Type Directors Club announces global Ascenders winners

The Type Directors Club, the world’s leading typography organization, today announced the 25 talented young winners from 13 countries in the Ascenders 3 competition, celebrating international typographers, letterers, and type designers age 35 and under.

Ascenders is the world’s premier portfolio-based competition dedicated to type in all its versatile forms, and the inspiring up and coming designers — individuals or teams — who are elevating the medium.  

Ascenders 3 winners are:

• Andrej Barčák, Andrej ÄŒanecký (Andrej & Andrej), Bratislava 
• Au Chon Hin, Macao
• David Barnett, Brooklyn
• Scott Biersack, Phoenix
• Ryan Bugden, Brooklyn
• Chris Caldwell, New York
• Asal Farshchi, Tehran
• Kimya Gandhi, Berlin
• Roxane Gataud, Brussels
• Han Gao, New York
• Matthijs Herzberg, New Orleans
• Marko Hrastovec, Zagreb
• Wei Huang, Melbourne
• Ieong Kun Lam, Macao
• Alistair McCready, Auckland
• Valerio Monopoli, Barcelona
• Gemma O’Brien, Sydney
• Shivani Parasnis, Baltimore
• Claudia Rubín, Brooklyn
• Alexander Slobzheninov, Prague
• Tina Smith, Denver
• Benjamin Tuttle, Brooklyn
• Mark van Leeuwen, Berlin
• Mat Voyce, Leeds
• Kurt Woerpel, Brooklyn

Entrants submitted six projects with short descriptions, as well as a statement of their role in the project's creation, and a list of individual credits where applicable. 

This year’s entries were judged by a diverse jury of global leaders in the field, including a number of past Ascenders winners.

One judge, San Francisco-based lettering artist and author Jessica Hische, tweeted: “I’ve been judging R1 of @typedirectors Ascenders competition and the insane caliber of work is making me want to delete my website.”

“This year’s Ascenders are some of the best visual designers, type designers, and lettering artists working today, regardless of their age,” said Paul Carlos, principal at Pure+Applied, adjunct faculty, Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, and TDC Advisory Board member who created the program.  “The judges had a difficult time narrowing down their final selections given the amazing entries this year.  The jury also unknowingly selected a geographically diverse group of winners, with designers and letterers in countries ranging from Auckland to Zagreb and many points in between.”

TDC, part of The One Club for Creativity, will host a reception for Ascenders 3 winners on August 16, 2022 at The One Club gallery space in New York, marking the opening of an exhibition of their work running through September 1, 2022.

Prominent past Ascenders winners include Kevin Cantrell (US, 2018), Ben Grandgenett (New York, 2019), Ben Johnston, (Toronto, 2019), Phillip Neumeyer (Copenhagen, 2018), Juan Carlos Pagan (New York, 2018), Tre Seals (Maryland, 2018), and others. 

This year’s Ascenders branding campaign and award were designed by Zipeng Zhu, founder, creative director at Dazzle Studios, Brooklyn, with additional custom lettering by Tien-Min Liao.