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Legacy mode


stryker

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like a working name official or unofficial developed by the design team.
i.e. ”the fractal concept” or "lines and shards", perhaps something more elegant than I can think of.

like "swoosh" is to the nike logo

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'The grid' I guess was the closest, which was the graphic that everything went back to. 'Burst graphic' was the name used mainly for the energy shards coming out of the Olympic rings on the fields of play. We had different terms for the actual artworks from their file names, so the burst graphic which mainly appeared on the corrals was the primary graphic, tertiary graphic was the one with the grid lines and tones of colour used for large scale backdrops (diving wall of Aquatics, ceremony backdrops, etc). Secondary got dropped somewhere along the journey, but it was essentially the primary graphic without the shards in contrasting colour (you can see it used in the Mario & Sonic Game which took the look plans at that stage and based the Game on them). Somewhere along the line we received feedback it would be too difficult to install as it was too detailed and complex to get a correct match if it went around corners or needed patching up, so we went back and decided to use tertiary, which then also inadvertently helped because we could place London 2012 or Olympic Rings along its length pretty much wherever we needed them rather than in set locked places as they were in the graphic. That certainly came in handy on occasions when you'd get to the venue for install and find a unplanned camera platform bang in front of where you were placing a set of rings.

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DarJoLe could you explain the colours of the pictograms? All the different sport pictograms are different colours and I don't understand how the colours were chosen.

They matched the colour scheme of their venue.

The original pictograms designed by Someone agency had the silhouette box version (which were used for wayfinding) and the dynamic line version (which were used for the look). Originally before Futurebrand (the agency who conceived the original strategy for the look of the Games) came up with the idea of different venue colours the box versions were the four original brand colours (orange, magenta, blue, green and black) and the dynamic ones blue and magenta. I think this was around 2008 they were released.

Olympic-pictograms.gif

Around 2009 Futurebrand were brought in to develop the look of the Games, taking the logo and existing brand designed by Wolff Olins, Headline typeface by Gareth Hague and pictograms by Someone and develop it into a strategy to dress the venues, the city, live sites, torch, etc etc. The golden thread was the 'one look' concept, that whatever touchpoint an athlete, spectator, member of the IOC, press, etc, came across that was to do with London 2012, it should all read from the same family. That was the general 'physical' graphic, which what we see is the grids, shards of energy, straight line angular feel. On top of this, they came up with the idea of the venues taking on different colours, displaying the diversity of London and the UK, yadda yadda. It was to attract attention, keep people (and youth especially) interested as the cameras moved between sports and venues, and to give a bit of individuality to aspects of the Games so it wasn't simply one big graphic rubber stamped over everything like previous Games had done. It was a bit more creative and allowed a bit more freedom in achieving a better result. The idea loosely was the sports took on certain characteristics, so more action physical combat sports would be in orange venues, water sports in blue, etc. This sort of got changed a bit over time but the overall concept was still there and finalised by the beginning of 2010. They added purple to the existing Wolf Ollins colour palette, to give a regal feel to the more historical venues, and tweaked the green because the original was too dark on camera.

Japan-tops-Spain-in-Olympic-soccer.jpg

helen-neale-kiddycharts-reward-charts-lo

Lighting-up-the-night-sky.jpg

Aquatics-Centre-Swimming-London-2012-Oly

Olympic-Cycling-London-2012009286.jpg

So to cut a long story short there were 4 main venue colours, purple, orange, blue, magenta, and then they then had a contrasting colour, so in total there were 11 different colour ways. And then this thinking was then applied across the board through pretty much every piece of branded collateral, so... the venues themselves, the venue banners, the venue tickets, the venue video screen animations, the merchandise sold at the venue, the venues page on the website, the venue page on the various mobile apps. Anything based around the sports in a venue were given this colour scheme. So, going back to your point, the pictograms took on the colours of the venues, so all the banners at, say, Earls Court, the volleyball pictogram was blue and white on an orange background. All the tickets for the Aquatic Centre (3 Olympic sports; swimming, diving, syncro plus 1 Paralympic, swimming) were blue with a yellow and white pictogram.

London-2012-tickets-008.jpg

Outside of the venues things were a little different, the city scrim around town that had all the different pictograms randomly on them were in different colours (but still in venue combinations). This was because there were six variants of the scrim (the total number of colours in the London 2012 look; purple, orange, magenta, blue, green, yellow, plus a black used where we couldn't have colour).

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All in all despite there being a rigid system for the venues there was flexibility outside when needed. That was part of the strength of the brand really. It gave it quite a creative vibe as well because it was never a brand that had say one dominant colour (although obviously the magenta seems to stick in people's minds because of the wayfinding) or default setting. The fact the boroughs could choose what colour scrim and live site banners they wanted was a positive from them, very 'everyone's 2012' and all that. I like to think overall we did a good job, I know a few are wary of praising the design itself but the sheer scale and aptitude of the design in the fact it was so coherent wherever it was it certainly something I'm pretty proud of being a part of.

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Some pics from today. The Aquatics centre is looking stunning, and makes a great entrance to the park, you can see the glazing progressing. Theres still loads to do with lots going on around the orbit, Im pretty sure this end of the park is one of the last areas to open

6uri.jpg
ik4t.jpg
d0qq.jpg
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There's a Look book in the works but I gather only LOCOG people will be getting it. Maybe it will appear online. Mine's a bit more related to the history of the Park but it's taking its time, I was supposed to have it ready at Easter but things have slipped. I can't say I've had a massive amount of interest though, the jamboree has obviously moved on, but it was never really about getting massive sales but more my story of how and why I ended up working at the Games. "It's a bit too 'me me me'" as one publisher said.

