L’Histoire du Vingtième Siècle—“Twenieth Century History” for those who don’t speak French.

Bazooka

Throughout the twentieth century, proponents of core themes that came to define France, like liberty and protest, used design to communicate and disseminate their messages. The Agitprop posters of Atelier Populåire are well known, though other notables among these révolutionaires were groups like Bazooka and Grapus. Bazooka were a mixed-sex collective with an alternative take on punk graphic design. Coming together in art school in Rouen in 1974, Bazooka’s members were exposed to ideas from across the graphic design / art intersection, notably Dadaism and neo-Dadaism. They learnt to print their own material and published a number of radical zines. Sexy and confrontational, they would doubtless be worth further investigation.

Grapus

Grapus was a collective of graphic artists who worked together between 1970 and 1991, before internal struggles tore it apart. Fiercely political, Grapus produced searing posters, often with a social intention or message. These posters have a political urgency about them that feels uniquely French, and when sat alongside those of Atelier Populáire pull into sharp relief the context in which they reside.

It is through no fault of their own that the graphic design of artists like Jean Carlu (left) and A.M. Cassandre (right) now appear clichéd—their style has been borrowed to death, their posters proliferated, reproduced and collected on a grand scale.

Havas City

Bringing things bang up-to-date, Paris-based ad agency Havas City was recently commissioned to redesign French supermarket Monoprix’s own-brand range of over 2000 grocery products—a huge task for any agency. Widely reported on in the British design press (see Creative Review spread, below), HC plumbed for a bold, no-nonsense typographical treatment, dispensing with imagery and package windows, but combining colourful type with witty messages.

Image © Havas City

Grapheine

Proving French studios can produce clean, globalised-looking graphic design with the best of ‘em, design studio Graphéine produced an impactful and fun visual identity for 2010’s Festival de Marne. Echoes of Asian anime are apparent in the execution of the illustrations. A dilution of Gallic flair, or positive move toward a world-wide graphical aesthetic? You decide!

Images © Graphéine

Toffe

Not much known outside of French design circles, Toffe (a nom de plume—his real name is Christoph Jacquet) is an important and original graphic designer, with a certain following in Paris, where he was born and still resides. His work “bristles with contradictions” says Rick Poyner, combining ugly default computer settings with intricate fleurons and flourishes in jarring graphical juxtapositions.

Images © Toffe.

M/M

M/M, graphical stars in France, combine design, art and format with dazzling originality and a kind of innocent sense of experimentation. Their posters, typefaces and alphabets have had their fair share of coverage, so it’s worth demonstrating how creative the designers there can be when working on installations, models and set design. Nothing seems beyond the pale for M/M—they have even turned their hand to frangrance concoction. In an industry often at risk of taking itself too seriously, M/M remind us that design can work best when it retains a sense of wit and spontaneity.

Images © M/M Paris.

The Superscript

Flag Type a type made using the movement of a flag as inspiration.
Boy do we love these Frenchies. Not only do they create awesome original typography, they experiment with elements like sound interactivity, audio sequencing and motion capture to create graphics. Super cool!

www.super-script.com

Typeradio

Radio Station for design and type Typeradio is a Micro fm broadcast, a MP3 internet radio stream and a podcast station. Since 2004 Typeradio has been visiting different design events around the world, to meet designers and to talk, some really inspiring podcasts here.

www.typeradio.org

The Superscript (2)

Minimal Bloc we couldn’t resist featuring superscript twice, je t’aime! Minimal Bloc is a type made of two shapes; squares and 1/4 circles. Wonderfully rustic applied here to wood, check out the other applications here.

www.super-script.com

Robotype

Gallery an off the charts cute site. Use the original interactive gallery to make your own character or scene with fonts: Univers, Bodoni, Futura and Helvetica… those crazy Spaniards… we played for hours!

www.robotype.com

Ainsifont

Boureuse a headline font. From the commercial font site Ainsifont. With an extensive and original font library, these guys have plenty to set you back a few euros to give your designs that originality that it may (or may not) need. See the fonts in action in their ‘fonts in use’ page.

www.ainsifont.com

Molotro

Minotype a stencil typeface designed by Italian Luciano Perondi. Check out the urban experiments done by Graphic Design students using Minotype.

