For the 2025 edition of the Festival Off Avignon, Théâtre des Doms unveils a bold and unconventional new visual identity designed by Paris-based ABM Studio. A unique institution dedicated to contemporary French-speaking Belgian theatre, the Doms cultivates a spirit of irreverence, experimentation, and poetic dissonance. ABM’s identity blends expressive illustrations (by Petrouchkaka), vibrant typographic compositions, and an overall refusal to conform to the traditional codes of French theatrical communication. The accompanying website – developed by ABM Digital – acts as a living platform: hosting artist residencies, showcasing festival performances, and archiving the evolving landscape of Belgian creation.

At the heart of this system lies Sature, a typeface designed by Nicolas Dupuis of Atelier Ater, and released by Blaze Type. Originating from large-scale, hand-drawn lettering, Sature is a family built to saturate – visually, rhythmically, and semantically. It features five weights in upright and slanted versions, offering a playground for layering densities, amplifying contrasts, and orchestrating visual tempo. As a variable font, it creates the illusion of doubled forms – as if letters had been retraced with a felt-tip marker, growing in weight and intensity. The horizontal processing gives fullness to each shape, making it ideal for large-scale formats and high-impact typographic statements.

This typographic choice reflects ABM Studio’s broader approach: a design philosophy rooted in context, dialogue, and disruption. For over fifteen years, the studio has crafted thoughtful, sharp visual identities for cultural institutions with strong editorial visions. With Théâtre des Doms, ABM delivers a visual language that is both distinctive and generous – one that doesn’t merely represent, but embodies the institution’s spirit. Through the interplay of a striking typeface and a finely tuned design system, the project illustrates a vision of graphic design as a space for emergence, resistance, and cultural resonance.

The supporting text typeface is Degular by OH no Type Co..

The Opéra de Lyon, formerly the Grand Théâtre, is an opera house in the city of Lyon, France, located on Place de la Comédie. Currently, it houses a performance hall mainly used by the Opéra National de Lyon, which stages operas, ballets and concerts there, with a capacity of 1,100 spectators.

In 2022, the Opéra de Lyon commissioned French graphic design studio ABM Studio to redesign its visual identity. ABM Studio used the typeface Basetica designed by Matthieu Cortat and distributed by 205TF.

La Conspiration is a French distillery based in Champagne which produces gin and whisky with an experimental and sustainable approach. Their spirits labels were designed by French agency ABM Studio who used Apoc (Blaze Type) to build the brand identity.

Normandie Impressionniste is a series of exhibitions shown across France:

A multidisciplinary festival which celebrates artistic creation from impressionism to the present day. The 2020 edition is not offering a single theme for all of its events, but rather a versatile driving force, rich and open to interpretation: A new day, a new colour.

Alias Anostencil is used for the logotype, with Minotaur used for text.

The Rencontres d’Arles is a photography festival taking place each summer in the city of Arles, in the south of France. Since 1970, the year of its creation, the Rencontres d’Arles has become an institution and a springboard for emerging photographers and creative talents: the festival is now considered as a major influence in the dissemination of world photography. During three months, the city lives with the exhibitions disseminated in various historical buildings (Arles still bears the legacy of the Roman Empire) and different events that punctuate the festival.

For its 2021 edition, the Rencontres d’Arles gave the responsibility of its identity to ABM Studio, specialized in graphic design for cultural institutions. After two years of Covid crisis that restricted the access to culture, this year’s identity had to be strong to mark the return to museums and galleries. ABM Studio chose to play with a bold capital A as main marker for the festival, whose anchoring in Arles is known to anyone interested in arts in France. The main poster for the festival is therefore only composed of a capital A from Media Sans by Production Type, shown next to a photograph of a dazzled figure coming into light.

Media Sans is used throughout all the identity and gives the festival the assertive and bold voice it needed. It’s used in a range of weights and widths, most often in all caps, and is supported by Kepler from Adobe for longer texts in the catalog and on the website. As much at ease in the small sizes of the program leaflet as on the gigantic panels of the festival’s exhibitions, Media Sans works as the identity’s coordinator, immediately identifiable and visible in a glimpse, as the visitors wander into the city.

Poster.

Program newspaper.

Banner.

Exhibition design.

Exhibition design.

Homepage.

Map with venues.

Website detail.

Website detail with exhibition overview.

Website detail with exhibition details.

Website detail.

Catalog spread.

From Pavillon de l’Arsenal publishers:

Road traffic, noise pollution, air pollution, globalization of the commercial offer, partitioning of spaces and uses, "the most beautiful avenue in the world" is thwarted.

Its squares and gardens, deserted by Parisians, must now begin their transformation and allow everyone to reclaim this exceptional heritage. Beyond urban issues, the challenges of the new climate regime must govern this transformation.

There are many challenges: reducing the number and intensity of heat islands, making soils more permeable; free, unify and increase green spaces; favour soft mobility; enhance the existing heritage; build without consuming more; continue to grow without increasing environmental debt, invent new types of funding and partnerships…

The Champs-Élysées, history & perspectives study, carried out by the PCA-STREAM agency on the initiative of the Champs-Élysées Committee, commits to reinterpreting the symbolic urban construction of this territory. It makes the diagnosis with regard to local issues and contemporary issues to offer a new vision, which is based on the collaborative work of a large team of international experts - researchers, historians, economic and cultural players, scientists, artists …

The expected and calculations demonstrate the feasibility of this transformation and, in anticipation, the possible evolution of public and tourist spaces in the metropolises of tomorrow.

Apoc and Cosmica are used throughout.

For this scientific publication about cryptozoology — dealing with giant squid, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster and others cryptids — ABM Studio played with extreme weights of Cobalte (UltraLight & Black) to give some rhythm to the thick book. While most of the text is set in Eidetic Neo, Cobalte Regular is also used for some boxed texts.

Cobalte Regular in use for boxed text.