The London Olympics 2012 Logo
I normally don’t get involved with issues such as this, but this one, I couldn’t resist. Why on earth would an Olympic Committee go with such a horrible logo, that does not represent anything to do with London or British culture. The logo they used in the bid was a much better design and in my opinion much more representative of London itself (the ribbon represents the Thames). There are even theorists saying that this ‘crappy’ logo was approved so Gordon Brown could boost his poll rating by ’saving’ the Olympic bid or it was approved to raise the profile of the London games – this may be the only thing it has achieved.
Anyway, see the bid logo and new ‘logo’ for yourself:
Unveiled on June 4th, Lord Coe unveils the logo for the 2012 Olympics in London claiming it is “ambitious, interactive and youth-friendly”. Organising committee chairman Lord Coe said: “It meets the biggest challenge we have over the next five years, which is reaching out to young people.”
For the first time, the logo will be used for the Olympics and Paralympics. Coe added: “It is interactive and absolutely at the heart of what we need to do – engaging the attention of young people through new media and the virtual world they can get transported into. “It will be imperative that it is flexible. I think it is way beyond any simple logo. “It reaches out to young people in new and creative ways and uses the language that they understand and all the technology that is familiar to us.”
Anyone else laughing with me? How can you spend £400,000 on this? Imagine the cost of the website..
With all the artistic talent in the UK, this is an insult to designers. The view of the UK public seems to reflect this as well. The BBC website even asked the public to submit ideas. This is the best idea submitted in my design opinion — very clever and well done.
Here are some public comments taken from the BBC page source:
1. What ever % of my tax went to pay for that design at a mere £400,000, I would like a refund and then further compensation to have to look at this logo for the next 5 years.
2. £400,000. For that. Utterly ridiculous. Being in a class of 14/15 year olds, we designed 2012 logos based upon the rugged structure, and came up with fantastic ideas, promoting 2012 and also repesenting London and England as hosts for the Olympics. This is trying far too hard to communicate with youngsters. Yes it may communicate with them, but in the totally wrong way.
3. Genius! How about the inclusion of some TXT SPK, Sir Seb? I’ve wiped better looking logos from my backside.
4. Who in their right mind wants to wear a t-shirt with this logo or have it on their phone. It reminds me of the apprentice, the episode with the trainers. The naf trainer design that the women’s team came up with. And if you shrink the logo down slightly, it becomes unreadable and the london text disappears. Plus it says ‘20R’ not ‘2012′.This is the dome all over again, when they were deluded into thinking that the content inside the dome was what people wanted to see, when in fact it wasn’t.
5. I have just figured it out. The cost breaks down as 25 pence for the design and £399,999.75 to register the trademark.
If you are in the UK and you hate this logo or you are a fan of the Olympics and would never buy any merchandise with this logo, sign up on the online petition here: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/signatures.php?petid=12539
Source of Quotes and Article Excerpts: BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/04/2012_new_logo_feature.shtml