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The Look of the games


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Posted

I agree. All purple with intersecting lines. Not very creative or exciting.

All the lines come from the lines of the emblem, which represent the energy lines. The tones in the banners are the build up of energy

The shards around the field of play which we have seen on the Games are the punch of alternate colour, as well as the emblems and pictograms as on the tickets.

But at the end of the day London 2012 is the first Olympics to have different colours at different venues, with a whole Look strategy based around that, so why wouldn't they exploit that and have a 'simple' graphic that can be used in all manner of creative instances, from the tickets to the T shirts to the Park concourse to the venues themselves, for example in the Water Polo Arena's case, the venue itself, with its shards in the architecture.

It's a look that has developeddirectly from the emblem launched several years before the look was devised, which is also something other Games haven't done in such a direct way.

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Posted

Intersecting lines are intersecting lines and simple bright colors are simple bright colors.

I always felt Vancouver was really best in print graphics, not so much in person. At least it was original and distinctive.

Beijing's street dressing was dull, but at least it wasn't exactly the same as the fence fabric and venue decor.

Other hosts' mistakes do not mean that London is original or inspired. Ok, they are identifying each venue with a single color and some intersecting lines. Sorry, that's not great design or wildly creative. It's functional. One might say another word for serviceable.....

For me, the Look that sets the standard is Athens. I'm on an iPhone now and in a rush, so I can't post pics, but they used bright colors with distinctive graphics that created a very beautiful, unified aesthetic. There was far more interest to the design and color selection.

Incidentally, LA 84 created a distinct aesthetic and color palette for each venue. This look was not coordinated with the tickets though. And it was not as drastically differentiated.

Personally, I haven't had much trouble figuring out what venue is which. Red goes with red..... Blue goes with blue..... There's something a bit "Emperor's New Clothes" about it. It's really not that big a deal and by the time spectators are sitting in an all yellow venue, I think it will be pretty clear that this is not particularly inspired design.

Posted

Personally I cant believe this is the first time its done. I think its shocking previous hosts havent co-ordinated in such a way.

The extra layer on the London look is the dynamic pictograms. All we have seen is a few banners in situ so far. Lets judge the London look when its been fully implimented, comparing it to other citys is a bit unfair as we are judging their complete look in its entirety, against Londons that hasnt been fully implemented yet.

Posted

London's strength again is in its simplicity. As I mentioned about the shard-esque shapes and grid lines, it has a back story (that of the energy lines of people coming to London, the shards erupting from the bursting of the logo, etc) but at the same time can evolve itself into massive urban applications tied into everything- one thing that springs to mind is those pink signs we saw in the Park for the test events, and the shards crisscrossing the Park on the concourse. Even the 'Boris pods' feel part of the brand. Anything shardy and pink and you're going to know it's to do with London 2012 this summer.

It's a fair point saying it's simple- but that I feel that is one of its strengths and one which I think Rio will emulate, but with curves.

Posted

London's strength again is in its simplicity. As I mentioned about the shard-esque shapes and grid lines, it has a back story (that of the energy lines of people coming to London, the shards erupting from the bursting of the logo, etc) but at the same time can evolve itself into massive urban applications tied into everything- one thing that springs to mind is those pink signs we saw in the Park for the test events, and the shards crisscrossing the Park on the concourse. Even the 'Boris pods' feel part of the brand. Anything shardy and pink and you're going to know it's to do with London 2012 this summer.

It's a fair point saying it's simple- but that I feel that is one of its strengths and one which I think Rio will emulate, but with curves.

I remember seeing somewhere some renderings of proposed look, they have real 3D pieces of shards hanging overhead as if they are flying above a pedestrian walkway. I thought that is really cool and successful. That to me is good usage of the shards branding concept. This line projections is just banal

Posted

I like what Ive seen so far, I think it has real potential, but then I like simplicity. Especially in a busy iconic city like london. It needs simplicity to tie it all together, not just more noise. I also prefer watching the action on the field of play rather than focusing on whats going on on the backdrop. Im going to resrerve judgement til I see it in place, I think thats only fair.

afiqnadzir, thats part of the new branding. Those are shards made up from the energy lines shown in the look.

