Competitions

Next Deadline December 11, 2026

Young Ones TDC

What is Young Ones TDC? The Young Ones TDC is the student competition for the Type Directors Club Competition. Established in 1946, the Type Directors Club today curates a calendar of initiatives designed to build a community through public events and platforms, support the growth of students and early-career professionals, and recognize excellence in type design across the world.

This competition accepts any work created as a student, either as a personal project or for your coursework. Explore the Young Ones TDC Categories below.

Young Ones TDC

Communication Design

YOT-A01
Communication Design: Brand Identity - Logo / Wordmark / Monogram
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A design that identifies a company or product while also communicating the brand using typography. This includes custom wordmarks, typographic logos, monograms, product or service marks, campaign and event marks, motion logos, responsive marks

Enter this Category

YOT-A02
Communication Design: Brand Identity - Brand Identity Systems
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A system of design elements that creates a visual identity for an organization or company using typography. This includes identity systems, which may include components such as logos and wordmarks, design systems, brand guidelines, stationery, templates, campaigns, packaging, websites, apps, product interfaces, motion, and spatial applications in which typography is a significant design element

Enter this Category

YOT-A03
Communication Design: Interactive - Creative Coding / Scripting
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Computer programming used to create typography that is expressive and aesthetic rather than purely functional. This includes creative-coding sketches, browser-based typography, procedural or parametric systems, plugins, WebGL or shader-based type, plotter workflows, data-responsive graphics

Enter this Category

YOT-A04
Communication Design: Interactive - Data Visualization
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for visualization of complex data where typography is a significant design element. This includes interactive charts, exploratory dashboards, storytelling, network maps, real-time data displays, projected visualizations, and data-driven typographic systems

Enter this Category

YOT-A05
Communication Design: Interactive - Software / Apps
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for software and/or apps where typography places an essential and dynamic role. This includes stand-alone apps, plug-ins, conversational interfaces, SaaS products, creative tools, plug-ins, dashboards, kiosks, and multimodal interfaces

Enter this Category

YOT-A06
Communication Design: Interactive - Wearable Tech
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Apparel combined with technology, with typography as a primary feature. This includes smartwatch and fitness interfaces, heads-up displays, AR glasses, connected accessories, smart textiles, e-ink badges, and interactive garments

Enter this Category

YOT-A07
Communication Design: Interactive - Websites
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Website and microsite designs featuring typography as a significant element. This includes responsive corporate and campaign sites, editorial platforms, portfolios, e-commerce, web publications, type-specimen microsites, and generative browser work

Enter this Category

YOT-A08
Communication Design: Music / Film / Television - Title Sequence
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Motion title and credits identity for titles and credits for television or film, for projection, streaming, or broadcast, with typography as a significant element

Enter this Category

YOT-A09
Communication Design: Music / Film / Television - Credits or Titles
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A film title identity and credits for a television show, film, streaming, or online broadcast using typography

Enter this Category

YOT-A10
Communication Design: Music / Film / Television - Music Video / Lyric Video
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Videos featuring a performance of a song or music that uses typography as a primary feature

Enter this Category

YOT-A11
Communication Design: Music / Film / Television - Music / Film / Television - Other
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for broadcast, streaming, music, and film-related typographic work that does not reasonably fit a more specific Music / Film / Television subcategory in which typography is a significant design element

Enter this Category

YOT-A12
Communication Design: Publication - Book - Cover
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Book covers with typography used as a dominant element. May include digital publications. This includes book jackets, coordinated covers, special editions, digital-edition covers, and coordinated cover systems

Enter this Category

YOT-A13
Communication Design: Publication - Book - Cover and Interior
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Book cover and interior book design for print and/or digital publications, with typography used as a dominant element. This includes complete trade books, artist books, monographs, textbooks, photo books, illustrated books, and digital editions showing both exterior and interior systems

Enter this Category

YOT-A14
Communication Design: Publication - Graphic Novel / Comic - Print
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for complete printed graphic novels or comics in which typography plays a significant role. This includes graphic novels, comics, serialized comics collected as a volume, and experimental visual narratives

Enter this Category

YOT-A15
Communication Design: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Cover
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Magazine covers or newspaper front pages in which typography is a dominant element. May include print or digital publications

Enter this Category

YOT-A16
Communication Design: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Feature / Spread
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Magazine or newspaper features/spreads, in which typography is a dominant element. May include print or digital publications.

Enter this Category

YOT-A17
Communication Design: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Full Issue
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A complete print or digital magazine or newspaper issue in which typography is a dominant element.

