London 2012 Logo Design
The 2012 Logo Design by Wolff Olins is much maligned, and rightly so by at least a number of applied design criteria. I have warmed to it a little, but I still believe it fails to meet its remit of being symbolic of a fully inclusive Olympics, and its edgy design renders it somewhat illegible. It’s understandable then that most of the signage featured this very much as a secondary brand mark, choosing to lead with the Olympic Rings and ’London 2012’ typography - which was very much Wolff Olins designed too.
London 2012 Torch Airways - The Firefly
Flight BA2012, a gold-coloured A319 named The Firefly - with graphics designed by Futurebrand.
2012 Olympic Torch Relay
Dizzee Rascal heads up one of the 8,000 legs of the Great Britain Torch Relay - accompanied by uniformed ’guardians of the flame’ and followed by liveried BMW and Bus - livery designed by Futurebrand.
2012 Olympic Torch
The gold-coloured aluminium torch was designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and features 8,000 perforations to represent each of the runners that carried the torch. Each runner gets to keep their torch, they also get the white uniform tracksuit and commemorative pack - including commemorative logo pin and documentation.
London ’2012 Headline’ Font
The Wolff Olins designed jagged tape-like font has been almost as much maligned as the Logo, but I really rather like its insouciant / slightly irreverent nature - its appearance is along similar aesthetics to that employed on the Italian Shirts during the European Football Championship earlier this year, although a little more refined. I think the 2012 font represents London’s punky attitude really well, it’s quite different yet quite legible nonetheless, and obviously ties in nicely with the 2012 Logo.
London 2012 Ambassadors
Mayor Boris Johnson poses with 2 London Ambassadors in front of London 2012 Information Centre Hut - they can tell you where to go! But they cannot help you get tickets! Uniforms and booths were designed to be eye-catching and friendly by M Integrated Solutions - the designs were based on the 2012 Logo.
Liveried London 2012 BMW
BMW is the official car marque of the London Olympics - used to ferry around Olympic VIPs - graphics by Futurebrand.
London 2012 Solid Pictograms
Sporting pictograms designed by SomeOne agency - in 2 variations, ’Solid’ as above and ’Dynamic Outlines’ as below. The Classic Olympic Pictogram set has long been held to be the Munich 1972 versions by Otl Aicher - pretty much every set since has been a sort of derivation of those graphics. SomeOne deliberately set out to try something new, and try to introduce more movement and dynamism into what had long been very static portraits of the different disciplines.
London 2012 Dynamic Outline Pictograms
SomeOne’s Dynamic Outline pictograms really look amazing on the tickets, signage and games banners. They are very much based on the classic London Tube Map - with circular nodes and intersecting lines. These convey movement as well as a direct heritage link to one of London’s best known design languages - the famous 1931 Tube Map designed by Harry Beck.
London 2012 Tickets
Futurebrand really comes up with goods in adapting SomeOne’s pictograms to the tickets - both solid and outline versions are used, and combined with Wolff Olins directional font. Tickets look really sharp.
Purple and Violet 2012 Banner Flags
Some more Futurebrand brilliance - these, or variants of these flag banners are to be found all over London - as can be seen in many of the following pictures
London 2012 Regulation Staff Uniform
Purple and red tops, sand coloured chinos and grey trainers with red laces were all designed by official Olympic sportswear sponsor Adidas, in conjunction with the LOCOG Committee. I think they look rather smart, and eminently practical.
2012 Banners and Signage at Hampden Park Stadium
Women’s football took place at a number of venues including Glasgow’s Hampden Park Stadium - looking resplendent whilst decked out with 2012 signage and banners - all by Futurebrand of course.
Press Conference at 2012 International Broadcast Centre / Main Press Centre
Backdrop and branding by Wolff Olins and Futurebrand.
Water Polo Arena Backdrop
Water Polo Arena Backdrop and Banners by Futurebrand and Populous.
London 2012 Shops
London 2012 Shops have popped up all over the place, including Hyde Park and various major transport terminals - rail and air; e.g. Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 - yet more Futurebrand derivations.
Team GB 2012 Uniforms
GB’s Golden Boys and Girls - Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Andy Murray and Jessica Ennis sporting slick stylised derivations of the Union Jack - as designed by Stella McCartney for Adidas / Team GB.
