Who created the original Je suis Charlie image used as a hashtag slogan?

Joachim Roncin created the original Je suis Charlie image used as a hashtag slogan.

Roncin was a French art director and music journalist working for Stylist magazine. He created the stark design shortly after the 7 January 2015 attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, in which 12 people were killed. The image used white and gray lettering on a black background, with “Charlie” echoing the newspaper’s logo.

Roncin posted the image to Twitter roughly an hour after the attack. He later explained that the phrase came naturally to him because he often looked at Où est Charlie? books with his son. The slogan quickly became a global expression of solidarity with the victims and support for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

The answer is not one of Charlie Hebdo’s best-known cartoonists. Riss and Charb were prominent members of the magazine, while Plantu is a separate French cartoonist; none created the original Je suis Charlie graphic.