www.molotro.com

Barney Carroll

Garamond vs Garamond Don’t panic no-ones calling you a HO! Check out this educational article breaking down the physiology of Francesco Simoncini’s Garamond. Illustrating (very beautifully) the concise differences between the varieties available under the Garamond umbrella. Article originally in French for le Monde, translated into English by Barney Carroll. A must for The Graphic Design School students, re module 4.

www.barneycarroll.com

Julia Sysmäläinen

FF MisterK OT The manuscripts of author Franz Kafka had such a profound impact on Finnish graphic designer and type designer Julia Sysmäläinen that she decided to convert his handwriting with its unusually strong calligraphic characteristics into a digital script. You can also purchase this script at fontfont. Our fav type this month at The Graphic Design School. Love your work Julia!

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/FF-Mister-K

Just van Rossum

FF Dynamoe Min Regular we see them every day, but do we see the letters as typefaces? Dynamoe changes all that. Now you can label your world.. no refills needed! You can purchase this script at fontfont. JVR has a site that sells his latest font designs, its also a visual delight.

letterror.com

What The Font

iphone app that has nothing what-so-ever to do with European typography trends, we just couldn’t resist letting you know about our fav new toy. What The Font app let’s you identify a font purely by taking a photo of it. Its the Shazam app of the font world. Like the iphone its the sheer buzz of having everything including the kitchen sink at your fingertips. LOVE IT…and its Free! What the F#*T free? …Yep!

apple.com

Erik van Blokland

Trixie HD dutch designer Erik takes typewriter realism to another level altogether. A new vectorisation technique was developed to push the level of detail, creating realistic effects in print and on screen. Over 17 million points in the release… but whose counting!

letterror.com

Bergh

Portfolio site of Anders Bergh photographer Andes from Copenhagen, has one of the most incredible photographic portfolio sites that we have ever seen.

Its no secret that The Graphic Design School tutors and staff are photography fans. Lets face it the right photograph can make an ordinary graphic design composition look great. We fell in love with Andes and his work at first sight. Not only only is his eye sharp, his aesthetic is clean, his understanding of light manipulation leaves us in awe. This is what Anders has to say about his process as a photographer/designer:

For me, the creative process is a journey from an inspired idea to the creation of raw picture material to detailed refining work in post production.

www.bergh.dk

Mcbess

Portfolio site of Matthieu Bessudo French Born Matthieu now residing in London, has a kick arse site, reel and imagination.

www.Mcbess.com

Staeheli

Portfolio site of Matthias Staeheli “Life is a pixel” is the motto of this Swiss Graphic Designer, in keeping with the motto a fuzzy orange pixel guides you though the site. Matthias is a design student living in Berlin. His fun site will have you exploring and playing with his fuzzy little pixel!!!

www.staeheli.de

Mon Monde

Portfolio site of Guillaume Dupuy Specialist in full flash sites, harmony and ease of browsing experience. The beautiful melange of graphic design, animation and sound development make Frenchman Guillaumes Dupuy a multi talented Graphic Designer to be reckoned with.

www.mon-monde.com

Vis Tek

Vis Tek Graphic Design Studio are based in Barcelona. Vis Tek specialize in branding, web design and advertising design. Their work reflects a harmony between hand illustration and digital creation. A delight.

www.vis-tek.com

Thibaud

Portfolio site of Thibaud Thibaud (last name unknown) is a freelance CJ artist living in Belgium.
His fully interactive site using pantone swatches as his inspiration to share his talents.

www.thibaud.be

Out of Goren

Personal portfolio site oF Anna Mentze German Art Director Anna’s combination of drawing, computer graphics and amazing layout designs make for a very impressive all round graphic design portfolio.

www.outofgoren.de

Tribal DDB

Design agency Tribal DDB with 37 world locations TDDB has made its mark. Their website contains stunning graphics, awesome navigation, and a portfolio that would take an average human 5 weeks to sift through. This award winning design agency is a must see for any graphic design student.

