Sauvian is a fast-growing town in the western part of the Hérault department, on the Biterrois wine-growing plain south of Béziers. Bordered to the north by the Orb river, which fertilizes the plain, and to the south by the wine-growing landscape, the town is mainly occupied by vineyards, with a few wineries on the slopes.

Recently, a number of business parks have been developed, creating a large number of jobs in the commune (mainly in the service sector). Since the 1980s, the town’s population has been booming, doubling in twenty years. The expectations of local residents have evolved in step with the town’s development, with requests for more public services and the attractiveness of the area (events, culture, facilities, etc.).

A city center since Roman times

Located on the site of a Gallo-Roman villa (salvianus), the town of Sauvian has many traces of its historic past: Saint-Corneille and Saint-Cyprien church, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, features an ancient necropolis in the basement, in which a sarcophagus dating from the 4th century A.D. was discovered; a remarkable château (privately owned) with 16th-century towers; a medieval gateway topped by a clock tower at the end of the 16th century; a fountain with an obelisk dating from 1664; an artesian well; a washhouse; and much more. A real heritage treasure.
Sauvian is also a place of passage, as evidenced by the presence of a milestone dating from the first century BC, which marked the ancient Roman roads and mentions the name of Emperor Tiberius. At the time, the town was located on a secondary route of the renowned Via Domitia.

A city on your scale

The term “dimension”, which has been our signature for over a decade, evokes several aspects of the town of Sauvian. Firstly, it may refer to the measurable extent of the town, the portion of space it occupies across its borders with Béziers, Sérignan, Villeneuve-lès-Béziers and Vendres. In short, the space it occupies.

Sauvian is a small town of over 5,000 inhabitants that offers its residents a host of facilities worthy of a large city: media library, conservatory, school, day nursery, gymnasium, swimming pool and more.

Figuratively speaking, “dimension” also evokes the importance of the inhabitant in the city. The human “dimension”. Sauvian is a town on a human scale, where life is good. On the contrary, Sauvian opens its arms wide to those who wish to participate in the life of the town. People are at the heart of the commune’s concerns, just as Sauvian is at the center of a Ville – Mer axis, between Béziers and Valras-Plage, and once the crossroads between Agde and Narbonne, an area crossed by the Roman road. The historic town center is also at the heart of the territory, bordered on one side by the Orb and on the other by the vineyards, an area in which the town is now growing.

Inspirations and drawings

As you stroll through the narrow streets of the town center, then visit the various places steeped in history, the architecture reveals the design of the town of Sauvian. Urban amenities, stone arches, doorways and other openings draw the letters A, U and V; redundant letters that bring balance and rhythm to the composition of the name “SAUVIAN”.

The main objective of the visual identity is to reinterpret the historic coat of arms to give it greater meaning, adapting it to the values of the contemporary town. To achieve this, it was necessary to clean up and modernize the coat of arms, and then to tell the story of Sauvian’s uniqueness.

Reconnecting with history

The town of Sauvian returns to red, its historic color. Slightly reworked and reinterpreted with the aim of modernizing, the color red echoes the town’s human dimension, its welcoming quality, the warmth of its people and its rich history. Red is synonymous with joie de vivre, activity and dynamism. Red, once known as “gueules”, signifies courage, boldness and fearlessness.

Illustrate the city through its attractions

The town of Sauvian is now illustrated by a series of pictograms presented in diamond-shaped cartouches. Each of the 4 “poles of attraction”, which form the coat of arms in the logo, is followed by a series of small drawings illustrating the town’s “totems”: the château, the church, the media library, the river, the vineyards, tourism, etc. By associating the pictograms with each other, like a jigsaw puzzle, it’s possible to create a frieze that allegorically represents the town, telling a different story with each (re)composition.