Celine is a Parisian house of couture, leather goods, fine perfumery, and beauty. Its visual identity leverages the codes of modernism and offers a practical case study to analyse the use of the grid, the role of typography, and that of photography.
First principles

Celine’s brand identity affiliation to the codes of modernism and the Swiss Style appear in the reduction of the color palette to black and white, the use of a legendary modernist text typeface (Neue Haas), the implementation of a 16-column grid at the heart of every layout, the generous use of white space, and a strictly protocol-driven execution throughout.

Within this modernist “economy of means”, photography takes center stage. It is treated with a kind of aesthetic neutrality most often used for reproducing “fine art” works (such as in exhibition catalogs or monographs) meaning it respects the integrity of the original format and framing.

A perfume packaging

In terms of packaging, Celine leans into preciousness by utilizing specific manufacturing techniques, such as multilevel embossing (creating a double-frame effect), hot-foil stamping, and the use of textured Buckram paper.

An instagram story

For digital communication, Celine occasionally allows for a more visual use of typography. In terms of photography, the objective remains “aesthetic neutrality”; in motion design, this translates into micro-animations and loops.

An OOH

In billboard advertising, the primary layout challenge is the curation of photographic sequences, featuring alternating or progressive shot scales: wide shots, medium shots, and still lifes.

OOH displays, hoardings, and lightboxes—designed on a modular grid of sixteen columns or more—present a graphic design challenge that primarily involves accounting for in situ constraints and the general cultural context of the country. In China, for example, preference is given to the curation of color photography featuring Chinese models and avoiding close-ups of faces.