www.tribalddb.com

Magicsocket

Magicsocket An Italian agency based in the creative Italian city of Torino. Magicsocket specialises in Flash technology, and boy do they do it well. Prestigious clients such as D&G, Bisazza, Fiat and Haagen Dazs. Play with their interactive car track while visiting their site… and see how they made it. We stacked on EVERY corner!

www.magicsocket.com

Bionic Systems

Bionic Systems Studio based in Dusseldorf this talented team give us a glimpse of all aspects of graphic design in their inspiring portfolio site. From package and catalogue design to website design.

www.bionic-systems.com

eBoy

Los Angeles Times Magazine spread Located in Germany eBoy is Steffen Sauerteig, Svend Smital and Kai Vermehr. They create re-usable pixel objects and take them to build complex and extensible artwork. Prestigious clients such as Adidas, Adobe, Amazon, Arena Magazine, Diesel, Kellogs, DKNY, Nike and Pepsi are proof that eBoy have caught the big boys, with their little toys.

hello.eboy.com

Studio Punkat

Nancy Fine Art & Music Museum Hugo Roussel is based in Nancy, France, He has a wonderful collection of printed works that he produces with ‘communication’ at the forefront of his designs, the result is clean and creative works that respond perfectly to his brief.

www.punkat.com

Prada

Summer Catalogue mmmm…Prada. Need an Italian fix? Check out Prada. Summer 09 catalogue out now and no where near as yummy as the 08 one featured here. Eccezionale!

prada.com

Royal Mail England

Best in British design stamp set Those loveable poms bring us the best in British design on a stamp… just a little something to lick and send to all your Italian mates. Subtle!

www.royalmail.com

Rampazzo & Associes

New ‘M’ magazine liftout with the “Le Monde” newspaper. Parisian editorial graphic design firm ‘R & A’ have shown their talents in this artful magazine edition. Their blog is definitely worth the look see.

blog.rampazzo.com

Jung von Matt

International Watch Co. Schaffhausen ad campaign ‘Passion for detail’ Hamburg Graphic Design Agency Jung von Matt definitely know how to break the rules. This campaign certainly does convey an eye for detail… and so cute! We love it! Check out their awesome site, their print works are a great inspiration for original thinkers.

www.jvm.de

Digital Template

Magazine Digital Template is a French magazine (translated into English for us mono-linguals) for graphic designers, photographers and fashion enthusiasts. The Graphic Design School students will find the last few issues in their schoolyard e-library.

www.digital-temple.com

Malota Projects

Postcard sets Mar Hernandez is based in Valencia, Spain. Mar’s original designs and illustrations will leave you wanting more. A clean artful site with a range of projects that will make you want to explore every brush tool in your palette!

malota.bigcartel.com/

La Perla

Autumn Winter 09–10 Catalogue Print doesn’t get any more glamorous (or sexy) than Italian lingerie brand La Perla. La Perla have been a cut above (up there with Wolford in their Helmut Newton years) the rest of the lingerie industry in terms of print and internet graphic design for years. The photography is sublime, the models gorgeous and their layouts always communicate ‘stile classico’. With prices around 150&#20AC; for a pair of knickers… your graphic design team are worth their weight in gold! (or knickers)

www.laperla.com

Bitsch +Lundquist

To Let Danish geniuses Bitsch + Luidquist designed this giant billboard for Oskar Jensen placed in two different locations. One on ‘Strandboulevarden’ (in Copenhagen) and the second at ‘Str&#00F8;get’ (also in Copenhagen). This version has been photoshopped to read in English. To see the original sign in Danish visit their site

bplusl.dk

Leagas Delany

Maglite ‘worlds smallest light’ Hamburg based Graphic Design agency Leagas Delany certainly have a funny sence of humor. Consensus around The Graphic Design School is that its not terribly responsible to promote sticking battery operated equipment up your nose. Still made us laugh though!

www.leagasdelaney.de

Squid Spot

Periodic Table of Typefaces Designed by Cam from Squid Spot The Periodic Table of Typefaces is obviously in the style of all the thousands of over-sized Periodic Table of Elements posters hanging in schools and labs around the world. This particular table lists 100 of today’s most popular, influential and notorious typefaces. Genius. Thanks Cam. To download Cam’s Periodic Table visit Squid Spot site.

www.squidspot.com

Periodic Table of Typefaces