TDC Announces Type Drive Commerce Conference for Spring 2026

Nov. 04, 2025

The global Type Directors Club has announced the next version of its annual Type Drives Culture conference series: Type Drives Commerce, exploring the practical insights on how typography impacts business results.

Taking place on March 13, 2026 at Fordham University at Lincoln Center, 113 W 60th St. in New York, Type Drives Commerce is rooted in practical insights, spotlighting real-world case studies that demonstrate how typography fuels communication, differentiation, and measurable business results. Forgoing the typical “inspiration for inspiration’s sake” eye candy of many conferences, this one addresses how type drives impact, at scale. 

The focused gathering – TDC’s first in-person Type Drives Culture conference in six years after a series of virtual events – is intended for professional designers, in-house creative leaders, and brand decision-makers, in an intimate environment with a capacity of 350 attendees.  The day includes speaker talks and networking opportunities, followed by an afterparty and marketplace.  Ticketing and other information is available here.

The Type Drive Commerce agenda includes presentations from industry leaders, case studies showing type’s impact on brands, and new voices and point of views paired together for one-of-a-kind conversation.

Confirmed speaker so far include: 

• Teddy Blanks, title designer, CHIPS, Brooklyn
• Jolene Delisle, managing partner, founder, The Working Assembly, New York 
• Gary Fogelson, partner, Other Means, Brooklyn
• Lauren Hom, letterer, illustrator, designer, Hom Sweet Hom, Detroit, USA
• Jeremy Mickel, founder, creative director, MCKL Design, Los Angeles
• John Kudos, managing partner KUDOS Design Collaboratory, New York
• Min Lew, managing partner, executive creative director, BASE Design, New York
• Audrie Poole, executive producer, partner, Sunday Afternoon, New York
• Rich Tu, executive creative director, partner, Sunday Afternoon, New York
• Zipeng Zhu, artist, creative director, Dazzle, New York

Sessions will cover topics including:

• The Future of Type Licensing
• The Modern Economics of Type Design
• AI and the Future of Type Design
• Type as a Brand Asset
• Custom Type Across Touchpoints
• Cinematic Letterforms/Type in Film
• Letterform Hype: How Type Shapes Culture 

Joe Newton, TDC executive director said:

"We see Type Drives Commerce as a curated series of keynotes, panel discussions, and one-on-one chats, designed to directly engage a broad range of players in the typographic ecosystem."

 

Griffin McCabe, TDC Program Manager added:

“The conference brings together people who rarely sit in the same room — designers who create typographic systems and the business leaders who fund it – to foster forward-thinking conversations that evoke the community and industry." 

 

Recent successful TDC Type Drives Culture conferences include 2022’s Ezhishin, the first-ever conference dedicated to Native North American typography, and 2023’s Cha Cha Chi, focused on the dynamic range and rhythm of Latin American culture as it manifests visually, and typographically.