Le deuil du lieu

Published November 11, 2026

How can graphic design facilitate the grieving process for places by celebrating and nurturing residents’ symbolic and emotional ties to places that are disappearing or changing in the context of urban transformation?

Places have always been very important to me. Despite moving around a lot as a child, I’ve always felt a strong attachment to every place I’ve lived. All these places shaped me and served as the backdrop for many real or imagined stories, which remain etched in my memory to this day.

This thesis paper, part of my Master Social & Ethic Design at the Campus Fonderie de l’Image, is structured as a study of the resident’s condition within urban transformations and aims to identify the role that the graphic designer can play in addressing the issue of mourning for places associated with these transformations. By addressing the need for an approach to urban transformation through the lens of eco-social design, based on ethnographic and anthropological research, I seek to highlight the need for an empathetic approach in urban transformation projects. That is, the need to place human and social relationships at the center of these projects.

I designed this thesis using Neue Haas Grotesk throughout. The book was printed on 120g Olin Crème paper, with Old Mill 300g used for the cover.

Read full story.

WRITTEN BY

FontsInUse

An independent archive of typography.