The Biennale Exemplaires is an occasion for exhibiting, showcasing, and highlighting the work produced by students and faculty at French-speaking fine art and design schools. It is also a venue for meeting and exchange, enriched by a symposium aligned with the research priorities of the participating schools. The main exhibition highlights a selection of recent, francophone publications deemed “exemplary”. To expand upon and complement this selection, each school produces a publication in a format of its choice. The biennial also includes satellite events, an exhibition at the Frac Lorraine, a festive evening, and a book fair featuring a selection of independent publishers. The sixth edition of the Biennale Exemplaires united fourteen schools and was held in Metz in March 2026.

The visual identity was designed by Léo Coquet (Institut Page / ÉSAL Metz) using Modula Ribbed (Zuzana Licko, Emigre, 1995) and Drama Grotesque (Rafael Ribas, Poem, 2025).

Monsieur P s'allia au sonneur pour passer à l'échoppe réclamer ses envois, mais trouva dans son sillage un petit livre à moins de 5 euros ("Mister P joined the bell-ringer, to go to the shop to claim his shipments, but found in his wake a small book for less than 5 euros") is a research publication made by students of the Ecole Supérieure d'Arts de Lorraine (ESAL) in Metz, France at the occasion of the 3rd Biennale Exemplaires in 2019.

This graphic design event is organized by thirteen schools across Belgium, Canada, and France, and aims to highlight remarkable francophone editorial publications. Each school has been working on a selection of six books published in the last five years, and developed a written reflection on it presented under the form of a publication.

Encyclies – the French word for the concentric circles formed on the surface when an object falls into the water – is a mémoire by Olivier Petitprez, made at the École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine (ÉSAL) during the course “Arts et langages graphiques”. This work is divided into four parts; one about circles, one about cycles, one about some revived Labours of Hercules, and one attempt to turn text into a landscape.

The work of Petitprez is a questioning about the place of mankind in time and space. He doesn’t talk a lot about the place of the mankind in the world amongst the other species. It’s the typography that plays this role. In fact, he chooses two typefaces related to nature. Daubenton is used for the titles. Its name is borrowed from Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton, the first director of the French National Museum of Natural History. This font, linked to natural history, has this chiseled characterstic that gives it noble simplicity and calm grandeur, which pairs well with the timeless myths of Hercules. The second font is Faune by Alice Savoie which is inpired by the shapes of animals. In the words of Mrs Savoie: “Although natural history has inspired a lot of literature, poetry and painting, its influence on typography stays very narrow.”

This choice of fonts linked to the animal kingdom could be understood through a reference that Petitprez makes in his memoir. He talks about Herakles by Werner Herzog, a film that shows the failure of man in his goal of mastering nature and the destruction that results from his actions. Maybe by this choice, Petitprez wants to underline the fact that man is a part of animality.

The other thing that the two chosen fonts have in common is the roundness of the letter shapes. For example, the bowl of R in Daubenton is a real circle, and Faune, especially in its italics, eschews the straight line. Therefore, we could say that the typefaces chosen by Petitprez follow the title and the theme of his mémoire, the shape of the circle follows the idea of the cycle.

Archéologie imaginée (“Imagined archeology”) is a project resulting from the meeting between two archaeologists – from the Ministry of Culture and Metz Métropole – and two teacher-artists. They proposed to third year students of the École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine (ÉSAL) to develop their own vision around the concept of archeology. These exchanges gave rise to the production of more than 80 works brought together in two exhibitions (in June 2019 at the Porte des Allemands and from October 2019 to January 2020 at the La Cour d’Or museum in Metz) as well as a printed publication.

The photograph of a Greek statue was taken by Tingting Wei, an ÉSAL student. It was further processed to be used as the key visual. In order to differentiate while combining the two exhibitions, two versions of the visual were produced: the first is pink and mauve, the second pink and navy blue. The produced communication items include A5 flyers and invitations, A3 posters, JC Decaux format posters, web communication (banners, social media visuals), and press inserts.

The exhibition catalog presents all the works created for the event. The notion of transparency and excavation with reference to archeology is at the center of the visual used on the cover. Thanks to a graphic effect, one may think one will discover the contents on the first interior page through the visual of the exhibition.

Typefaces: Karla (Jonathan Pinhorn) and Liquido (Alessandro Comotti).

Type in use: Perec & Arlt by Alejandro Lo Celso (PampaType).

Égrégore is an edition gathering drawings around the Saint-Etienne cathedral of Metz, made by art students at ÉSAL Metz in collaboration with Esther Kauffenstein.

Graphic design by Bernard Gissinger, under the direction of Élamine Maesha.

Visual Identity for the international festival of typeface design "Let's type" in Metz, France at the school of ESAL, école supérieure d'art de Lorraine: poster, website, animation, bags and social network using Margarita (Alejandro Lo Celso, PampaType) and Messine designed by the students of ESAL.

Branding communication by Bernard Gissinger, with the help of Jérôme Knebusch.

The editorial design of the graduate catalog of the ÉSAL (art school in Metz, France) is based on two key notions: openness and light. The fluorescent gradients that spread from the heart of the catalog literally highlight the graduates' work. The composition plays with the white of the page; texts presenting the approach of the young artists are placed opposite to the respective photographs. The school logo (based on similar themes) appears on the cover of the catalog. The sheet separates the reading of the term “École Supérieure d’Art de Lorraine” in order to bring up the word “art”.

The typography combines Messine (Atelier de typographie de l’ÉSAL) with Work Sans (Wei Huang).