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Griffin McCabe / Projects / Type Drives Commerce

2026 / CONFERENCE

Type Drives Commerce

TDC / Conference concept + program / New York City

Concept and programming with Jolene Delisle. Campaign collaboration with The Working Assembly.

Client

Type Directors Club

When / where

March 13, 2026 Fordham University Lincoln Center, NYC

My role

Conference development Theme and programming Campaign collaboration

Collaborators

Jolene Delisle The Working Assembly

Result

18 speakers · Sold out 30% of annual net profit

Type Drives Commerce / Animated campaign opening

01 /

The premise

Type Drives Commerce brought TDC’s conference back in person after six years, with a focus on how type moves business and culture.

I developed and programmed the conference with Jolene Delisle, shaping the theme, speaker program, and campaign with The Working Assembly. The premise connected the people who draw type, the teams who put it to work, and the brand leaders who invest in it. Bringing these perspectives into one day gave the conference a clear point of view: type is both a creative practice and a commercial force.

Obstacles

Connect 18 speakers and the event’s digital, print, and on-site touchpoints under a coherent premise.

Promotional postcard / Front

02 /

The system

Original Type Drives Commerce typographic lockup combining contrasting letterforms.

Type Drives Commerce / Original typographic lockup

Premise

Type Drives Commerce looks at lettering, language, and visual identity as forces within business and culture. The conference placed designers and other creative voices in conversation around type’s real-world impact.

Campaign

A mixed-letterform lockup gives the theme a visible expression: different typographic voices working together. Bold statements and high-contrast color carry that idea into speaker announcements, web banners, postcards, and event signage.

Conference concept and program: Griffin McCabe with Jolene Delisle. Campaign collaboration: The Working Assembly.

03 /

Campaign & deliverables

The campaign translated a single premise across different encounters: a speaker announcement in a feed, a web banner, a postcard, and the typographic identity on stage. Contrasting letterforms and emphatic color gave each piece its own energy while keeping the conference recognizable.

Original TDC speaker announcement for Teddy Blanks of CHIPS.

Original TDC speaker announcement for Zipeng Zhu of Dazzle.

Original TDC speaker announcement for Min Lew of Base.

Original TDC speaker announcement for Rich Tu of Sunday Afternoon.

Original Type Drives Commerce web banner with event details.

Original blue promotional poster reading Type Drives Feeling, Type Drives Meaning, Type Drives Commerce, sponsored by Poster House.

Green campaign graphic with TDC mark, Type Drives Commerce lockup, date, and location.

White promotional postcard reverse with event details and ticket QR code printed in the source artwork.

04 /

Program & the day

Programming made the conference premise tangible. Keynotes, panels, and one-on-one conversations brought type designers, creative operations teams, and brand leaders into the same room. Together, the sessions examined how typography is made, managed, commissioned, and used.

SELECTED VOICES

James Edmondson · Jeremy Mickel · Tré Seals · Charles Nix · Christine Bateup · Gary Fogelson · Brent David Freaney · Audrie Poole · Jolene Delisle

Making type

Foundry and type-design perspectives grounded the day in the craft behind the letterforms.

Putting it to work

Branding, licensing, and creative operations connected that craft to the decisions and systems inside businesses.

In conversation

Lauren Hom and Zipeng Zhu hosted a day built around exchanges between disciplines, alongside the individual presentations.

The program moved between the letterform itself and the wider business around it. Selected slides from the speakers’ original decks show that range: type at brand scale, the wider typographic ecosystem, and the relationship between culture and design.

Jeremy Mickel’s Small Details for Big Brands title slide.

Charles Nix’s The Typographic Ecosystem title slide.

Hello Type Lovers opening slide from Min Lew’s conference presentation.

A speaker presenting contrasting letterforms on the Type Drives Commerce stage.

A speaker presenting creative and commercial ideas beside the Type Drives Commerce stage identity.

Lauren Hom and Zipeng Zhu on stage at Type Drives Commerce, with the conference lockup beside the projection screen.

Lauren Hom and Zipeng Zhu on stage / Conference photo from the supplied files

FROM CAMPAIGN TO CONFERENCE

On March 13, the campaign became a full day at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. The program brought 18 speakers into a shared conversation, with Lauren Hom and Zipeng Zhu hosting the event.

Speakers across the day

Sold out

In-person conference

30%

Of TDC’s annual net profit contributed by the conference

CONFERENCE CONCEPT + PROGRAM

Griffin McCabe with Jolene Delisle

CAMPAIGN COLLABORATION

The Working Assembly

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