2010
Saint-Étienne international design biennial
For the 2010 Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial, we worked within a very tight budget by capitalizing on the event’s relatively short duration (15 days) and the festive atmosphere it was intended to bring to the city. We installed large “colorful totems” or “colored poles” at the main site—a former industrial factory—and at several strategic points throughout the city—notably on the station plaza—to indicate and convey information about the exhibitions, content, and directions… using a joyful and expressive visual language. In addition to these gathering and information points, all directional signage throughout the city and on the site uses the same visual language but is rendered exclusively in black and white. Finally, to emphasize the event’s ephemeral nature while adhering to budget constraints, all information is presented via prints on poster paper glued directly onto the wood of the totems or onto city walls, with the deterioration of these prints reflecting the event’s temporary nature. The principle of monochromatic design and mounted paper is applied to the graphic design of each exhibition, while contextualizing the graphic intervention according to the different themes.
IRB Laboratory Design Team: Ruedi Baur, Denis Coueignoux, Olivier Duzelier, and Afrouz Razavi