Le Francais - en gestaltning. Ett projekt om identitet, språk och bild

Abstract

Le Français, what is that? What is actually a language? Questions like these are not easily answered and while linguists are continuing their search for the essence of our communicative systems we are all free to make our own interpretations. In various media, like schoolbooks and other language-teaching material, for instance, you may fi nd visual interpretations of what French is, as a language–. Very often it is the common picture of what is considered typically French that is shown. There are several problems to be found in limiting oneself to these kinds of visualizations. One of these is that the French language is no longer strictly French. As a matter of fact only fi fty percent of the French speakers today are residing in France. Therefore a less narrow way of visually describing the French language is needed. The purpose of this project was to fi nd a new way of describing French in visual communication. The method used is inspired by brand identity work. The aim has been to combine a clear strategic structure with an artistic way of working. Six French-speakers of different origin were interviewed about their relation to the French language. Their stories have been intuitively interpreted into four images that are descriptive of different aspects of French. The result is a publication consisting of these four pictures. This may work as a creative platform for any designer wanting to produce visualizations of the French language. This work presents a new way of describing French visually, but is also an exploration of how an artistically intuitive method can be used in creating a visual identity.