Marc Armand translates the atmosphere of the French summer coast into graphic design

Though “nothing has really changed that radically” since we last wrote about Marc Armand last year, the graphic designer certainly continues to wow with his maximalist designs. From a bold reimagining of the French football team’s kit last year, to a zinging visual identity encapsulating the French countryside this year, Marc’s recent output takes us in a whole new direction – with a metallic spectrum of colours in tow.

“I try to keep it evolving, one project after another,” Marc tells us on his developing creative process. “I’ve always been a maximalist. But slowly (very slowly) I’m trying to focus on being a bit more simple with each project.” So, when it came to designing the visual identity for the 34th edition of Festival International de Mode, de Photographie, et d’Accessoires de Mode in Hyères, Marc attempted to pare back his creative process.

Taking place on the sun-drenched Mediterranean coast, Marc’s first thoughts on how to represent the fashion festival through a graphic identity was to translate the dreamy atmosphere of its location through design. “The atmosphere of this area of France has such a beautiful nature,” says Marc on the idyllic setting. “There’s an incredible seaside and unique light, so that’s why I built the identity based on colour gradients.” Utilising an extensive palette of vivid colours, Marc hints to several aspects of the French landscape through the identity.

In some designs, the blended gradient of oranges, pinks and yellows, mimics the setting sun out at sea. In other designs, the purple and green blended hues evoke the blooming seasonal flowers and the light dappled through the summer-toned trees. And once he’d created this background, Marc applied bold typographic headers to ground the abstract gradient in a graphic design context. Creating different alternations to differentiate between the architecture, fashion, and design aspects of the festival, Marc’s consistent design is exemplified through both print and web outputs.

In other work, Marc continues in his role as creative director of Please! magazine, which recently published its latest issue. “I’m really happy with it,” says Marc on the 26th issue of Please! which aims to provide context to the strong woman with a love of fashion. “With the team, we’ve pushed forward both the content and the design” of the latest publication. And along with Marc’s ongoing work with Nike, which is also evolving with each brief, the designer promises some exciting upcoming work soon to be released. Over here at It’s Nice That, we can’t wait to see what he does next.