New Police Headquarters, Amiens, 2024

In the context of the completion of the New Police Headquarters project, smarin invited Amiens residents, potential users of the Police Headquarters, to share a time of expression around the Sign System, in the form of what we call a design session.

The participants worked together to develop the compositional elements of a mural that will be installed on the perimeter wall of the Police Headquarters in 2025.

Sign System is a set of archetypal forms from an ornamental vocabulary, translated into small objects that can be manipulated to allow limitless play. It is about signs, writing, language and non-verbal communication. Sign system is a typography in volume made up of autonomous signs.


play with signs
All the letters of the alphabet can be produced from these seven forms. It is about learning or playing with hand writing (close to calligraphy) of all Latin languages. It can be played alone or together in a tactile dialogue. The a is formed by the crescent stuck to the line, the b is the large line in front of the crescent, the c is the crescent shape alone, and so on.

play with language
The Sign System has no rules. It’s up to the imagination of the player (s) to make up the rules and protocols of the game. Have fun composing, creating and discovering different words, all by handling the different shapes. Invent your own alphabet, write/build sentences, research anagrams. Construct sentences, anagrammatic research and even start a conversation. Drawings : the elements no longer form letters, but patterns.