Entretien avec Etienne Robial

Description

Publisher, graphic designer, art director, visual manipulator, but perhaps above all typographer and letter painter, Etienne Robial is one of those who have considerably evolved the field of graphic design and visual arts since the 1970s. During his career, he has been editor and co-creator of the Futuropolis publishing house, artistic director of Canal + since its creation and for 25 years, he has imagined numerous television packages, he has designed many identity systems for brands and institutions (M6, PSG, Bercy, CNC) and has established numerous charters for the press (Les Inrocks, L'Équipe). Inventor of the concept of television packaging, he then applied his method to other channels and television program credits. Co-founder in 1982 of the production company On/off, he realized the television packages for Canal+ (1984), la Sept (1986), M6 (1987), Show tv (1991), RTL then RTL9 (1994-1995), Canal+ (1995) and many credits for other channels. Specialist of evolutive graphic systems, zero numbers for the press, he realized for the press the models of numerous newspapers. In this interview, he returns to the founding moments of his career by taking a roundabout way. Thus, he evokes his encounter with design through an early passion for dominoes and paper casseroles, then his discovery of the Bauhaus and typography through his activity as a monomaniacal collector. Etienne Robial opens the doors of his workshop and evokes with precision how he managed to make our understanding of design evolve. He returns at length to his career as a comic book publisher with Futuropolis (which he co-founded in 1972), his work on identity systems and his long experience as an art director for television. The book, illustrated with about fifty color photographs, will show some representative examples of Etienne Robial's work and will include several unpublished archive documents.