The archive · Design & Visual · Strategic decision · 2017
Association Empire launches Revue Faire, a critical design journal out every 15 days
Association Empire found almost no critical writing on graphic design in France — so it founded its own print journal, Revue Faire, out every 15 days.
Revue Faire
What it had to solve
Association Empire's designers noticed that critical publications dedicated to the analysis of graphic design are sadly few and far between in France and across Europe. Rather than wait for an institution to fill the gap, they decided to supply it themselves from an analytical, critical perspective.
How it works
Association Empire's designers began the Revue Faire project from a realization: critical publications dedicated to the analysis of graphic design are sadly few and far between, particularly in France but across Europe as a whole. The practice was being made and taught, but hardly anyone was seriously writing about it.
Rather than wait for a critic or institution to appear, they adopted an analytical and critical perspective themselves. In 2017 the designers established a print publication devoted to the forms and activities of graphic design, published every 15 days and inviting a rotating cast of authors — writers, designers and design historians — to contribute.
The fixed rhythm made the project an ongoing practice instead of a one-off book, and the studio became the publisher of its own field's criticism. Revue Faire kept publishing into the 2020s, passing issue 50 and establishing itself as a reference for students, researchers and professionals, with a place in D&AD's awards archive.
Why it lands
- The gap was real: critical publications analyzing graphic design were almost nonexistent in France and Europe.
- Founding the journal let the designers set the editorial position instead of waiting to be commissioned.
- A fixed 15-day cadence made criticism a discipline rather than a one-off object.
- Commissioning writers, designers and historians built a plural critical voice the field lacked.
What it did
The journal kept its cadence into the 2020s, passing issue 50 and becoming a reference for design students, researchers and professionals, with a place in D&AD's awards archive.
What you can take
If the field you work in lacks critical attention, do not wait for an institution to supply it — create the venue yourself, and a fixed publishing cadence turns an opinion into an institution.
Since then
Revue Faire continued publishing into the mid-2020s, with issues numbering past 50 and distribution through bookshops in France and abroad; the work is preserved in D&AD's awards archive.
Sources
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