Colombiers is a town in southern France located in the Hérault department. This village, rich in historical heritage (the Via Domitia, the Oppidum of Ensérune), is crossed by the Canal du Midi and also has a port on the canal, making it a prime stopover for the many cruisers and passing tourists. Colombiers is also a popular tourist destination, a place of peace and well-being, and a haven of unspoiled nature that increasingly attracts those seeking an authentic experience.

In addition to visually representing the town’s historical and cultural uniqueness, the visual identity also aims to convey Colombiers’ vision and future ambitions. It serves as a graphic expression of the town’s individuality—one that has continually reinvented itself over time to address today’s challenges (economic, tourism-related, etc.) while remaining firmly focused on the future.

A stopover on the Canal du Midi

The visual identity is built around a meaningful formal repertoire found within the town itself. Radiant circular shapes become the foundation of this identity. The Canal du Midi serves as a guiding thread, and along the journey, it reveals places defined by this same formal language. We enter the town through the Malpas Tunnel, follow the Colombiers-Montady lagoon, and eventually stop at the port. All these locations share the characteristic of radiant circular forms, making them the obvious starting point for shaping Colombiers’ image.

The emblem emerging from this graphic exploration, in turn, evokes the “C” monogram of the Colombiers port, the drained pond with its geometric and rhythmic patterns, as well as the dove—the bird that inspired the town’s name. Indeed, the dove takes on a circular graphic aspect through the spread of its wings, as well as the wheel-like shape it can form to present itself as attractively as possible.

Give credit where credit is due.

Through this graphic work, Colombiers also reclaims the emblematic symbol of identity represented by the Étang de Montady. Once a salty marsh that caused epidemics, the Étang de Montady was drained as early as 1270. Ditches arranged in a “sunburst” pattern were dug to make 420 hectares of land usable. This network of canals allowed water to be drained from the perimeter toward the center, from where it was then directed to the Grande Maïre stream and into a 1,300-meter-long underground gallery. Today, this system stands as a masterpiece of medieval hydro-agricultural engineering as well as a fascinating tourist attraction. From the archaeological site of the Oppidum of Ensérune, the view is truly spectacular.

Commonly known as the “Étang de Montady,” even though it is evenly and symmetrically divided between the communes of Montady and Colombiers, we, in turn, give a nod to the Roman civilization that once passed through Colombiers by giving credit where credit is due. From now on, let’s call it the “Étang de Montady-Colombiers”!