Below is the post about the London 2012 Olympics that I wrote on my blog earlier this week:
Now that its all over (very sad), I think its a great time to reflect on how brilliant its been. An outstanding performance by team GB, brilliant organisation and superb facilities - I think we put on an amazing show.
The identity for London 2012, has indeed had lots of people talking since its launch in 2007. Wolff Olins's creation was met with a collective gasp. Though it had its supporters, the majority of people on the street either disliked or actively loathed it.
I have recently seen a few articles in review of its success as an identity, again with mixed reviews. There is a great article on The Partners Blog - 'Remember The Games. Forget the 2012 identity'. Its a really interesting read, although very negative. I do agree with some of their points made, but I don't feel that the identity on the whole is 'a sorry mess'. I think Futurebrand did an excellent job in the implementation of the design....
I still very much dislike the logo, and the ugly typeface, yet despite this I think the identity actually works pretty well. When wandering around London you can't miss the Olympic signage - The bright colours and instantly recognisable typeface. It makes the directional signage to the different venues really easy to spot, within a transport system full of other visual clutter and excessive signage.
Having been to an Olympic event myself, I also found the identity to work really well from the tickets, to the inside and outside the venue. OK, so there's no witty graphic design ideas anywhere, but I found the implementation of the identity at the event sparked excitement, and the once hated 'garish' colour scheme, actually does it's job brilliantly. I very much agree with the opinions of what Silas Amos has written - The Olympic Masterpiece on the JKR blog - 'The design Gazette'.
Adding to the identity have been loads of great little films/ad campaigns etc:
Whilst I was already putting together this post, Creative Review posted about some of their highlights - The creative Olympics. Design Boom have also done a round-up with lots of nice pictures -
London Olympics 2012.
Here are some of my favourites:
This great video was used to get the crowd inside the velodrome exited whilst waiting for the competition to begin. Created by Crystal CG
A great ad from Channel 4 as it takes over coverage from the BBC for the Paralympic games.
Adidas' Take The Stage campaign for Team GB. A campaign created by Sid Lee, ran before and during the olympics.
Above shows their poster ads in the run up to the games; illustrations of athletes, that wrapped the Metro during the games and the video that concluded the campaign - featuring British athletes letting their hair down to Queen track Don't Stop Me Now. Good work Adidas!
The team kit - Designed by Stella McCartney. I think our kit looked stylish and smart, especially in comparision to some of the other countries (ahem, Russia).
The Olympic Torch, designed by Barber Osgerby and winner of The Design Museum’s Design Awards. Each hole in the torch represents one of the torch bearers. I think it looks great and was something everyone wanted to get their hands on.
After the success of the small olympic torches, Thomas Heatherwick joins the party and creates this astonishing torch. In-keeping with the idea of small touch (symbolising each person who carried it), Thomas Heatherwick's represents each country coming together for the games. An excellent idea and beautiful execution - Im sensing a black pencil is heading his way! Thoughts?
If you missed the Olympic Opening and closing ceremonies you should watch the above video, displaying Crystal CG's pixels. Described as the 'biggest disco on earth' I thought the pixels were an AMAZING idea and definitely one of the my highlights of Danny Boyle's spectacular show. 'Another great 2012 innovation – the use of 70,500 LED Pixel Tablets designed by Tait Technologies.' Each one featured nine pixels arranged in a square and were positioned on everyones seats. 'Over 70 minutes of animation was created to run on the system by Crystal CG for the Opening Ceremony, with more for the Closing Ceremony plus the two Paralympics ceremonies. Crystal was briefed by Danny Boyle to try to bring the audience in the stadium into the show, which it did spectacularly.
Olympic stamps from Hat-trick....You can always rely on Hat-trick to do a lovely set of stamps :)
On the run up to the Olympics these coins were issued by the Royal Mint. Over 30,000 people entered the competition to design a coins, each depicting a different sporting event. I particularly like the 'off-side rule' coin.
Getty commissioned photographer David Bergman to create this 'Gigapan'. A panoramic image from inside the stadium that you can zoom into an tag yourself. 'His composite image was created by shooting 425 individual photos over the course of an hour as the athletes entered the stadium. The final high-resolution image is composed of more than 3 billion pixels and measures over 94 ft. (29 m) wide and nearly 44 ft. (13 m) long. That’s about the same size as a basketball court.To see for yourself - Click here
Overall I think London did a great job, being in London and living with a volunteer, I saw and heard of how organised, positive and vibrant the event was. The atmosphere in London changed, and it became full of excitement, friendlyness and exuberance. I for one was proud to be there, honoured to get tickets to an event, and loved every minute of it.
Congratulations to everyone who was involved - the designers, the athletes, the organisers and the spectators. Your an inspiration for the next sporting generation.....
Now lets all go and do 'The Mobot'.
JS
