September 2026: Check out one of our favourite Creative Cities, Baltimore!
Published 2 days agoย โขย 3 min read
Spotlight: Baltimore
September 2026
Artwork by: Shekar Menon
Hey there Reader,
How's the month wrapping up for you?
This month we have been dreaming of Baltimore. Baltimore is definitely one of our favourite creative cities, and we'll admit we're a bit biased. It's home to the Maryland Institute College of Art, known as MICA, the oldest independent art and design college in the United States.
MICA students have a habit of dominating our annual awards (which are on now!), and their faculty are dedicated creative professionals. So this edition is a love letter to the city. You'll meet some former MICA students who went on to win TDK Awards, and get a local's take on Baltimore from a MICA educator.
There's something new, too: the TDK Anonymous Series. Working in the creative industry can be hard, and we'd rather be honest about that. One brave emerging designer has shared their story anonymously, as a guide and a warning for the rest of us.
Before you go:
Our annual awards close in 10 days. If you've been putting off entering, this is your nudge. Get your entry in.
TDK Studio is live. It's built to help designers at every level grow their practice, confidence and value. If you're ready to become a more valuable professional, come and join us.
TDK 2025 Awards winner and MICA alumni Kefan Shi is an illustrator whose practice is shaped by storytelling, emotional nuance, and visual curiosity.
Beginning with comics and character drawing, his formal education took him from the GuangzhouAcademy of Fine Arts to an MFA in Illustration Practice at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Now based in New York City, Kefan balances UX-driven design work with deeply personal illustration
Join TDK Istanbul City Host, Salih Aydin on October 2nd for a conversation with Jose Soho on what it's actually like coming up as a designer inside a studio like Hoodzpah โ the work, the learning curve, and what nobody tells you about the first few years.
Save the date! The BMore Design Week is on 16-23th October. The 2026 theme, โMake, Break, Repeat,โ centers the creative process itself: making, breaking, iterating, and trying again.
Graphic Designer for Baltimore CFG Bank Arena, Naila creates some of schmickest music design collateral we've seen. Sharing her poster, sticker and marketing work on her own insta, it's a feast for us all (even if we can't make the gigs)!
Baltimore-based studio Vibrant Grace create meaningful products, surface patterns, graphic design, and trauma-informed art + healing workshops throughout the dc-baltimore region and nationally. We also can't ignore the evocative copy across their website. Want to see beautiful design and intentional copy working in perfect harmony?
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