As I mentioned in my previous post about Lego's interactive installation at the Southbank centre, the Olympics brought along a lot of art and design: some of which may be remembered in history as landmarks of the 2012 Olympics. London, being one of the most beautiful and advanced cities in the world, there were great expectations regarding the organization of the games, also from a design point of view. And where big expectations arrive, big let downs come along.
Anish Kapoor's Orbit, Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre, the two mascots of the games Wenlock and Mandeville, the logo, and the opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle: they were all highly criticised on different aspects.
Anish Kapoor's Orbit was given so many negative and witty nicknames that I am not even going to try to come up with a new one. My favourite of these nicknames being “eyeful tower”. The seats disposition of Zaha Hadid's Aquatic Centre did not allow the spectators a good view. Wenlock and Mandeville were described as the fruit of a “drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and Dalek”. A bit harsh in my opinion, but nevertheless hilarious. Danny Boyle's opening ceremony was at once celebrated, and harshly criticized as “boring”, “too much about england, not enough about the olympics” and “a disappointment and a shame”.
When designing for such a large audience, it is impossible to please all. Every country has different expectations and different point of views. Personally, I am quite happy with most of the designs, although I did face some disappointments.
The first Olympics-related design I ran into, was the official Logo, as a 3-D version of it was placed in Trafalgar square to keep a countdown to the opening day of the Olympics.
The graffiti-like logo is supposed to recall the shape of the city of London. The designer, Wolff Olins, avoided any landmark as the aim was to make everyone feel equally part of the Olympics.
The design received an 80% negative response from the public and an inappropriate assumption regarding the meaning of the shape. The font used, Headline 2012, features in Simon Garfield's article The 8 worst fonts in the world; and Iran threatened boycott the games claiming that it spelled the word “Zion”. It is incredible how much fuss 4 (ugly) shapes put together can raise.
I then looked at past Olympics logos, and honestly, they are not much better, and at least this logo is simple, recognizable and has a deep meaning. The identity of the 2012 Olympics was built around it, on the streets, the tickets, the gadgets, everything lead to the games. In a way it does represent London, an edgy, dynamic and multi-ethnic city. All features that perfectly describe an Olympics host.
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