Thursday 2 August 2012

Long Live the Olympic Logo

When I first saw the London 2012 Logo designed by International Brand Agency Wolf Ollins, I was less than enamoured. It reminded me of a child's drawing or a ransom note, neither of which I felt best represented what Britain was hoping to be the ULTIMATE Olympic Games.




First launched in 2007 it received bad press across the nation and when Wolf Ollins stated people 'would learn to love it', it went down like a lead balloon. 

People didn't quite get it. The jagged edges, the zany colours, it just didn't appear to represent the Britain people were familiar with.

"Lines reach out from the shape and angles of the Emblem to create a dynamic geometry that forms the basis of all elements of design for artists, architects, sculptors and graphic designers. The lines represent our invitation to the world to join together and be inspired by the energy of the athletes competing at the London 2012 Games."
London 2012

Well what exactly does that mean? who does it really benefit and who came up with that spiel?

People were used to seeing logos which did exactly what is said on the tin. Pretty much without exception they included red, gold, green or blue taken from the colours of the rings. Okay, so this makes perfect sense, keep within the grand scheme but Wolf Ollins and the Olympics committee wanted more than that.

" It is unconventionally bold, deliberately spirited and unexpectedly dissonant, echoing London’s qualities of a modern, edgy city. Containing neither sporting images nor pictures of London landmarks, the emblem shows that the Games are more than London, more than sport."

Okay, so when you look at it like that, it kind of makes sense...


Past Examples of Games logos.



Five years later and its become engrained in our psyche, and yes, I have to confess, irritatingly, it really has grown on me.

The logo and the rest of the branding including the four base colours of pink, blue, orange and green plus the Gareth Hague's 2012 and TFL's Johnston typefaces have translated well to a variety of surfaces, promotional items, buildings and whatever else they could possibly be applied to.

'That' pink and 'that' blue.

That's the impressive thing about good branding, when its done well, it's versatile, flexible and engaging and that is exactly what the brand has come to be. In a very short space of time people recognise 'that' typeface and 'those' colours and 'those' shapes ordinarily that type of brand penetration takes years.

I mean, who can really remember the Sydney Olympics logo? I am not being biased here, just honest. In case you need reminding, I've included it below!

So, all in all, Wolf Ollins and the Olympics Team have done a pretty good job of fulfilling what they set out to do and in creating something that really has gone up in people's estimations. Here's to an all round successful London 2012!











1 comment:

  1. of course a logo that has "disturbing" effect will stay much longer in the memory than beautiful one... but wait a minute... in fact I remember "sydney's logo" quite well after all these years and it was really good logo, actually... london 2012... just crap.. 400 thousand euros for this... and worst thing about "2012 logo" is that even if you are very sane anti-conspiracy "no nonsense" type of guy...but hell that logo really looks like it was made to contain some creepy secret message or something...

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