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Harry Bennett
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Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy


Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy
Wedge’s playful identity for Gender Creative Kids champions dignity, inclusivity and joy

Since 2013, non-profit organisation Gender Creative Kids Canada has provided education, community, resources and services towards the affirmation of transgender, non-binary and gender creative youth among their families, schools and society at large. In 2019, their leadership team invited Wedge – the Montreal-based creative studio behind work for Swirl, EQ3 and Menaud – to redesign Gender Creative Kids’ visual identity as their official brand partner.

From the outset of the project, Wedge sought to honour Gender Creative Kids selfless work through a visual expression that champions the non-profit on a global stage and uses design as a tool to increase understanding. After a series of workshops and educational training from the Gender Creative Kids team, the studio were not only able to back up their vision but also define human dignity, inclusivity, community, empathy and joy as the essential qualities required of their work.

“Design choices are intentional, beyond aesthetics,” Wedge explain in their case study, with the resulting identity system embracing colour and the multiple styles of Pangram Pangram Foundry’s quirky sans serif Agrandir to represent Gender Creative Kids’ mission. The combination of typographic styles at play is somewhat challenging, but in its whimsical, unapologetic execution, manages to successfully defy convention. On the choice of Agrandir, Wedge’s Design Lead Ariane Leblanc tells us that “it was an easy choice once we discovered it,” adding “we were looking for something approachable but not too childish either.” In combination with a multitude of white space, the typeface’s playful forms provide a blend of sophistication and approachability that feels tonally on point, bringing “deserved credibility to the organisation,” as Leblanc explains.

White space, in which “we are able to freely discover who we are” provides the backdrop for the identity’s “optimistic” colour palette. “We did not want to be too restrictive on how colour should live together,” Leblanc reveals, with the brand’s colours able to work fluidly together aside from a few legibility rules.

At the heart of the identity (pun intended) is Gender Creative Kids’ rather charming illustrated symbol. Inspired by “the truest part of you,” the quirky character stands tall and confident, providing an additional layer of optimism to the already upbeat identity system. Its organic illustrative style pairs delightfully with the unusuality of Agrandir, resulting in an aesthetic that Leblanc tells us “feels natural for an organisation geared towards young people.”

Graphic Design

Wedge

Typography

Agrandir by Pangram Pangram Foundry

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