Gold Medal Design

The 2016 Rio Olympics passed with a sufficient amount of scandal, but no real disasters. In total, I watched maybe an hour of diving while sitting at a bar, waiting out a rain storm. I've never really gotten into the Olympics. Maybe I'm unpatriotic. Maybe I just don't like to sport. But I do like to brand— and the Olympics provide a very unique branding opportunity. 

Every two years, a different city hosts the Olympic games, and each city gets to design it's own logo, which will be reproduced on uniforms, on swag, in print, online, on stadiums — global exposure for millions, if not billions, of impressions. 

It's a challenging mark to create. It must include the 5 Olympic rings, the city name, the year, and a unique mark. Sometimes this is achieved quite elegantly, sometimes... not so much. 

The AIGA has compiled all the Olympic logos since 1924 and had Milton Glaser grade them on a 100 point scale. You can check out Eye on Design here to see if you agree with his grading (I didn't). Also, see how many of the recent logos you remember— the only ones that felt familiar to me were London 2012 (for it's horridness) and Atlanta 1996. 


As far as favorites, I picked three:
1. Athens 2004 - for bringing back the Greek. This is a simple, classy mark, that modernizes the traditional Olive wreath. 
2. Tokyo 1964 - it so clearly represents the country in a totally simple and uncluttered way. 
3. Montreal 1976 - I like that the rings are worked into the logo itself, though I'm not entirely sure if this is a "M" or a building. 

And what about Rio?

The Rio mark is fluid and organic. The color scheme is fresh. I didn't totally love the dancing dudes though... at least not until I noticed the corresponding family of icons that accompanies it. 

There's a full set of icons representing each sport in the games—clever little stick men sporting. These sort of sold me on the Rio mark. 

So what's to come? On the Eye on Design page, you can also get a sneak peak at the works-in-progress for the 2018 PyeongChang, 2020 Tokyo and the 2022 Beijing game marks. Nothing like spying on the design process! ;)

Outsmarting the Olympic Po-Po

On my commute home I pass a home with topiaries shaped like people—two adults and a child— that they decorate to suite the season and holiday. Not unlike the geese people dress up on their front stoops. 

Though this is way too cheesy and ridiculous for me, I'm often impressed by the creativity shown in their landscape dressings. My personal favorite was when the topiary family was all hula hooping. 

Today, the family held up the Olympic rings (also made from hula hoops). As I drove by, my first thought was "uh-oh, don't let the Olympic branding police* catch you."

Did you hear about the butcher who had to remove a bunch of sausages in the shape of the Olympic rings? Or the florist's shop who had to take down their tissue paper window display. Apparently these violated a law governing the use of Olympic words and images. 

Once again, Coca-Cola is the official Olympic sponsor. Apparently you can't buy, sell, or even carry Pepsi within the Olympic Village. 

When did the Olympics become**a bidding match—an opportunity to cash in on glory? The spirit of the Olympics should first and foremost be one of passion, strength and pure love of sport. 

I applaud this work, done by London design firm Rizon, stating their position as "Unofficial Supporters of Sport, not Sponsorship." 

Hooray for Nike, for recognizing that the Olympics aren't about corporate sponsorships and deep pockets, but about national pride and individual greatness. Their perfectly timed release of this campaign, is a worthy celebration of everyday athletes.... and a sly maneuver past Olympic regulations. Right in the face of rival brand, and Olympic sponsor, Adidas.

I'm not an Olympic fanatic, (and if you just read my Color Run recap you've realized I'm also not that (athletically) competitive), but even I realize that this is a noble tradition and there's an integrity to the event that should be upheld. 

Here's to USA swimmer Missy Franklin who's won 4 medals, and who turned down millions in endorsements so she could remain an amateur and swim for her senior year. This is what it should be about–Missy is swimming because she loves to swim, not because she wants her face in the cereal aisle. I applaud her AND her parents, for allowing her to stay 17 long enough to have a senior year. 


*avoid the branding police with these tips from CNN Money!
**and when did Olympic logo design become so ugg-o?