Tender Center logo
logo design • co-founder • organiser
Tender Center was a feminist queer-space in Rotterdam, collectively founded, self-funded and run by a group of 12 artists and designers in 2018. This was a space created for feminist queer culture, hosting an array of get togethers. From workshops and reading groups to bar nights and parties.
As part of the founding group, I was active in organising, hosting, gardening, and also the logo design.
finding the right font
Inspired by the second feminist wave and political activism of the 70s and 80s, the logo had to express DIY-activism, tenderness and be memorable. Also the font had to be designed by a woman, as a political point to make in the male dominated type design world.
I found the perfect font for this logo, but it was not published yet.
It was an alfabet drawn by Maria Doreuli and published in the book Lettering sketches for Dutch Alphabets, 2015.
I couldn’t make a logo with a font isn’t published. But I couldn’t let it go and made a rough sketch with paper cut-outs.
Only then I was even more convinced that this was the right font.
good news
I contacted Maria Doreuli, type designer and founder of CoFo type foundry, directly to ask if there was a way in which I could use her font.
Luckily, Maria was already working on digitising the font and allowed us to use an early version of CoFo FlicFlac.
soft letter shapes
CoFo FlicFlac is constructed of soft shapes, unusual letterforms and very decorative. Since there are only caps, there is no hierarchy between letters, fitting to the grass-roots organisation that Tender Center was.
