New York, March 2014. It seems the world we’re living in is largely driven by the fusion between measure, calculation and anticipation. The role indexes and scores do play in sectors such as insurance, banks, stock exchanges, but also sciences […]

Granada, February 2014. The invasion of public space by commercial ads is sometimes welcome, especially because of the income they generate for owners renting visibility spaces. Symmetrically , it causes different forms of resistance, the most visible being the interference […]

Paris, july 2013. I regularly pay a visit to this dude. Back in the days, we used to belong together and he always has a story to tell. This time he told me that he planned to go to southern […]

Paris, january 2014.

Tickets buying and selling have known quite a revolution with the development of online reservations. Nowadays, not only can you order one ticket for a movie or a show directly from your bedroom, but you can (and sometimes have to) […]

Before entering the building, you had already heard a lot about this organization: how bad it is for the French research community, how dangerous it is for the innovative and creative research, how restrictive it is for the autonomy of […]

New Haven, october 2013. This is one of the first lessons for children: go over there only through crosswalks , hold hands, wait until the light is green , all these little things that we gradually quit with adulthood. “Parisian […]

Museums are not very different from laboratories. A lot of things have to be controlled within their environment to make these venues fully functional. Of course, each exhibition has its specificities, regarding the kind of artworks they are dealing with, […]

Paris, december 2013. Happy new year! It is time for good resolutions. It is time for important decisions. One does not hesitate to plan the near future, one takes the risk to make public announcements. Such promises made in front […]

Montpellier, november 2013. Wine lists usually appear in the form of a text included in a cardboard or a plastic support. It includes the name of the wines, their vintage varieties or their classification and of course, their price. For […]

Writing is quite a complicated thing to study, for many reasons. Particularly difficult is the comprehension of its intertwining with other elements. Writing does not exist per se. It always implies both lines and a surface upon which they are […]

Yosemite Park, October 2013 Natural parks are physical oxymora. To enclose the nature that must remain intact, enormous human and material resources have to be deployed. And the best way to maintain them is to allow visitors, under the control […]

Roanne, august 2009. Urban settings are genuine incubators for written objects. Numerous graphic species interact one with another according to different patterns: cooperation, domination, succession. As far as specimens of advertising are concerned, the struggle for life consists in a […]

Two years after the publication of the results of your research on signage, the regional transportation authority gives you a call. They would like to know if you’re interested in discussing their project of harmonization of the multiple wayfinding systems […]

Gouda , August 2013 The wetland intertwined channels, livestock and small winding roads. Here and there, houses remind us that there are still some inhabitants and not just cycling tourists admiring birds. And then, in a bend on the side […]

Above Palm Desert, October 2013 It is a long road through a semi-desert. Gradually it rises and high mountains appears, composing gorgeous landscapes. And then there isa sign announcing a “vista point” as they say in Californian Spanglish, just a […]

Roanne, august 2013. There’s no accounting for taste. For some, it’s teal blue. Others prefer orange, green or red. That’s just the way it is. Colors seem to belong with peculiar emotions, intimately connected with personal tastes. Yet, colors are […]

London, september 2013. One of the essential qualities of public spaces is their diversity. Cities are ecologies within which a great variety of species live together, more or less peacefully. There are numerous devices that are used by authorities to […]

Paris, September 2013. Doors are one of the first prehension lessons: the growing child stands on tiptoe to reach the handle and open what prevents access to the rest of the world. Domesticated and thus humanized cats do the same. […]

Nantes, september 2013. All participants did not attend this fascinating biennial conference simultaneously. Some of them have been there since the first day, others arrived later due to diverse reasons. Some attended the whole conference, participating in plenary and semi-plenary […]

Clamart, August 2013. Signature is both an amazing written object and an amazing scriptural gesture. We can experience it almost everyday, as we pay with a cheque, as we receive a parcel, as we check at the kids’ workbooks at […]

Rotterdam, August 2013 ” Leave a comment ” may you read under this text and that image. Electronic contemporary spaces often established interaction as a central principle , the host receiving comments from readers responding, or, when things went wrong, […]

La Rochelle, juillet 2013. Week after week, post after post, we continuously discover how various the ways to act with different kinds of inscription are. Whether it is with a pen and a sheet of paper, a keyboard and a […]

Saint-Saturnin-les-Avignon, June 2013 Finding the station has been easy, just follow the tracks going away from the village center. But once there, usual landmarks are blurred: the building that shall commonly be denominated “station” is walled on all sides. No […]

Boulogne, june 2013. Mandatory signs are powerful devices. They fix an acute flaw of Law, though written and reproduced in few documents, still is supposed to be known by everyone. Even if the Web changed things in potentially giving access […]

Maurienne Valley, June 2013 This photograph was taken with a “new iPad”, a digital Swiss Army knife which sophistication has obsoleted its predecessor, which was still at the forefront twelve months earlier. Both have in common one component, sand, essential […]

I don’t remember what I used to draw when I was her age. I’m not sure I ever drew any device or any technology. A TV, a radio, a phone, perhaps? I doubt it. I was really surprised when I […]

Visiting an unknown city in a limited time often leads to prepare or even simulate the journey ahead, relying on multiple devices: tourist guides with photos and addresses remarkable site bringing together fellow travelers opinions or a software to view […]

Public lettering, to use Petrucci‘s term, has been an essential element of the graphic ecology of cities for a very long time. Actually, they are crucial parts of the city itself, of what dwelling together in an organized, politicized, place […]

One of the most visible aspects of globalization is not “made in China” on the back of many manufactured goods, but the geographical extension of what was once attached to a territory, and its infinite reproduction in always different places. […]

You’ve been regularly back in this station for thirty years. The first time that you stopped at Centraal Station, it was during a trip with friends a summer at the beginning of the nineties. For five days only, you appreciated […]

For a long time, there has ben very few concert halls in Paris compared to other European capitals : failing sound equipment fails, lack of prefecture authorization, too few market intermediaries or even banned musicians, rock fans had to go […]

In Elevators, you’re bored, you’re scared, you look buttons leading to different floors whether you arein a station or this hotel. Could we find a better place to catch the eye of captive and stressed passengers for a few moments […]