Design and the Olympic Games

Forever challenging…

By Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT

The look of the Olympic Games in Rio, created by Rio 2016 design and brand management team. Source: Textualdigital.br

The Olympic Games would be nothing without their iconic symbols. Think of the identity, the mascots, the medals, the flags, torches, signage and more.

For the host cities this means a huge task on their plates, as they have to satisfy all sorts of (cultural) interests when creating a new brand logo, which also should build on what has been designed before, in order to retain a sense of familiarity.

The Olympic Rings

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games and is also the one who brought DESIGN into the games. Although his idea for the Olympic Rings wasn’t an original one, he created something simple and striking with the Olympic Rings, which “represent the five countries of the world, united by Olympism”. He drew his inspiration for the Olympic Rings from the logo of the Union des Sociétés Francaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA).

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, creator of the Olympic Rings

His inspiration: Logo of the USFSA

The Olympic symbol was originally designed in 1912. According to de Coubertin, the ring colours with the white background stand for those colours that appeared on all the national flags that competed in the Olympic games at that time.

… the six colors [including the flag’s white background] combined in this way reproduce the colors of every country without exception. The blue and yellow of Sweden, the blue and white of Greece, the tri-colors of France and Serbia, The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland, America, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Hungary, and the yellow and red of Spain, are placed together with the innovations of Brazil or Australia, with old Japan, and with new China. Here is truly an international symbol.” Baron Pierre de Coubertin in Olympique

With every edition of the Olympic games it got harder for the host cities to come up with something original, different from previous designs, but still memorable.

Dezeen has published a collection of best and worst Olympic logo designs since the Olympic Summer Games in Paris 1924.

Then…

“The line-drawn logo for the 1924 games in Paris featured an outline shaped like a shield, with a ship in the centre. American designer Milton Glaser called it a ‘bad beginning’, and the text, ‘unreadable’ in a recent interview with the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA).” Source: Dezeen.com

now

“According to Glaser, the logo for this year’s Olympic Games ‘feels like something new’. It was designed by the Brazilian agency Tatil after a lengthy selection process that pitted 139 designers against each other to earn the commission.” Source: Dezeen.com

…and in 2020. All images courtesy of the IOC.

“Although they are still four years away, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have already been the focus of controversy. The organising committee had to scrap the original logo designed by Kenjiro Sano amid allegations of plagiarism. A pair of new logos was unveiled earlier this year, created by Tokyo-based artist Asao Tokolo.“ Source: Dezeen.com

The Olympic Medals

Also the Olympic medals went through an evolution, starting with a Silver Medal in Athens 1896 and ending with a total innovative medal design at the Games in Rio 2016. See the total transformation of medals throughout the years on Thisisinsider.com.

ATHENS 1896: Winners at the first Olympics of the modern era received a silver medal. The front of the medal depicts the Greek God Zeus’ face, and he’s holding a globe with the goddess of victory Nike on it. Source: Thisisinsider.com

The back of the medal depicts the Acropolis, an iconic Athenian ruin. Source: Thisisinsider.com

RIO 2016: The design for the current Summer Olympics once again features Nike on the obverse, and the reverse depicts the emblem of the games along with a subtle, stylized​ laurel wreathe. Source: Thisisinsider.com

The Olympic Mascots

It started out at the Winter Olympics 1968 in Grenoble (unofficially), that a mascot was designed for the Olympic Games. From then on, each host city has created a rather less than more tasteful talisman to go along with the games.

Cute. The first (inofficial) mascot of the Olympic Games in Grenoble, 1968 names ‘Shuss’. A stylized skier.

Even cuter and my personal favourite. Born in the same year and the same city as myself: Waldi, the dachshund (…Waldi is a very typical Bavarian name for a dachshund). He was the first official mascot of the Olympic Games in Munich, 1972

The mascot of Rio2016: Vinicius, a mix of different Brazilian animals. All images courtesy to IOC.

This is a fun list of the Olympic mascots ranked by creepiness.

Collections and more

The evolution of design around the Olympic Games is interesting to follow, especially if you are a creative yourself. Here’s an interesting collection of Olympic design manuals, reports, printed material, torches, pictograms and more.

And if you are a list lover, you might also like the most iconic photographs of the Olympics of all time.

Argentina’s Federico Sztyrle rides the horse ‘Who Knows Lilly’ during the individual elimination show jumping competition at the Athens Olympics. Image: Caren Firouz, Reuters.

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Written by Connie Fluhme
PR at VBAT