Website notice / Updated 3 November 2026
Privacy policy
Browsing, project drafts and information connected with this independent portfolio.
1. The person and the collection
Benoit Louis Couthier presents cartographic illustration and wayfinding graphic design through this portfolio. The correspondence address is 7 Rue du Palais Gallien, 33000 Bordeaux, France. This notice concerns the static pages, original map studies and the enquiry route at benoitcouthierusa.online. It does not describe a navigation service or a location-tracking application. The illustrated places are fictional, and viewing a map here does not identify the visitor’s position. An actual mapping engagement would need its own agreed source material, permissions and treatment of any personal or location information.
2. Information in the introductory fields
The enquiry form asks for your name, reply email, optional company name, selected design interest and message. Required fields are labelled and checked in the browser. The chosen service can be carried from a project link into the draft so the subject is not lost. These fields are intended to introduce a proposed scope, not verify identity or collect payment. Keep the message proportionate to that purpose and avoid information about other people unless you have a valid reason and authority to disclose it.
3. A preview before an email
The preparation button creates a preview within the open browser page. It does not post those field values to a website form server, create a support ticket or confirm receipt. You may inspect the text and then choose a link that opens your own email application. Sending from that application is a separate decision. Its provider can keep drafts and sent messages under its own arrangements; closing this website cannot delete those separately stored copies or recall an email that was sent.
4. Resource delivery and technical records
HTML, images, fonts, styles and the local form script are delivered as website resources. Requests for those files can reveal an IP address, browser characteristics, a requested address and timing to the infrastructure involved. Cloudflare supplies public delivery and security, with cPanel hosting at the origin. Providers may keep operational or security records and add technical measurement at the edge according to their configuration. This resource-request activity is distinct from typing a project message and does not mean the website submitted that message.
5. Material represented in the studies
The portfolio’s SVG maps are original illustrative drawings, served as ordinary image files. Labels and routes within the studies belong to fictional settings rather than a database of actual visitors or customers. Loading a study does not invoke geolocation, a routing API or a third-party map tile service. A visitor can therefore distinguish the visible map subject from the technical requests involved in loading the page. Names of imaginary places are design content; they are not personal records supplied through an enquiry.
6. Source information for a possible brief
A first mapping question may identify the kind of place, intended reader and purpose of the graphic. It normally does not need named residents, private home coordinates, access codes, staff movement records or a list of vulnerable locations. Keep those details out of the initial message. If a later commission genuinely involves sensitive source information, establish what is necessary, who may receive it and an appropriate transfer method before providing files. A fictional map study is not permission to share another person’s whereabouts.
7. When correspondence becomes project material
If you send a mapping enquiry through your own email application and a recipient receives it, the message can become correspondence about a proposed graphic. Later discussion may need a location brief, approved source plan, intended distribution and contact details for the people coordinating the work. Clarify the purpose and access restrictions for any additional information at that stage. Browsing the map collection does not authorise an unrelated marketing list or allow a supplied plan to be republished as a public portfolio item.
8. Retention depends on the particular record
A planning email, a source drawing and an approved map file can have different reasons for retention. Relevant considerations include an active commission, version history, publication permissions, contractual records and a dispute. There is no universal deletion deadline announced for material that has not yet been received. Ask about the particular record and its responsible holder if retention matters to your proposal. Deleting a local draft does not erase correspondence already sent through an email provider or remove a third party’s independently held copy.
9. Choices and applicable privacy rights
Applicable law and circumstances determine which data rights are available, including requests concerning access, correction, deletion, processing information or objection. Identify the particular record and the outcome sought through the contact route without sending identity documents unsolicited. Proportionate verification and lawful exceptions may apply. Browser settings can limit or clear local data, but do not erase a recipient’s email archive or infrastructure logs. Questions involving a child should be raised by an appropriate adult with only the information necessary to explain the concern.
10. Security, questions and updates
Use [email protected] for a question about this portfolio’s data handling, identifying the page or interaction concerned. No email or network service can be guaranteed risk-free. If information was misdirected, contact the relevant recipient or provider without circulating the sensitive content again. The authored site has no customer login, enquiry database, file uploader or payment facility. Its draft is held in the open page, with no authored advertising pixel or local-storage archive. Changes to these features should be reflected in the notice for the actual interaction.