Offline alternative to Tinder: a bright green pin signalling singlehood

Along with everything else, lockdown life has made dating tough. Without opportunities to meet people at bars, clubs or the office, anyone looking for love is pretty much condemned to using a dating app. Which can be helpful! But also addictive, demoralizing and downright dehumanizing.

Aiming to offer single people an offline alternative to swiping left and right, Nadine Roestenburg designed Finder: a bright green pin featuring that universal search symbol — the magnifying glass. People looking to meet someone, just stick on a pin and venture out into the world, where they might well turn a random encounter into a date. Pins are sold online for EUR 3.95, as well as offline in the Dutch city of Tilburg, where Roestenburg kicked off her experiment last week.

Awkward? Yes! But opening up to uncomfortable situations is a thoroughly human alternative to commodified dating systems that have become a societal norm. Finder isn't the first to use pins for making matches: Singlepin launched in the UK back in 2016. But combine a pandemic with growing awareness about the downsides of dating apps, and the idea's time might have finally come.

One to bring to your part of the world? And how else could you help people connect — romantically or platonically — outside the confines of algorithms?

Spotted by Lorette Bessem, a member of our tw:in network