Amid the fanfare and fluster of the Olympic process it's easy to forget the effort that went into branding each one. Over at the Idsgn blog they've done the job for us and taken a look at a whole bunch of different Olympic logos.
Specifically, Idsgn's examined how the logos evolved between the period between a city's initial bid for the Summer or Winter Olympics and the final version the public got to see. While it's hard to examine the differences for specific meaning (did Beijing think its more traditional final emblem would appeal more to how the world sees the nation?) it's interesting to try to imagine the political, design and financial forces that pushed and pulled at each nation's organizing committee that caused the logos to change--we're an incredibly image-conscious world, remember.
That said, Greece, Canada and China all refined their designs towards a more traditional emblem--Greece's perhaps tapping the most original source, with its olive wreath logo for Athens 2004 being right at the heart of the original ancient Olympics.
Torino's 2006 Winter Olympics emblem went the other way, from partly abstract to even more abstract, with a more high-tech angle thanks to the distorted star network effect.
And London's 2012 emblem abandoned all pretense at history, moving from a terribly traditional (shall we say acutely British?) font-based design into what could fairly be labeled as an optical explosion--designed by Wolf Olins. Do the British Olympic Committee feel the pink and yellow starkness of the design better represents UK culture? Or are we misunderstanding, and London's team are embracing tradition--but have shunned the options of a bowler hat and fish'n'chips for a logo that's as eccentric as the stereotypical Brit is imagined to be abroad?
All of this, of course, makes one wonder what will happen to the logos for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and the winner from the candidate cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The one that stands out with most room for movement is Tokyo's, with its largely meaningless swirl in Olympic colors--reminiscent of London's original one. And then there's the odd blandness of Chicago's logo--what's with the star, guys? It's kinda snowflake-like, and this isn't the Winter Olympics?
[via Isdgn]
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Design, Olympic logos, 2016, Sports, branding, evolution, design change, tradition, emblems, international, Sports, Winter Olympics, London (England), Olympic Games, Greece |
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Recent Comments | 5 Total
August 24, 2009 at 7:48pm by Stefan Caiafa
It's interesting that you would characterise Tokyo as having a "largely meaningless swirl" in its candidate logo. The swirl clearly mimics a traditional Japanese knot known as musubi. In fact, the swirl in London's logo looks suspiciously similar to the Thames river viewed from above—I highly doubt either of these were designed with little attention to meaning.
August 25, 2009 at 8:33am by Kit Eaton
@Stefan. Indeed London's swirl kinda(ish) references the Thames, but you'd definitely have to know the geography, or be an Eastenders addict to even notice. And the musibi knot is interesting--so it is traditional! But I'd still argue it's not one that'll end up being remotely similar to the final Olympic logo... it's just not visually grabby.
August 25, 2009 at 2:12pm by Carlos de la Fuente
The Chicago 2016 logo is actually a compromise after the IOC came down on the city (the original logo was made up of a stylized torch with the flame shaped like the Sears/Willis Tower - it turns out that only after the city has selected as the host can they use any of the Olympic symbols e.g. rings, torch, etc)
Still, this logo contains a lot of symbolism that obviously does not translate so well outside of Chicago:
- the six point star is reminiscent of those found in the flag of the city (4 stars, each point of each star symbolizing an event or property of the city)
- the orange stripes, a stylized rendering of the Sears/Willis Tower with its characteristic setbacks
- the blue stripes, reflection of the orange on the waters of Lake Michigan (one of the big selling points of the candidacy)
As Stefan points out; there is a lot of thought going into each of these, but I guess the true genius comes from being able to project that beyond your immediate audience
August 25, 2009 at 6:30pm by Julietta Cheung
A logo doesn't operate as a standalone so it's important to see how the it is expressed in the various environments it lives in order to judge its efficacy.
I've seen the Sochi bid book for the Olympics. They sourced the angular graphic (see top and bottom of logo and the red line) as a motif throughout to communicate what seems to be alpine slopes and a dynamic, exciting feeling. I appreciated the Beijing logo (a human pictogram that is also the Chinese character for the word "jing" in "Beijing" which means "capital city.") But it didn't seem like sufficient thought went into integrating the logo into the brand environment.
No matter how apt the symbolism of the logo may be, I think the jury's still out until the graphic can be experienced.
August 25, 2009 at 6:31pm by Julietta Cheung
A logo doesn't operate as a standalone so it's important to see how the it is expressed in the various environments it lives in order to judge its efficacy.
I've seen the Sochi bid book for the Olympics. They sourced the angular graphic (see top and bottom of logo and the red line) as a motif throughout to communicate what seems to be alpine slopes and a dynamic, exciting feeling. I appreciated the Beijing logo (a human pictogram that is also the Chinese character for the word "jing" in "Beijing" which means "capital city.") But it didn't seem like sufficient thought went into integrating the logo into the brand environment.
No matter how apt the symbolism of the logo may be, I think the jury's still out until the graphic can be experienced.