PARIS.- Following the 3 previous « Fête du graphisme », D’Days and Artevia are co-producing a new event – free for everyone – designed to showcase the diversity, richness and dynamism of this multi-faceted discipline and its eclectic actors.

Beyond posters, books and printed materials, graphic design is everywhere in our daily lives: web, magazines, teaching, textiles, advertising, visual identity, signage, packaging…

Graphic designers play an important role in shaping our social and intimate lives, across private and public space. The images and signs that they create inform the messages that we are constantly receiving.

« They are by nature constrained. Only a small margin for manœuvre. Not just constraints but many sorts of constraints, of a large variety. On this canvas, they work like madmen. Everyone has their own method. Everyone shouts they they live anyway. Long live graphic designers! » – Jean-François Lyotard, 1990, Intriguer, ou le paradoxe du graphisme.

FIRST EDITION OF THE GRAPHIC DESIGN FESTIVAL
The first edition of the Graphic Design Festival will commence on 11 January 2017 with the launch of a poster campaign around Paris. The Festival programme will be split across different series of events, with the main period between 24 – 29 January 2017 centred at the Musée des Arts décoratifs.

DISPLAY OF GRAPHIC CREATIONS THROUGHOUT PARIS: PUBLIC COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF PARIS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH JCDECAUX
11 JANUARY – 22 FEBRUARY 2017
Thanks to the support of JCDecaux, founder sponsor of the event. Public poster campaign with 1 600 prints displayed at JCDecaux bus stops throughout Paris.

The public commission of the City of Paris and their Art in the City department, with the support of JCDecaux, founding sponsor of the event – will feature 20 graphic designers who will create designs centred on the theme of « sport ». 1 600 posters will be displayed throughout Paris.

Stéréo buro and Frenchfourch – two resident collectives of the Paris Print Club – are curating this commission. The Paris Print Club is a space for artisanal creation and art focused on image and printed objects.

Team spirit/Rivalry: their reading of the theme explores the values intrinsic to sport in all their ambiguity – respect, fair play, competition and combat. These concepts both oppose and complement each other during the intense but brief moments of sporting experiences.

A RICH PROGRAMME AT THE MUSEE DES ARTS DECORATIFS: EXHIBITIONS AND « CARTES BLANCHES »
FROM 24 JANUARY 2017
Opening night for the public from 7PM, 23 January 2017.

One of the principal venues of the Graphic Design Festival, the Musée des Arts décoratifs will host several exhibitions during the last week of January 2017.

The programme is an invitation to discover the different fields of application of graphic design and its actors. Curated exhibitions will interrogate the themes of printing, visual identity, signage, packaging, typography and digital design…

A selection of projects distinguished by their originality, creativity, technical excellence and innovation will be assembled in one venue to facilitate an exploration of the multiple relationships between graphic design and visual culture.

A WEEK OF EVENTS DEDICATED TO GRAPHIC DESIGN: TALKS, DEBATES, SCREENINGS...
24 – 29 JANUARY 2017
Events for professionals, students of graphic design, recent graduates and for those who simply want to discover graphic design: the week will be filled with presentations, conferences and screenings…

The Festival will play an important role as matchmaker between specifiers and graphic designers by offering speed-dating events, professional meetings sponsored by a partnership between D&AD and Eyes on Talents.

Screenings and presentations about Safari Typo – a web series by Thomas Sipp produced by Films d’Ici – will also be held. This series is a journey through 7 contemporary cities, and uses typography as a perspective from which to discover the signs that surround us.