Wunderman Thompson’s bold and empowering identity for Fund Femme “celebrates the power of difference”

Despite making up 50 per cent of the population and holding 80 per cent of spending power, women only represent 33 per cent of business owners globally. And only three per cent of venture capitalist funding goes to women-owned businesses, despite the fact they deliver higher revenue on average. “That’s an imbalance that needs to change,” comments Wunderman Thompson CEO Pip Hulbert, on the founding of Fund Femme – an online database of women- and non-binary-owned businesses. Started by a team within the global marketing agency, the platform hopes to bring these businesses together not only to provide community and solidarity but to raise their profiles and promote them to consumers, so they can discover and shop from these businesses. “We’re appealing to all consumers to think more about who they’re supporting when they shop, and how they can make simple switches for a more balanced economy,” adds Fund Femme co-founder Oriel Irvine-Wells, also a copywriter at the agency.

As for the brand identity, Irvine-Wells tells It’s Nice That the team wanted its look and feel “to reflect the change we’re trying to make; one that’s bold, fresh and empowering.” Fund Femme is essentially about increasing visibility for these underrepresented business owners “so we needed our design to really stand out and cut through the noise wherever it lived,” she says. Hence the choice of its bright and “punchy” coral hero colour, and its capitalised, confident typography. Importantly the brand also needed to communicate its ethos of inclusivity and diversity, and therefore looked to “celebrate the power of difference.” Irvine-Wells says that “by bringing together contrasting elements and unifying them, we show them to be two sides of the same coin that when brought together, make us all richer.” This theme of duality comes through in many aspects of the identity, in contrasting graphic shapes, or in pairing big bold display typography with delicate serif fonts.

Illustrations by Buenos Aires-born, Berlin-based Elda Broglio infuse the entire brand with personality. Wunderman Thompson’s head of art Tunchan Kalkan explains they approached Broglio for her knack for drawing strong, empowered women, which was ideal for the brand’s vision. “We hope non-binary and female founders will be able to see themselves reflected back at them through her art,” he adds. Broglio says she’s always been inspired by the attitudes of the women she grew up with – her mother, sister and aunts – who are “all very caring but also independent, strong and the kind of people you could not mess around with. That's why I always try to create images that can transmit the same vibrant energy and strength they gave me.”

Meanwhile, the Fund Femme logo design aimed to also encapsulate the platform’s vision in a simple, effective way. “At its core, Fund Femme is an economic initiative,” Kalkan says, “so we played around with the double “f” in the middle of the circle to make a coin. This symbolises an alternative femme economy to the one we currently have, one that funds equality, diversity and representation.” This device has proven adaptable and highly useful across the identity, working as a logo, a digital badge, a physical sticker in shop windows, the stamp at the end of receipts, symbolising “a new form of currency.” The circle template from the coin has also been used across the brand, as a graphic device to highlight certain details such as spot illustrations or photographs of the business owners themselves, “giving them the platform they deserve,” adds Kalkan. “It’s simple and bold, an instantly recognisable stamp that brings you into the Fund Femme universe.”

Visit Fund Femme and support its member businesses, or sign up to join its database, here. Also on the Fund Femme brand team was Tyler Hendy, Leda Bartolucci, Stacey Neumann and Nuriya Shoro.