Located in the heart of town, Les Halles Marty is the traditional commercial hub of the seaside resort of Valras-Plage. It remains a favorite spot for Valras residents, who gather around the stalls of fishmongers, butchers, and fruit and vegetable producers.

Taking into account the urban context, the visual identity and signage now reveal the full potential of this highly colorful location.

By refining the iconic silhouette of Les Halles, we designed a sign reminiscent of the cartouches found around old commercial signs. This cartouche, deliberately reminiscent of grocery tickets, echoes a whole popular imagination: that of buying fresh produce, human connection, and the conviviality unique to a “French market.”

In keeping with this tradition, the signs found in Les Halles—with their vernacular typography and artisanal aesthetic—exude a unique warmth and authenticity. It is this popular and generous spirit that guided our typographic choices and informed our entire graphic system.

A flexible identity inspired by market stalls

As mentioned above, the cartridge principle used in the logo echoes shopping receipts and, more broadly, the act of purchasing fresh produce, a daily moment that expresses conviviality, proximity, and simple pleasure. Extending this principle, we developed a modular composition grid capable of generating an infinite number of patterns. Each cartouche thus becomes a symbolic representation of a market stall, paying tribute to the diversity of Les Halles’ merchants and the hustle and bustle of their business.

This modular graphic system draws on the joy, authenticity, and popular character of the place to create compositions that are both graphic and lively. The motifs created thus play a dual role: informative, when they organize and prioritize messages; and aesthetic, when they visually embody the generous and colorful spirit of Les Halles Marty.