• 2020
  • Garaje Condensed

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  • 2020
  • Garaje Condensed

Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong. For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly wide letterforms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths and 5 weights. The complete family counts 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and zero contrast: Garaje is a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve. Garaje Condensed subfamily goes from 0703 (7 on 3 grid) to 3503 (35 on 3), and includes 145 fonts, + one variable font. Its construction allows to compose in many sizes without changing the stem weight. Specimen made with DrawBot by Rémi Forte.
Available at 205TF.
Online specimen

  • 2014
  • Luxeuil script

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  • 2014
  • Luxeuil script

Luxeuil script is a very rare Merovingian script, from the beginning of the seventh century. It is derived from uncial, half-uncial and roman cursive: before the advent of the Carolingian Minuscule, it is considered as one of the first formal minuscule.
Intrigued by this local unknown writing, born a few kilometers from my home, I studied it with my friend Claude-Laurent François and tried to design a digital version of it. I had to understand the ductus and then to reproduce the gesture and stroke of the pen. Rather than drawing the outlines, I digitized the inner skeleton, and applied afterwards a virtual elliptic pen. This dynamic approach allowed me to create the very large number of ligatures contained in this handwriting: these ligatures are created automatically with initial, medial or final contextual forms.
Unpublished

  • 2011
  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — lumières

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  • 2011
  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — lumières

A poster for the Théâtre musical de Besançon. The illustration is, as usual, very litteral : a crystal chandelier for a concert on the music of the Enlightenment. It is of course made of circles, and thanks to and thanks to a black pattern printed on the back, the chandelier lights up when the night comes, when the poster is backlit.

  • 2023
  • Les 2 Scènes — Danse & Cinéma 22-23

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  • 2023
  • Les 2 Scènes — Danse & Cinéma 22-23

Posters for the festival Danse & Cinéma, Les 2 Scènes, Scène nationale de Besançon.
Typeset in Album Sans

  • 2020
  • Garaje Monospace

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  • 2020
  • Garaje Monospace

Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong. For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly wide letterforms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths and 5 weights. The complete family counts 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and zero contrast: Garaje is a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve. Garaje Monospace subfamily goes from 05015 (5 on 15 grid) to 3503 (35 on 3), and includes 215 fonts + 5 variable fonts. Its construction allows to compose in many sizes without changing the stem weight, and/or the pitch.
Available at 205TF.
Online specimen

  • 2021
  • Samaritaine × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

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  • 2021
  • Samaritaine × Ateliers Saint-Lazare

I was commissioned by Ateliers Saint-Lazare (formerly known as be-pôles) to develop the typographic brand identity of Samaritaine, a much-loved iconic edifice situated in the heart of Paris. Born 151 years ago, La Samaritaine reopened in June 2021 after a 17 years closure.

The logotype captures the spirit of historic Samaritaine signs, honoring the stylistic evolution of the landmarked building. The singular silhouette of the distinctive historic letters, are blended into the logotype and a type family. Samaritaine Sans exists in 2 cuts: the first one features historical forms, inspired by Art Deco and Art nouveau letters, and is used for the wordmark. The second one has a more modern look, for daily use.

Art Deco style

Visual dentity by Ateliers Saint-Lazare, 2021 (art Direction: Reynald Philippe).

  • 2019
  • Gyan Panchal, Au Seuil de soi

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  • 2019
  • Gyan Panchal, Au Seuil de soi

Catalog of the monographic exhibition of Gyan Panchal at the Musée d’art moderne de Saint-Étienne. The book presents the artist's works exhibited in three places, in Cajarc, Rochechouart and then Saint-Étienne. The work begins with blank pages, then a close-up section in low opacity, before varying the light and whiteness of the paper according to the three very different exhibition spaces. The book has an free back binding, and is slipped into a white paper case. 172 p

  • Musée d’art moderne de Saint-Étienne
  • 225 × 300 mm
  • Offset, CMYK
  • Snoeck Ed. PB Tisk printing
  • Typeface: MM Sans MM Serif
  • CMYK art
  • 2007
  • Blago Bung

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  • 2007
  • Blago Bung

A series of posters for Blago Bung events, Emily Harvey Foundation (NYC, USA) and Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich, CH). Art, Sound, Poetry and Performance. Posters are printed in split fountain : gradients evolve during the printing process, each poster is unique.

  • 2017
  • Park MGM × be pôles

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  • 2017
  • Park MGM × be pôles

Park MGM is the new name of the famous Hotel Montecarlo, on the Las Vegas Strip (Nevada). It is owned by MGM Resorts. The agency be-poles (Paris / New York) commissioned me to design the exclusive typeface of the hotel, Alder, used for its interior and exterior signage, and all of its communication.
Rather than the excessive and often caricatured image of the hotels in the city, the visual identity of the Park MGM chooses elegance, with a very refined interior design. Likewise, Alder is inspired by the proportions of classic Roman capitals, with a more contemporary design. It comes in 4 weights : Regular, Bold, Italic and Condensed. Exclusive use

  • 2020
  • Garaje Mid

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  • 2020
  • Garaje Mid

Garaje takes its inspiration both from the alphabets of the Bauhaus school and the vernacular inscriptions of Spanish garage owners: two worlds that share a desire to reduce typographic forms to simple geometric elements. At the Bauhaus this geometrization is ideological: it represents a rejection of tradition and the affirmation of an objective and rational vocabulary. With garage owners it is a simple matter of logic, certainly due to an ignorance of tradition. It is somewhat naïve to wish to reduce the shapes of the alphabet to elementary forms. Perfect geometrical forms seem less than perfect to our eyes: type Design abounds with optical corrections that compensate for our perception of forms.
Garaje plays specifically with this paradox: its construction is rigorously geometrical, anchored to a scalable modular grid, with no optical correction. A perfectly objective system, but a typographical aberration, simultaneously right and wrong. For the last 20 years, I have extended this family in every direction, to the point of absurdity: extremely narrow or outlandishly wide letterforms, all built from the same modules. Today it is a complete system, available in 44 widths and 5 weights. The complete family counts 445 fonts, hundreds of thousands of glyphs, and zero contrast: Garaje is a typeface which is at the same time brutal and playful, rational and naïve. Garaje Mid subfamily goes from 0503 (5 on 3 grid) to 0504 (5 on 4 grid) and 0603 (6 on 3 grid), and includes 15 fonts + 3 variable fonts. Its construction allows to compose in many widths without changing the stem weight.
Available at 205TF.
Online specimen

  • 2017
  • America × be pôles

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  • 2017
  • America × be pôles

Launched by François Busnel and Éric Fottorino, this mook tells of America, its beauty, but also its faults and cracks. Each quarter, the greatest French and American writers are invited to become the memorialists of an extraordinary era. 4 issues for 4 years: the time of Donald Trump’s presidential term.
For the header, I designed a custom lettering inspired by American typefaces, something between Woody Allen and Ralph Lauren. Lowercase m is an obvious reference to Windsor, but the wordmark is sturdier.

  • 2010
  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — abribus

  • +
  • 2010
  • Théâtre musical de Besançon — abribus

Posters for the Théâtre musical de Besançon.

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