Enter this Category

YOT-A18
Communication Design: Spatial Design - Environmental / Experiential Lettering
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

The significant incorporation of typography in a physical, spatial, or site-specific environment intended to define or transform a space and engage the viewer. This includes building graphics, placemaking systems, public art, museum or gallery exhibitions, trade-show environments, interactive displays, responsive projections, pop-ups, and immersive experiences.

Enter this Category

YOT-A19
Communication Design: Apparel - Clothing / Bags / Shoes
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A typographic design applied to apparel items.

Enter this Category

YOT-A20
Communication Design: Billboard / Outdoor Advertising
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Advertising using static and/or dynamic elements (or a combination of both) in a public space, typically outdoors, that employs typography in a significant way. This includes campaigns, event announcements, product advertising, promotions, or any other sort of advertising

Enter this Category

YOT-A21
Communication Design: Booklet / Brochure / Catalog
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for a complete booklet, brochure, or catalog with typography used as a dominant element. Print or digital. This includes product catalogs, exhibition catalogs, lookbooks, prospectuses, programs, digital catalogs, and short-form editorial publications in which typography is a significant design element

Enter this Category

YOT-A22
Communication Design: Calendar / Diary / Journal
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for calendars and related items in which typography is a significant design element. Digital or Print.

Enter this Category

YOT-A23
Communication Design: Infographics / Information Design / Maps
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

An infographic design using typography. This includes instructional design, specialized charts, diagrams, instructional systems, forms, maps, dashboards, storytelling, interactive data stories, real-time displays, and projection-based visualizations.

Enter this Category

YOT-A24
Communication Design: Kinetic Typography
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A project featuring moving or animated typography where letterforms are combined with motion design to express ideas or moods and engage viewers. You should choose Kinetic Typography when movement of type is the central expressive idea; use Posters, Music / Film / Television: Title Sequence, Film, or music video when a specific output format defines the work

Enter this Category

YOT-A25
Communication Design: Menu / Index / Listing
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for a menu, index, or listing design using typography. This includes restaurant menus, directories, schedules, programs, price lists, indexes, inventories, timetables, and interactive listings

Enter this Category

YOT-A26
Communication Design: Packaging
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for physical containers in which products are displayed, with typography used as a dominant element

Enter this Category

YOT-A27
Communication Design: Posters
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Typography used as a primary component in print or digital posters that are static or interactive, online, or mobile-based typographic poster(s) or other mediums that explore new techniques, devices, or methods

Enter this Category

YOT-A28
Communication Design: Presentation Design / Annual Report
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A report or presentation using typography as a sigficant element. This includes investor and strategy decks, annual or impact reports, project proposals, brand-guideline presentations, product demos, interactive presentations, educational decks, and internal communications

Enter this Category

YOT-A29
Communication Design: Sign Painting / Mural
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for storefront and business signs where typography is the dominant element. This includes hand-painted signs, stamped, stenciled, or extruded forms, wall lettering, commercial murals, community murals, dimensional signs, and coordinated sign systems

Enter this Category

YOT-A30
Communication Design: Stationary / Invitations / Announcements
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Design for print or digital invitation(s), announcement(s), stationery, or card design(s) where a primary component is typography. This includews stationery suites, wedding and event invitations, save-the-dates, announcements, greeting cards, digital invitations, and coordinated correspondence systems

Enter this Category

YOT-A31
Communication Design: Analog Typesetting (Letterpress / Xerox)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Typographic layouts that use static and/or dynamic typographic layouts that employ analog methods of typesetting

Enter this Category

YOT-A32
Communication Design: Other
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

This category contains anything different that is not covered by any of the other categories but uses typography as a major element. Use Other only when no specific Communication Design category reasonably applies

Enter this Category

Young Ones TDC

Lettering

YOT-B01
Lettering: Brand Identity - Logo / Wordmark / Monogram
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering that identifies a company or product while also communicating the brand. This includes custom wordmarks, typographic logos, monograms, product or service marks, campaign and event marks, motion logos, responsive marks

Enter this Category

YOT-B02
Lettering: Interactive - Creative Coding / Scripting
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Computer programming used to manipulate lettering that is expressive and aesthetic rather than purely functional. This includes creative-coding sketches, browser-based typography, procedural or parametric systems, plugins, WebGL or shader-based type, plotter workflows, data-responsive graphics

Enter this Category

YOT-B03
Lettering: Interactive - Data Visualization
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used for the visualization of complex data where lettering is a significant design element. This includes interactive charts, exploratory dashboards, storytelling, network maps, real-time data displays, projected visualizations, and data-driven typographic systems

