The work of the Grapus design collective belonged to the public square; it represented a dialogue between governments and citizens, culture and politics, and in the final analysis, the message and the form.
The meaning behind Grapus's name was described by Bernard that it was functional-sounding, had vulgar overtones, and also had a "whiff of history to it," referring to French revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf.
Another interpretation for the creation of the name Grapus, is it was a play on the words crapules staliniennes (Stalinist scum), was both a gesture of political allegiance and a sardonic provocation to potential critics.
[1] The group was founded in France in 1970 by Pierre Bernard, who had studied with the Polish poster designer Henryk Tomaszewski; François Miehe; and Gérard Paris-Clavel, who had met during the student movement of May 1968 and were influenced by the subversive ideas and practices of the Situationist International.
"[2] Grapus wore its Marxist heritage proudly, remaining devoted to the plebeian immediacy of posters, leaflets and bumper stickers.
In 1990, after receiving the French "Grand prix national des arts graphiques", the collective faced a difficult ideological test when they had the opportunity to design the visual identity of the Louvre Museum.
Bernard was in favour of taking the assignment, believing that design for cultural institutions could be a tool for social change.
His partners wanted to design exclusively for social causes, found the Louvre to be elitist, and believed that taking the job would compromise their convictions.
The idea was to form a production group, an artistic collective, to create high-quality images for the political struggle of the French Communist Party.
They often used bright colours, sensual forms, handwritten text, high-spirited visual pranks, and also very extensive symbolic vocabulary.
In the early 2000, when bands like Air and Daft Punk emerged, "the French music scene was completely dead."
Through their work as graphic designers and creative directors in the fields of art, fashion and music, "Amzalag" and Augustyniak have established M/M as a powerful force in contemporary French culture.
– Pierre Bernard The posters were a vital part of the struggle shared by students and workers, expressing its key ideas in the most direct public language available, inscribing the streets of Paris with these urgent messages, and attaining a level of visibility and impact on the consciousness of spectators, in some locations, normally achieved only by commercial advertising[7] Grapus's split up was linked to a desire to continue the form of action which Grapus represented.
Pierre Bernard, along with Dirk Behage and Fokke Draaijer, founded the Atelier de Création Graphique (ACG).
Pierre Bernard has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale since 1987, received the Erasmus Prize in 2006, and teaches graphic design in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (ENSAD).