Catalog for the exhibition Métro! Le Grand Paris en mouvement / The Metro! Grand Paris in motion at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris, shown from November 2023 to April 2024. This exhibition is focused on the metro, its history and the urban transformations associated with it, in relation to the work underway on the Grand Paris Express. This gigantic operation, which began in 2016 and is still ongoing, aims to extend and renovate the Paris metropolitan area’s transport network.

From the editor’s web shop (translated):

Aimed at a wide audience, the exhibition catalogue is designed as a beautiful book, divided into as many stages and stations. It takes up in depth the content of the exhibition itinerary, while weaving new links between different issues and reorganising the order in which the thematic issues appear. Resolutely multidisciplinary, it will give ample space to the relationship with the imaginary (cinema, painting, photography, illustrations, literature…), and to the testimonies of writers, engineers, users…

Graphic designer Line Martin-Célo has chosen the dynamism of Dina Chaumont to embody the publication. She used both the Display and Text versions. Neue Haas Unica is used for text.

It is always lovely to see an RATP leaflet with the familiar artwork by Georges Redon who was one of their most prolific illustrators of the post-WW2 period. This is entitled Connaître Paris est votre rêve or “Knowing Paris is your dream” and describes a series of ‘tours’ available by using regular Paris daytime bus services as well as an advertisement for the excursion tours operated.

While the title on the front panel with Redon’s illustration of the Eiffel Tower uses lettering, most other text in this leaflet is typeset. Of the three typefaces in use, two are by the local Fonderie Typographique Française, or FTF for short, which at the time operated at 4 Rue Napoléon-Chaix in the 15th arrondissement.

The compressed oblique sans-serif caps with contrast are from the medium (demi-gras) weight of Enric Crous-Vidal’s Paris (1953). The pen script is Clipper (1952), designed by Louis Ferrand. All other text is set in various weights and widths of Monotype’s Gill Sans. It’s the version featuring alternates for M a g t u and other characters, bringing the design closer to Futura.

Printed by Imprimerie Hénon.

Detail

Detail

In November 2022, the RATP Group (French for Autonomous Parisian Transportation Administration) revealed a campaign against harassment across its social media channels. It could also be seen in the subway as 4:3 posters (of which I couldn’t find any pictures).

The campaign’s purpose is to make victims and witnesses aware of several ways to signal bad behavior in the subway (e.g. a phone number to call or to send a text to, a phone app, etc.)

The bold display typeface Piepie is used for headlines, alongside Bebas Neue for smaller text. Both were designed by Ryoichi Tsunekawa.

The idea of contrast and duality is strong throughout this campaign: the image is divided in half, each half clashes with each other with complementary colors in most cases.

I sadly couldn’t find any information on the designer(s) behind the campaign. Please leave a comment if you have any insight!

In 1996 the Autonomous Parisian Transportation Administration (RATP) adopted the custom typeface Parisine. The development of the typeface family was part of the general effort – with Yo Kaminagai as a head of design – to unify the sign system of the Parisian metro, bus and regional express network which until then made use of different typefaces. An initial choice to rely on Neue Helvetica created disarray due to the font’s variations and difficulties to include longer station names (e.g. “Iéna Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau”, as opposed to “Iéna”).

Consequently, French type designer Jean François Porchez was commissioned to create a typeface that would be more “economical” in width. As described by Porchez in his Gazette, Parisine was:

designed from Helvetica Bold, condensed at 90%. Parisine is intentionally more open to counteract the reduction of the areas of the counters due to condensing. Its forms are softer and more round, horizontal parts are slightly heavier, optically, to compensate for the verticality accentuated by the slight narrowness of Parisine.

In August 2020 the Paris In collective raised awareness that the emblematic typography is threatened by the introduction of a different system used by Île-de-France Mobilités, the entity controlling the different transport companies of the Paris region. Their explicatory video warns of the beginning of what may be an increasing “contamination” of the standards.

[Editor’s note: Parisine was introduced in RATP’s communications in a decentralized way, and the family grew with needs and applications; see comments.]

Overview of the M4 metro line. Station names are set on an angle.

Diagram of the metro, RER, bus, and tramway lines.

Trilingual tourist map (2017) with info in French, English, and Spanish, designed by Be Dandy using Parisine’s narrow and compressed widths.

Strasbourg Saint-Denis station, July 2019.

July 16, 2018. One day after France won the Russia 2018 World Cup final football match, six metro stations were temporarily renamed. the Saint-Paul station was changed into Saint-Paul Pogba, and the Champs-Élysees station honoured the coach of the French football team, Didier Deschamps.

Sign post outside Pompadour station, 2019.

April 2020. Entry of the Plaisance Hôpital Saint-Joseph station, showing both Parisine and the famous art nouveau Paris metro signs.

RATP website, using Parisine and the same color scheme as used for the RATP signage.

Saint-Paul station fridge magnet, from the RATP merchandise shop.