Enter this Category

YOT-B04
Lettering: Interactive - Software / Apps
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used as a primary feature in software and/or apps. This includes stand-alone apps, plug-ins, conversational interfaces, SaaS products, creative tools, plug-ins, dashboards, kiosks, and multimodal interfaces

Enter this Category

YOT-B05
Lettering: Interactive - Wearable Tech
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Apparel combined with technology, with lettering as a primary feature. This includes smartwatch and fitness interfaces, heads-up displays, AR glasses, connected accessories, smart textiles, e-ink badges, and interactive garments

Enter this Category

YOT-B06
Lettering: Interactive - Websites
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Website and microsite designs that feature lettering as a key element. This includes responsive corporate and campaign sites, editorial platforms, portfolios, e-commerce, web publications, type-specimen microsites, and generative browser work

Enter this Category

YOT-B07
Lettering: Music / Film / Television - Title Sequence
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used for motion title and credits identity for titles and credits for television or film, for projection, streaming, or broadcast, with lettering as a primary element.

Choose Music / Film / Television: Credits or Titles for a coordinated title-and-credit package. Choose Music / Film / Television: Title Sequence when the opening sequence alone is the primary work

Enter this Category

YOT-B08
Lettering: Music / Film / Television - Credits or Titles
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A film title identity and credits for a television show, film, streaming, or online broadcast using lettering in a significant way.

Choose Music / Film / Television: Credits or Titles for a coordinated title-and-credit package. Choose Music / Film / Television: Title Sequence when the opening sequence alone is the primary work

Enter this Category

YOT-B09
Lettering: Music / Film / Television - Music Video / Lyric Video
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Music videos featuring a performance of a song or music that uses lettering as a primary feature

Enter this Category

YOT-B10
Lettering: Music / Film / Television - Music / Film / Television - Other
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering created for broadcast, streaming, music, or film that does not reasonably fit another Music / Film / Television subcategory and in which lettering is a significant design element

Enter this Category

YOT-B11
Lettering: Publication - Book - Cover
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering that is part of the design for book covers with the lettering used as a dominant element. May include digital publications. This includes book jackets, coordinated covers, special editions, digital-edition covers, and coordinated cover systems

Enter this Category

YOT-B12
Lettering: Publication - Book - Cover and Interior
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering that is part of the Book Cover and Interior Book Design for print and/or digital publications, where lettering is used as a dominant element. This includes complete trade books, artist books, monographs, textbooks, photo books, illustrated books, and digital editions showing both exterior and interior systems

Enter this Category

YOT-B13
Lettering: Publication - Graphic Novel / Comic - Print
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used in complete printed graphic novels or comics in which lettering plays a significant role. This includes graphic novels, comics, serialized comics collected as a volume, and experimental visual narratives

Enter this Category

YOT-B14
Lettering: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Cover
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering created for magazine covers or newspaper front pages, with lettering used as a dominant element. May include print or digital publications. This includes magazine covers, special-issue covers, newspaper or section front pages, recurring cover systems, and digital-edition covers

Enter this Category

YOT-B15
Lettering: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Feature / Spread
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering created for magazine or newspaper features/spreads, with lettering used as a dominant element. May include print or digital publications. This includes feature openers, editorial spreads, long-form or investigative stories, cultural sections, supplements, and data-led features

Enter this Category

YOT-B16
Lettering: Publication - Magazine / Newspaper - Full Issue
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering created for a complete print or digital magazine or newspaper issue, with lettering used as a dominant element

Enter this Category

YOT-B17
Lettering: Spatial Design - Environmental / Experiential Lettering
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

The significant incorporation of lettering in a physical, spatial, or site-specific environment intended to define or transform a space and engage the viewer. This includes building graphics, placemaking systems, public art, museum or gallery exhibitions, trade-show environments, interactive displays, responsive projections, pop-ups, and immersive experiences

Enter this Category

YOT-B18
Lettering: Apparel
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering applied to apparel, jewelry, or accessories

Enter this Category

YOT-B19
Lettering: Billboard / Outdoor Advertising
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Advertising using static and/or dynamic lettering elements (or a combination of both) in a public space, typically outdoors, that employs lettering in a significant way

Enter this Category

YOT-B20
Lettering: Calendar / Diary / Journal
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering for calendars and related items in which lettering is a significant element

Enter this Category

YOT-B21
Lettering: Calligraphy
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Calligraphic lettering including broad-edge and pointed-pen scripts, brush calligraphy, gestural writing, formal scripts, experimental calligraphy, and digitally drawn work retaining calligraphic construction and featuring original or substantially modified lettering

Enter this Category

YOT-B22
Lettering: Graffiti / Street Art
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering and street art of all types, including tags, throw-ups, pieces, wildstyle lettering, stencils, paste-ups, public interventions, and commissioned or independent street-lettering projects featuring original or substantially modified lettering. Digital and dynamic/animated lettering approaches are also accepted

Enter this Category

YOT-B23
Lettering: Infographics / Information Design / Maps
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

An infographic design using lettering. This includes instructional design, specialized charts, diagrams, instructional systems, forms, maps, dashboards, storytelling, interactive data stories, real-time displays, and projection-based visualizations.

