Tokyo 2020 Look of the Games

[Rob2012]

It's a bit plain isn't it? For the second Games in a row we have a largely mono-chromal palette in each venue. Different shades of one colour and white.

I wonder if this is an IOC corporate decision to make Looks more uniform across Games? I wouldn't be surprised tbh. But if so, it's a shame, some of the character has been lost if that's what's happened.

[baron-pierreIV]

5 hours ago, Rob. said:

It's a bit plain isn't it? For the second Games in a row we have a largely mono-chromal palette in each venue. Different shades of one colour and white.

I wonder if this is an IOC corporate decision to make Looks more uniform across Games? I wouldn't be surprised tbh. But if so, it's a shame, some of the character has been lost if that's what's happened.

I like the color-scheming so far,  It makes it look very clean -- and it is reflective of the Japanese hosts' artistic bent - utter simplicty, yes, to the point of being boring.  But why should the background scream out at ya?  It shouldn't smother the action on the FOP.  Now, let's wait for Beijing 2022 and see if the more ornate Chinese zeitgeist shows up again.  

[Olympian2005]

I have been watching some track and field in the Olympic stadium and is it just me or does the branding here look very similar to London 2012 stadium branding?

 

[Sir Rols]

One positive thing about the main stadium, and this is not strictly part of the look, but the seating colouring with it’s speckled patterns do help give the illusion of having full crowds in the stands from long shots. 

[Ikarus360]

On 7/28/2021 at 6:28 PM, baron-pierreIV said:

I like the color-scheming so far,  It makes it look very clean -- and it is reflective of the Japanese hosts' artistic bent - utter simplicty, yes, to the point of being boring.  But why should the background scream out at ya?  It shouldn't smother the action on the FOP.  Now, let's wait for Beijing 2022 and see if the more ornate Chinese zeitgeist shows up again.  

They're going with something more modern this time, Baron.

[Hansfromdenmark]

Cool show and presentation at the womens 100 m final

[antiperspirant]

16 hours ago, Hansfromdenmark said:

Cool show and presentation at the womens 100 m final

Agreed, hope they do it with every final. My jaw dropped when everything went dark.

[Studio 22]

I wasn't convinced by the look at first but seeing it more and more it's really grown on me. It's fascinating to see the logotype 'Tokyo 2020' being used as a piece of look in itself; in the venue tiers it is being used full height of the tier dressing against white, as well as gold horizontally and diagonally in the main stadium vomitories. It goes to show the logo motif itself is less of an importance in the grand scheme of things but it's the font is what brings the look and stadiums to life. What I do like about it as well is it's not a particularly Japan-cliché look either, no calligraphy brush strokes for example, but at the same time it's incredibly Japanese, minimal, simplicity and elimination of clutter, and very modern at the same time which makes the '2020' feel like these are very future focussed games.

The overall colour concepts are similar to London's in using different colour ways for different sport-types and venues, it brings a bit of diversity to the various broadcasts and overall it looks very clean and well installed. My only niggle was noticing the difference in scale of the graphic on the field of play corrals compared to the field of play surrounds; they are maybe a little too busy with the different tones on the corrals especially in longer shots such as the track and field but not busy enough on sports without corrals such as gymnastics. This was a challenge with London's 2012 burst graphic too though, we had to constantly check the scale of it across all the venues when it was used either side of the Olympic rings, sometimes more successfully than others. 

[SeriousPotato]

One thing I didn't give Tokyo 2020 credit for that I'm realizing now: While the Look of the Games was simple, the quality of construction & materials was of top standard. It doesn't matter how beautiful the graphic design work is, if the craftsmanship is low quality, it'll backfire and cripple the "Olympic" feeling.

This was an unfortunate mistake of Rio 2016. I do believe that the reputation of those Games would be considerably higher had 3 things occurred: 1) That the signage was complete and put up on time, 2) That the signage was of the same quality standard as London and Tokyo, and 3) Had there been a large Tokyo-quality Olympic Rings in a central focal point of the city; like on a barge in Guanabara Bay. 

To me it indicates "Look of the Games" is one of the most important strategic investments in planning for the Olympics.

[Rob2012]

On 7/28/2021 at 12:10 PM, Rob. said:

It's a bit plain isn't it? For the second Games in a row we have a largely mono-chromal palette in each venue. Different shades of one colour and white.