Team GB Opening Ceremony Uniforms
The much maligned ’Elvis Tracksuits’ with their shiny gold collars, hood linings, stripes and accents - designed by Next. I actually rather liked these Elvis homages - I thought they were fun, and showed intent to strike gold - which has proven to be the case. Would people rather prefer the Armani designed airline uniforms the Italians wore, or the pastel pink and blue pac-a-macs that the Germans wore, even the Home Guard uniforms of the USA? I enjoyed the colour and flair - it’s supposed to be fun - Mexico got it right, as did many of the African countries, and as did the UK in my opinion. Possibly chintzy and a little bit cheesy, but far from tacky! Who does not like Elvis anyway?
Team GB ’Pride’ Lion Mascot
Recently revamped by Lee Froggatt - the Team GB Mascot can be acquired in a variety of different sizes, materials, fabrics and textures - as in the case of this stuffed toy version - available from all 2012 Shops.
Mandeville and Wenlock 2012 Olympic Games Mascots
Usually the Olympic Mascots are somewhat overtly nationally biased to the host nations. On this occasion though, going for the all-inclusive mantra of the games, the Mascots merely alluded to places of significant British Olympic History, with just the slightest touches of Britishness - like Wenlock’s Taxi Light Forehead! Wenlock in Shropshire is where the Wenlock Olympian Society held its first Olympic games in 1850 - regarded as a major inspiration for the modern Olympics. Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury inspired the Paralympic Games with its 1948 Stoke Mandeville Games - a competition for injured soliders. Both mascots were designed by London-based agency Iris.
World Square Sign Post / Meeting Post in Olympic Park
Major Sign Post / Meeting place marker at the Olympic Park - featuring all the lovely Wolff Olins ’2012 Headline’ Font and Futurebrand design touches.
London 2012 Look Book / Street Banners
Futurebrand’s street banners - shown here in their red/orange variant - are all over London. In Hyde Park there are legions of these all around the perimeter in Royal Parks Green, Red/Orange, Navy/Sky Blue, Dark/Light Green, Purple/Violet and Dark/Light Yellow - to name the principal colourways. These are amongst my favourite design elements of the games - combining the Wolff Olins designed Logo and Font, and Futurebrands exceptional criss-cross diagonal tonal graphics - they look really slick.
Olympic Venues Fence Wrap / Banner
Whilst building work was being finalised, and to screen off any unsightly areas - these vibrant banner wraps were applied to a variety of venues across Britain - utilising the hues relevant to that Venue’s sports. Design implementation by Futurebrand as per usual.
Inspire a Generation Barrier Wrap at Velodrome Venue
Vibrant ’Inspire a generation’ branding applied to barriers on path leading up to Velodrome Venue, Futurebrand in full effect...
Red /Orange London 2012 Banners on Haymarket
Inspire a generation, London 2012 Type and Paralympic Ident banners strung out across Haymarket - just off Piccadilly Circus.
Yellow London 2012 Banners on Haymarket
2012 Logo, London 2012 Type and Olympic Rings banners strung out across Haymarket - just off Piccadilly Circus.
Green London 2012 Banners on Haymarket
2012 Logo, London 2012 Type and Olympic Rings banners strung out across Haymarket - just off Piccadilly Circus.
Rows of 2012 Banners on Haymarket
Rows of 2012 Banners in the signature 2012 Colourways - Blue, Purple/Violet, Red/Orange and Yellow; row of Green is just out of picture ...
London 2012 Winners Podium with Presentation Team in Uniform
Olympic Winners Podium and Uniforms were designed by Kims of Design and a team of Royal College of Art (RCA) students - including Gaetano Link, Hong-Yeul Eom, Luc Fusaro, Heegun Koo, Yan Lu, Thomas Crisp, Trine Hav Christensen and Zara Gorman.
London 2012 Medals
Metalwork artist David Watkins designed the London 2012 medals - the largest and heaviest medals of the modern games. The front features the usual classic rendition of Greek Goddess of Victory ’Nike’ - harking back to the original Greek games; while the reverse of the medal features the ’2012 Logo’ over a criss-cross lines pattern. Elegantly presented with Futurebrand evolved markers on the purple ribbon. (Medals are 85mm in diameter, 7mm thick, and weigh circa 400 grams)
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