Feedback on the Capitole du Libre

On November 19th and 20th, a few dozen members of La Contre-Voie went to Toulouse, for the Capitole du Libre 2022. Due to Covid, this annual event had not been organized since the 2019 session, in which we also participated. At that time, there were only two of us, under the name 42l, manning a half booth shared with the CHATONS. We have come a long way!

🔗Evolution of the graphic charter

In December 2019, we published an article featuring our old graphic design.

The change of name of the association invited us to revise our whole graphic charter. Indeed, we wanted to get rid of any element referring to 42 and create our own image. This includes, for example, the triangular background that we used to use: it is the wallpaper used at school. We went for a rather stellar theme, reusing elements of the first T-Shirt we had produced.

🔗Stickers

The stickers are perhaps what required the least work. We had decided to keep our logo to make the link with the old identity of the association and not to confuse our public. So we only had to change the link on the sticker. The link was not the same size, so we had to move it slightly.

We ordered these stickers in 1000 copies from StickerMule for 211€, which is about 21 cents per unit. We had already ordered our previous stickers from them and are quite satisfied with the quality and the solidity of their stickers.

🔗Tarp

Our “Association 42l” tarp has followed us on many adventures, and we are more than indebted to it. Unfortunately, it is now time to part with it in favor of this new tarp:

This tarp design is a basic adaptation of our banners for social networks. It is the same size as the previous one, 200x80cm, in PVC. We ordered it from the same supplier as our previous one: PixartPrinting. We are very satisfied with our new tarp. I really advise any association, even a new one, to get one. It’s a very impactful communication element that plays a big role when we hold stands. Moreover, the prices are more than affordable (between 20 and 40€, ours cost 24€).

🔗Business cards

The creation of this new card design took me 8 hours of work in total. I really like working on business cards, it’s quite an enjoyable exercise. The front of the card uses the header elements of the website, and the back, in lighter colors, has a little cat silhouette to remind us of the CHATONS.

Our cards were also ordered from PixartPrinting, along with the tarp. Compared to the previous ones, we decided to use a laminated paper for a little more solidity, as well as rounded edges, which bring a refreshing touch to the cards. We ordered 1000 of them, for the sum of 80, or 8 cents per card.

🔗A new T-shirt!

Since changing our whole graphic charter was not enough, we also launched the printing of a new T-shirt! The last one was made in 2020, for the March 2020 JDLL, which did not take place due to the health crisis.

This new design is themed around astronomy, to highlight the identity of the new graphic. I wanted to draw something related to mathematics (the trigonometric circle, the lines, the angles), space (the constellation of the logo, the stars, the planets), astrology (the phases of the moon), esotericism (the dream catcher, the crystals, the hanging trinkets). The lunar cycle is also scattered with small kittens to remind our collective and lighten the whole.

This T-shirt, designated as the “Moons” series, was ordered in 100 copies at about 5.86€ each. We also recommended 60 “Constellations” T-shirts, for a total of 938,11€. Once again, we did not change the supplier for the T-shirts: it is Apparelo, under the brand “Mon produit de com’”. The T-shirts are from the brand “BD Regent”.

When we received the stock, we noticed a printing defect on the “Lunes” t-shirts. So we had to contact our supplier who sent us back 80 just in time for the Capitole du Libre. So we have 100 badly printed shirts (missing lines on the logo). We are now thinking about how to sell them. We’ll probably look into colorful embroidery to iron out the missing lines and create unique T-shirts, or maybe textile paint.

These shirts are now available on En Vente Libre ! You can order them for 17 euros each.

🔗Summary of the event

🔗Financial aspect

All these restocking of communication tools, the important order of T-shirts at the end of the year and the other running costs of the association led us to foresee a deficit of 500 € at the end of the year. We hoped, as much as possible, to be able to make up this deficit at the Capitole in order to obtain a positive balance sheet at the closing of our fiscal year 2022.

We are happy to say that this was a success! At the Capitole, we sold a total of 44 t-shirts at a price of 15€, for a total of 660€. We also got 30€ from memberships and 15€ from donations. Our deficit is therefore perfectly covered and we are even leaving the Capitole with a surplus of 200€, which leaves the association with a comfortable margin for the end of the year.

As last year, we wish to make a donation to small structures that we will have selected beforehand. The choice of these structures is under consideration within our Contribution Committee.

🔗Activities organized

I held a 2-hour workshop entitled “Let’s audit your websites!” on Sunday. This workshop went very well. There were about 7-8 people, the workshop was smooth and enjoyable. We spent about 20 minutes per site, in a pleasant atmosphere. This workshop was previously held at the Summer 2022 CHATONS Camp and will likely be held again. It consists of looking at the audience’s sites to analyze them and give constructive feedback on general aesthetics, UI/UX, accessibility, etc. The introductory slideshow for the workshop can be downloaded here.

We had also planned to hold a conference, but unfortunately it was not accepted by the Capitole organizers.

🔗Relationships

On both days of the event, we had a booth in the CHATONS room.

We came with a group of 10 people from 42 (7 people from 42Paris and 3 people from 42Angoulême). We used to organize such “school trips” regularly during free software conventions, but this was the first time we accompanied so many people. These students were able to enjoy the festival and also helped us to run our booth.

We met a lot of people, like Framasoft, LAPLLA.NET, Exarius and a lot of other people with whom we will undoubtedly build new things. We will talk about it in a future article!

Thanks for these moments of sharing and see you soon,

Brume