Semiotic analysis of La Poste logotype

La Poste's identity is made up of the name "LA POSTE", white letters written on a gray band, present on agencies or vehicles; associated with an ovoid-shaped logotype, carrying within it a semi-figurative graphic construction.

The field of signifieds being concentrated mainly by the logotype, we will discuss later the possible meanings, of secondary importance in this case, which appear when the name is shown on the gray band or alone, after the logotype.

The composition invites us to progress from a global, synthetic vision of the ovoid shape, to a more detailed reading of what it contains, which opens up a first Dialectical field Container / Content. The ovoid seems to contain an element that is "other" to it graphically and thematically. There is no opposition between the two forms but a hierarchy, the "blue" composition seeming to carry by itself the legal and symbolic singularity of the whole. We will say that the ovoid is a "support" when it is materialized mat and convex, and a "container-little delimited", when it is in electronic or printed version.

Matt and rounded, as a “support”, its signifieds are weak in differentiation and imagination: roundness, sympathy, ease, ergonomics ... while specifying that the ovoid is regular, symmetrical and oriented in a straight-upward movement which refers to positive dynamism. Affixed to the gray band which creates a dynamic of spatial and temporal trajectory, it can take on secondary aspects of "vehicle", "shield" bearing a coat of arms, or "seal" both identifying and "sealing". These elements of course refer to business components.

The idea of ​​"container-little delimited" if we allow ourselves this neologism worthy of a Zen writing, seems richer in terms of connotations. The shape is “like a small quantity of liquid isolated on a support, the edges of which are defined and rounded by atmospheric pressure”. Shaded in gray, it is understood as "solid", but it retains a

“Liquidity-frozen”, close to crystallization. Symbolically, La Poste manages flows exposed to air (space-time) which must be controlled without loss, in a form of feedback circularity, from sender to recipient.

The yellow color, the edges orange by thickness, the reflections of shiny windows, add dimensions of "desirability", linked to gemological references (amber, polished stones), taste (sweets, honey, candies). La Poste is a “link factor” which is administrative as well as emotional. We "wanted" certain letters, invested with feelings, with a relationship of "languages" in both the figurative and literal sense (gluing of stamps and envelopes). This sensory investment seems to be sublimated today by electronics, which is no stranger to the "virtual reality" aspect of this yellow ovoid.

We said above that this composition presents a content / container dialectic, the two dimensions not being in contradiction but presenting several levels of disjunction: simplicity-naive of the ovoid / conceptual-complexity of the blue sign, actuality-computerized / references to a graphic and cultural past.

This disjunction seems to show that we embed in the same medium a past linked to the graphic composition of the blue sign, the present of a "mode" of representation linked to the use of certain graphic software (the tool determines the style , here, “bevelling-stamping”), and a “progression dynamic” marked by the oriented ovoid, the arrow, the aerodynamic deformation of a fast moving object.

La Poste effectively plays with and against time: the object shipped, like the blue sign, has already "passed" when it is taken care of, it must be preserved (crystallization) and its desirability maintained (candy , dragee, lozenge). We can see that the rear part of the blue sign is as if “consumed” or escapes vision, because of the speed but also because time erodes the relevance of information and goods.

The subject matter that we have so far called the "blue sign" calls for more detailed comment. It evokes of course an "aerial or conceptual object in movement", bird, plane, abstract symbol of a rectangular object carried in a rapid movement, oriented by an arrowhead in one direction (towards the right, in the direction of common reading, towards a

"Finality", a "meaning", a "future").

The juxtaposition of the rectangle and the arrow is commonly associated with "mail" or an item sent, processed with speed. But beyond this association, it is interesting to note that it is part of the graphic tradition of the current "streamline", succeeding the Decorative Art movement, which illustrated the evolutions of industrialized societies, gaining speed thanks to the train, the plane and the automobile. It is performance and technical progress that are featured here and elevated to the rank of symbol, combining / confusing values ​​and tools in a single sign. This reference is graphically "dated", apart from the fact that it was created in 1960, simplified in its current form in 1978, it refers to societal representations based on speed and technological performance (Le Concorde was emblematic at this time).

We can therefore wonder about the capacity that is signed - and by that the organism it represents - either to actualize itself, or to gain a certain timelessness, a detachment of technical referents, to express only values ​​that would be more universal and transversal.

We could finally propose to open the reflection, the image of the 6th labor of Hercules, man caught in a series of more symbolic than real tests, which also figure stages of evolution which can relate to "legal persons" such as companies. .

In this labor, he fought the birds of Lake Stymphalia, bristling with metal asperities, they attacked men and animals and obscured the sun. Of course, La Poste's blue bird, affixed to a yellow disc, should not literally be compared to this myth. It does not "hide" the sun and is not aggressive, but it is in a dialectical relationship with this solar ovoid (hot / cold - natural / technical - roundness / angularity). The metal birds flying from a lake-swamp represent performative-piercing thoughts or desires (desire for power through technology), originating from a clear / dark unconscious (power-progress).

In combating them, Hercules internally annihilates the psychic forces that negate their appearance and passes a stage in his personal development.

Do the challenges faced by La Poste today find some echo in the symbolism of its coat of arms ? ...