of Typography, Business, and Commerce appeared first on PRINT Magazine.