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.