There's some work on my website, but it's tailored more towards what I specifically did than the whole team, and it's a bit bigging me up to get work. But it has some nice pics.

http://figureandgrounduk.com

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Have you thought about putting it on blurb.com, then you can print your copy and get it put in the bookstore. I was thinking about doing a my 2012 book mainly with pictures, maybe a few of my diary extracts, more as a memory for myself eally though

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There's some work on my website, but it's tailored more towards what I specifically did than the whole team, and it's a bit bigging me up to get work. But it has some nice pics.

Nothing wrong with bigging yourself up!

Well done with those before/after pictures of the Olympic Site. I've seen quite a few "before" sets on Flickr etc., but not many revisits to the same locations as redeveloped. Haunting though some of the pre-Olympic views are, having seen the astonishing variety of polluting industries which occupied parts of the site from about 1800 onward (and indeed earlier- archaeology revealed a flax retting pond, for example), I accept that something drastic had to be done.

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NEW DEAL SECURES ATHLETICS LEGACY ON QUEEN ELIZABETH OLYMPIC PARK. MAYOR OF LONDON HAILS AGREEMENT AS “HISTORIC AND HUGELY SIGNIFICANT”

23 Jul 2013

In an historic deal signed today the iconic Olympic Stadium will be the new home of grass roots athletics in the UK for the next 50 years and beyond.

Under the agreement between the E20 Stadium and UK Athletics, the Stadium will become the new national centre for athletics, hosting regional and national age group championships, as well as elite international events.

Seizing on the London 2012 motto “Inspire a Generation” the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will provide year-round training facilities for use by the local community, local athletes and sports clubs at an adjacent permanent community track delivering a lasting athletics legacy in east London.

UKA will have priority use of the Stadium from the last Friday in June to the end of July each year under a 50 year agreement, starting from 2016 when the stadium will be fully operational following its legacy transformation.

UKA will hold its annual London Diamond League meetings, alongside a whole spectrum of national level and age group championships, providing opportunities for the stars of the future to follow in the footsteps of London 2012 heroes like Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford, Hannah Cockroft and Johnny Peacock.

In 2017 the stadium will host the IAAF World Athletics Championships and IPC Athletics World Championships – the first time these prestigious global events have been staged in the same venue in the same year.

As part of its multi-use legacy the Stadium will also host five matches during the 2015 Rugby World Cup and will be the permanent home of West Ham United Football Club from 2016. West Ham will take up residency as the Stadium’s long term anchor tenant with UKA. The Stadium will also be used for other sporting, cultural and community events.

http://www.londonlegacy.co.uk/new-deal-secures-athletics-legacy-in-queen-elizabeth-olympic-park/

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Just catching up on this legacy thread. Would've wanted to see how Christo would've dressed up the QE Park, either during or after the Games. I bet it would've been monumental!!

Apparently it's been done- but in a very subtle, British sort of way:

"Documents show that the whole area is to have as little as 2 feet (60cm) of “clean” material placed on top of a warning marker layer of orange plastic fabric sheeting, of a type called Terram 1000, covering almost all the Park site."

( http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/911 )

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Is it true the Olympic Museum at the Olympic park has been shelved. What a stupid idea, that would have been another good reason to visit the park and a good focus point of a lot of memories. Seems like the plan is for it to be a touring exhibition now, I say they should do both.

Im not happy, not happy at all

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Is it true the Olympic Museum at the Olympic park has been shelved. What a stupid idea, that would have been another good reason to visit the park and a good focus point of a lot of memories. Seems like the plan is for it to be a touring exhibition now, I say they should do both.

Im not happy, not happy at all

Well, so far we only seem to have insidethegames' word for it, and you're right- it does seem to be a stupid idea not to go ahead. It might also b a stupid idea to think in terms of a long-lifetime project, given the number of museum-type organisations which have failed financially in recent years, but surely it's possible to create something which will cash in on (and encourage) early interest in the re-opened park.

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InsidetheGames is a good source.

Adrian Warner has been posting some lovely photos on Twitter...

All these gardens are open to public permanently at the Olympic park from 2pm on Monday

BP86VdvCAAAQq5p.jpg

The view of the Park towards the stadium with the aquatic centre minus it's armbands! Loads of birds around.

BP877McCQAEsn3d.jpg

https://twitter.com/adrian_warner

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Does England really need ANOTHER garden? :blink: How about an urban jungle?? Now that would be something UNIQUE in the annals of Olympic legacy and quite fitting with the edgy nature of the logo!!

I see lots of trees in those photos. Planting lots of itsy-bitsy trees in a "garden" is a bit like giving a German Shepherd puppy to a three-year-old kid.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Another part of London's legacy (I'm surprised no one has picked this up yet): The Aquatics Centre will host the European Swimming Championships in 2016. I'm curious whether they'll keep it at a low seating capacity or whether they'll do some kind of expansion again.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/10205518/London-Olympic-Games-Aquatics-Centre-to-host-2016-European-Swimming-Championships.html

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