Enter this Category

YOT-B24
Lettering: Kinetic Lettering
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

A project featuring moving or animated lettering with motion design to express ideas or moods and engage viewers. You should choose Kinetic Typography when movement of type is the central expressive idea; use Posters, Music / Film / Television: Title Sequence, Film, or music video when a specific output format defines the work

Enter this Category

YOT-B25
Lettering: Packaging
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used in the design of physical containers in which products are displayed, where the lettering is used as a dominant element

Enter this Category

YOT-B26
Lettering: Posters
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used in print or digital posters that are static or Interactive, online, or mobile-based typographic Poster(s) or other mediums that explore new techniques, devices, or methods

Enter this Category

YOT-B27
Lettering: Promotional Materials
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used as part of promotional materials in which the lettering is a dominant element. This includes campaign toolkits, lockups, flyers, mailers, press kits, launch materials, digital assets, merchandise, and coordinated print-and-screen promotions

Enter this Category

YOT-B28
Lettering: Sign Painting / Mural
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used in signs or mural. This includes storefront and business signs, hand-painted signs, wall lettering, commercial murals, community murals, dimensional signs, and coordinated sign systems featuring original or substantially modified lettering

Enter this Category

YOT-B29
Lettering: Stationary / Invitations / Announcements
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering used for print or digital invitation(s), announcement(s), stationery, or card design(s) where a primary component is lettering. This includes stationery suites, wedding and event invitations, save-the-dates, announcements, greeting cards, digital invitations, and coordinated correspondence systems

Enter this Category

YOT-B30
Lettering: Analog Typesetting (Letterpress / Xerox)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Lettering projects that use static and/or dynamic typographic layouts that employ analog methods of typesetting

Enter this Category

YOT-B31
Lettering: Other
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

This category contains anything different that is not covered by any of the other categories but uses lettering as a major element. Use Other only when no specific Lettering category reasonably applies

Enter this Category

Young Ones TDC

Type Design

YOT-C01
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Single Style Typeface
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Typefaces supporting any one or more language(s) in one single style.

Enter this Category

YOT-C02
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Single Axis Type Family (Single Script)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Type families that contain two or more fonts that vary in one attribute, such as weight, width, slope, optical size, or any other parameter, covering any one or more languages within a single writing system. Pairs of 1 roman and 1 italic in a single weight also qualify for this category. Entries may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C03
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Single Axis Type Family (Multiscript)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Type families that contain two or more fonts that vary in one attribute, such as weight, width, slope, optical size, or any other parameter, covering more than one writing system. Pairs of 1 roman and 1 italic in a single weight also qualify for this category. Entries may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C04
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Multiple Axis Type Family (Single Script)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Type families consisting of multiple styles that vary along two or more axes or parameters — such as weight and width, or weight and slope (multiple weights with italics), or any combination of two or more parameters, covering any one or more languages within a single writing system. Entries may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C05
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Multiple Axis Type Family (Multiscript)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Type families consisting of multiple styles that vary along two or more axes or parameters — such as weight and width, or weight and slope (multiple weights with italics), or any combination of two or more parameters, covering more than one writing system. Entries may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C06
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Superfamily (Single Script)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Larger collections of distinct typefaces, which share a design concept spanning different structural styles and/or proportions, covering any one or more languages within a single writing system. This may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C07
Type Design: Text + Display Typefaces - Superfamily (Multiscript)
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Larger collections of distinct typefaces, which share a design concept spanning different structural styles and/or proportions, covering more than one writing system. This may be presented as multiple individual weights and/or as a variable font.

Enter this Category

YOT-C08
Type Design: Specialized Typefaces + Non-standard Formats - Experimental Formats
Early Deadline Fee: $45.00

Typefaces that push technological boundaries and are delivered in forms other than conventional static or variable fonts — for example containing color information, animation, interaction, three-dimensional shapes, etc., covering any one or more languages and writing systems.

Enter this Category