That Olympics Logo

http://thetooth.co.uk/entertainment/that-olympics-logo/

by SteveTooth • 16 years ago

17 16 16 years ago

thetooth.co.uk

I can't speak for the others, but the Vancouver logo was representative of a totem as a fair bit of the brand of the Vancouver Olympics was celebrating various Canadian native communities.

I think the real upset is that the others are simple, but professional. IMO this one looks more like a bunch of cut out pieces of construction paper or a little more like grunge/graffiti. Maybe I'm missing a deeper meaning to the logo, but I think that a lot of people are if there is one.

kiujygtyujik3• 16 years ago

It was representing an inukshuk - native eskimo culture that is about as far from Vancouver as Mexio is. Culturally it would have made as much sense to have an easer island statue.

pbhjpbhj3• 16 years ago

No matter where the inukshuk originates from this one, http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?q=1600+Beach+Ave%2c+Va... / http://www.seethewestend.com/inukshuk/inukshuk.htm, seems pretty close to Vancouver to me.

icegreentea• 16 years ago

On the other hand, Canada has a whole has been adopting the inukshuk as a symbol of Canada as a whole. The Canadian government has gifted several inukshuks to foreign countries as symbols of friendship.

They also appear in national parks cause hikers/campers think that their fun to make.

points• 16 years ago

This fails to mention the other point about that logo.

Once you have seen Lisa Simpson on her knees, to the right, satisfying a man on the left, you cannot 'unsee' it.

icefox• 16 years ago

I was genuinely surprised that this wasn't once mentioned in the article especially given the title.

lsimpson• 16 years ago

It's fairly well hidden, but it's there: "I received an email from a young woman who pointed out that the logo is clearly a schematic diagram of fellatio, with the Olympic rings being the curly hair of one party."

avar• 16 years ago

In case your imagination needed any help: http://i.imgur.com/FGwqP.jpg

Or: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai0y5sLg5bg

hugh3• 16 years ago

I agree that the London Olympics logo is merely typically bad, rather than unusually bad. So the question is: why are Olympic logos always so bad? I suppose it's just a matter of having too many people involved.

What's really interesting is that the logo for the bid is almost always much better than the logo for the actual games; for instance all the logos of the bidding cities for 2012:

http://logoblink.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/olympic-logo...

are actually pretty good.

Another example: Sydney 2000. If you look up the logo of the bid, it's pretty attractive, just the outline of the Sydney Opera House in the Olympic colours. But by the time they created a logo for the actual games, they took that logo, reversed it, and added some boomerangs (gotta get an Aboriginal influence in there!) plus a picture of a running man (sorry, person) in order to get something entirely too complicated and just plain ugly.

pbhjpbhj3• 16 years ago

http://logoblink.com/2007/12/12/london-2012-logo/ is the story from which that linked image comes, they've blocked the image it seems (from their own page too).

ugh• 16 years ago

I take exception to your assertion that Olympic logos are typically bad. The Munich ’72 logo might evoke nothing more than a ‘meh’ if it’s all alone but its applications were absolutely stunning [1]. The takeaway might be that it’s best to design a solid logo that offends no one and put all the elaboration and quirkiness [2] into the rest of the identity.

[1] Poster: http://www.flickr.com/photos/insect54/2307407256/ – Tickets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/realnotreal/3509806052/

[2] ‘Waldi’ is the weird but funny mascot of the 1972 Olympics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcosdopico/575561156/

auxbuss• 16 years ago

The logo is pants, but have you seen the mascots? I'm not even going to find a link they're so excruciatingly excremental.

Personally, I loved Vancouver's, but think Barcelona's a work of genius; joy and athleticism in two brush strokes and a blob. Maravillosa.

kiujygtyujik3• 16 years ago

It's what's known in graphic design as a GMST = Generic Meaningless Swoosh thing.

GFischer• 16 years ago

I might have bad taste as well, but as someone totally ignorant of art:

Barcelona, Nagano, Sydney, Seoul and Vancouver's logos all look equally good (and bland and generic, but that's ok) to me.

I agree that the Barcelona one is the best of the bunch.

The London one is missing the Olympic colours, and it looks awful to me.

That Olympics Logo

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