Les Cousins’ portfolio spans graphic design for karaoke nuts and perfume inspired by Ernest Hemingway

Operating between Paris and Montreal, graphic design studio Les Cousins is not just a tale of two cities but of two personalities as well. On one hand there’s the sensible side, which has seen the studio create colourful, letter-led invitations for Parisian IT business Wipro, develop packaging for slick coffee brand Cafe Saint Henri and art direct a similarly typographic 30 second TV spot for the National Archive Library of Quebec (causing a 50% spike in sign-ups in the first month).

But on the other hand, it’s worked on some pretty entertaining briefs. Ever wanted to smell like Ernest Hemingway (martini and adultery perhaps?), well Les Cousins developed the packaging for his imaginary cologne. At Montreal gallery Arprim it worked with seven designers to create a book inspired by Chinese whispers. It’s also developed the slinky graphics for a web series about Canada’s most active karaoke singers for French-language broadcaster TV5 and a poster for a sound installation controlled by participants’ brain activity while they sleep. Never a boring moment in sight.