Announcing the 2019 Type Champions!

Topic
Expertise
Typography
Brand design

Monotype is thrilled to introduce the inaugural recipients of the Type Champions Award, a new program that recognizes brands for their creative, innovative, and memorable use of typography in developing and maintaining their brand identities.

After an open nomination period and an extensive review process, the following brands have been chosen as our 2019 honorees:

  • & Other Stories
  • Alibaba Group
  • Audi
  • Dropbox
  • Juventus
  • Mailchimp
  • Ogilvy
  • Southwest Airlines
  • Squarespace
  • The Guardian
  • The New School
  • The New York Times

 

Type Champions Award

The Type Champions Award is sponsored by Monotype, but could not exist without the collaboration of our panel of global branding and design experts. This group includes:

  • Rodney Abbot, Senior Partner, Lippincott
  • Brian Collins, Chief Creative Officer and Founder, COLLINS
  • Kirsten Dietz, Founder and Partner, Strichpunkt Design
  • Chris Do, Founder, The Futur
  • Perrin Drumm, Founder and Director, AIGA Eye on Design
  • James Fooks-Bale, Creative Director, Monotype
  • Mohamed Gaber, Founder, Kief Type Foundry
  • Blake Howard, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Matchstic
  • Patrick Märki, Managing Director, KMS Team
  • Josh Miles, Chief Marketing Officer of SMPS and Host of Obsessed Show
  • Abbott Miller, Partner, Pentagram
  • Charles Nix, Type Director, Monotype
  • Alejandro Paul, Type Designer, Co-Founder, Sudtipos
  • Andy Payne, Global Chief Creative Officer, Interbrand
  • Brett Zucker, Chief Marketing Officer, Monotype

Trends in Type for 2020

Trends in type design are often an indicator of broader shifts in brand strategy. During the nomination process for the Type Champions Award, we asked creative professionals and our expert panel to identify the most prevalent trends driving design now and into the future. 

Download our corresponding report, “5 Type Trends for Brands to Consider in 2020,” to learn more about each, including:

  1. The need for global language coverage

  2. The rise of variable fonts

  3. Emphasis on geometric sans serifs

  4. Type as icon: Inline and engraving

  5. A.B.R. always be rebranding

Thank you to everyone who nominated, promoted, and otherwise supported this program in its inaugural year. The final list of award recipients represents a wide array of industries, regional coverage, and uses of typography, and we acknowledge that there are many other brands, institutions, and organizations of all sizes that are championing the value of typography worldwide. We look forward to continuing to find and celebrate all organizations who elevate design across brand identity!

If you have any questions or would like to connect and learn more, please email us at [email protected].

Downloads.

Download our official awards packet to learn more about these brands, including why each was selected by our panel.

Download awards packet

View our press release announcing the launch of the 2019 Type Champions Award winners. 

View our press release

Download our corresponding report, “5 Type Trends for Brands to Consider in 2020,” to learn more.

Download our report

From our experts.

“ Type plays a critical role in brand identity. This award program recognizes the companies that use type to stand out among their peers, and create authentic, consistent and relevant brand identities. ”

James Fooks-Bale, Creative Director at Monotype.