I wonder if this is an IOC corporate decision to make Looks more uniform across Games? I wouldn't be surprised tbh. But if so, it's a shame, some of the character has been lost if that's what's happened.

I'm going to row back on this a little. The venues clad in red and the venues clad in purple looked good, actually pretty classy if still, a tad underwhelming. It was the blue and green ones I didn't like. Plain and, had the feeling of competing in front of a blue or green screen. Weirdly plain and distracting at the same time.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Rob.

[Sir Rols]

On 8/18/2021 at 8:36 AM, SeriousPotato said:

Had there been a large Tokyo-quality Olympic Rings in a central focal point of the city; like on a barge in Guanabara Bay. 

They did, on Copacabana Beach

Also, i didn’t realise Madareira Park hard rings that had been donated from London’s games

[Rob2012]

^^ They're the ones that came from Newcastle iirc.

 

[SeriousPotato]

 

4 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

They did, on Copacabana Beach

Also, i didn’t realise Madareira Park hard rings that had been donated from London’s games

 

Ah, didn't know about the Madareira rings either.

I knew about Copacabana's, and that by itself was perfectly fine; but the execution is IMO too low-quality and easy to miss to be the primary rings. For a primary, it should be of a scale and prominence that you can clearly see from a hundred different locations in the city. People subconsciously notice. A good rings treatment helps fuel the feeling that the city has fully embraced the Olympics, rather than the Olympics just happening to be there.

Man, how beautiful it was done in Sydney, London, and Tokyo. That is iconic. If Rio had no vistas, that's one thing; but it's one of the most dramatic cities in the world! A properly-treated Rings there could have imprinted itself in the world memory and been an "all-time" Olympic image.

I have no doubt this was planned, and they had to cut corners in the final stretch to save on budget. But without a memorable hero image, the lasting photographic memory of the Games ended up (very unfairly) being the shots of decaying Maracanã and Aquatics Centre from late 2016, which are all over YouTube and international media. The Games were not a great success, but they also weren't the abject failure that these "abandoned" images suggest. Extremely unfortunate.

I don't mean to point fingers or anything; just that I think--as a "lessons-learned" opportunity--the kind of hero image like below that eternally symbolizes the Games is a priceless thing for perception for a relatively low-cost investment of construction.

To alleviate this in the future, perhaps there ought to be an official traveling rings that go from city to city so they don't have to be built new every time? Like the Madareira Park example on a bigger scale?

Quick comp just for fun. 

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\  If anything, that's probably the cheapest piece of "Olympic" signage host cities can put up.  Get 5 pieces of plywood, mark out FIVE circles, cut them out.  Nail 'em together, get your 5 paints -- and VOILA!  You have a 3-D model of the Olympic rings -- much like the "HOLLYWOOD" sign.    

The Winter cities also have them on hillsides, then light them up at night -- which I think is a blight on the environment, regardless of whether the Games are in town or not.  Becomes kinda vulgar.  

[Rob2012]

14 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

If anything, that's probably the cheapest piece of "Olympic" signage host cities can put up.  Get 5 pieces of plywood, mark out FIVE circles, cut them out.  Nail 'em together, get your 5 paints -- and VOILA!  You have a 3-D model of the Olympic rings

Though probably a bit more expensive if they're 25x12m, illuminated and fully retractable to allow tall ships to pass ...

[baron-pierreIV]

9 minutes ago, Rob. said:

Though probably a bit more expensive if they're 25x12m, illuminated and fully retractable to allow tall ships to pass ...

OK, that one was probably a little expensive.  But then again, they weren't required to do that, were they?  That's just a discretionary choice of the OCOG.   I mean you'd have to be living in a cave NOT to know that the Olympic Games are in town.  And now, the cost is doubled because the Paras have to have them, too!!  

[Rob2012]

----

(post deleted: misread Paras as Paris)

Edited August 20, 2021 by Rob.

[Rob2012]

And the Agitos are in place

 

[baron-pierreIV]

I don't know if it was a very fine nuance but now that Tokyo has shifted to Paralympic mode, I seem to recall that some of the bunting for indoor venues only said "TOKYO 2020" but -- in hindsight -- did not carry the 5 rings -- so that no alteration was needed for that venue to host the Paralympic matches.  Was I imagining that?  Or maybe where the 5 rings was so subtle becuz they would just replace that portion of the bunting to be practical and economical about the whole thing.  If not, Paris 2024 and LA, take heed, then.