Hopefully when the games are over someone will post the brand guidelines on here.

Posted

It's fantastic that London wanted a graphical language that was simple enough to be used in so many mediums, but the trouble with that of course is that you get something that feels overly simple and banal.

The design concept of portraying the energy and resonance of a Games in a fast-paced city that aims to capture the attention of 21st century youth in a highly media saturated world is a great one, but to have it translated in such a simple and straight forward graphic language dosen't make the most sense. The most eye-capturing element to the look is the color, but previous hosts have had plenty of bright color as well.

Athens is probably the benchmark; conceptually, they reached the right balance: various, distinctive motifs that capture the Greek landscape and culture and were also simple enough to be used in numerous different colors from blue to orange to grey. It also felt very artful and inspired.

Posted

i prefer the old branding

7_film-nation-2.jpg

i prefer the old branding

7_film-nation-2.jpg

Yes! Why can't they use this kind of graphics for the branding?? It's so much more powerful and edgy!

Posted

They are! We've seen them on the Sega visuals...

Incidently...

"As the brand has matured I can now see why this Olympics will be remembered... The tickets and all the brand for that matter are far more attractive than I thought It would have been 3 years ago. Bravo*****"

"I'm going to put my hands up and say that I've completely changed my mind, since the original launch I've grown to really like the original identity and enjoy seeing each new component as it emerges. These tickets really show the elements really coming together in an original and distinctive solution that suitably broke from a very tired Olympic aesthetic."

http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2012/may/olympics-tickets

Posted

I like what Ive seen so far, I think it has real potential, but then I like simplicity. Especially in a busy iconic city like london. It needs simplicity to tie it all together, not just more noise. I also prefer watching the action on the field of play rather than focusing on whats going on on the backdrop. Im going to resrerve judgement til I see it in place, I think thats only fair.

afiqnadzir, thats part of the new branding. Those are shards made up from the energy lines shown in the look.

Hopefully when the games are over someone will post the brand guidelines on here.

Davey - it's a very lame application of the brand - the colours aren't even the same as the original brand - it amounts to design by committee! and is one of the few failures of these games - a real shame! (however like the ticks!)!

I like what Ive seen so far, I think it has real potential, but then I like simplicity. Especially in a busy iconic city like london. It needs simplicity to tie it all together, not just more noise. I also prefer watching the action on the field of play rather than focusing on whats going on on the backdrop. Im going to resrerve judgement til I see it in place, I think thats only fair.

afiqnadzir, thats part of the new branding. Those are shards made up from the energy lines shown in the look.

Hopefully when the games are over someone will post the brand guidelines on here.

Davey - it's a very lame application of the brand - the colours aren't even the same as the original brand - it amounts to design by committee! and is one of the few failures of these games - a real shame! (however like the ticks!)!

Posted

Davey - it's a very lame application of the brand - the colours aren't even the same as the original brand - it amounts to design by committee! and is one of the few failures of these games - a real shame! (however like the ticks!)!

Davey - it's a very lame application of the brand - the colours aren't even the same as the original brand - it amounts to design by committee! and is one of the few failures of these games - a real shame! (however like the ticks!)!

Its my opinion. keep up the good work London Im appreciating what you are trying to achieve : )

Posted

Blue and orange are the same. Green's been brightened I expect for TV and pink is used throughout as way finding it seems. They've added purple for the medals, and yellow features in Aquatics...

Posted

One of my favorite uses of color has been on one of the greeting cards by Anthony Peters.

2267052a2ee2241dd537b0998a22c224.jpg

That dark teal really makes the brighter colors pop and gives everything a more stylish edge. That color and the darker purple being used for the media tables inside the Olympic Stadium would also look great as the background of press conferences I think.

Posted

You can se why they have been holding off on the Olympic branding. That Jubillee decoration and the Olympic stuff would be a bit too much

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