2012 Olympics brand - Was it worth it?
Words by Josh Cohen on Sep 24, 2007
When asked to give my opinion on the 2012 London Olympics brand and if it was “worth it”, my first thoughts were to define what do i personally think of it and what do I think of it acting as a communication piece. Well the second part of the question is easier than the first!
I think the thing that has to be asked first is what were the main objectives and brief in developing the brand? Was it to capture the lifestyle, culture and heritage of London? Was it to promote awareness of the 2012 games worldwide or was it to be reflective of the games and the athletes? Some would say all three!
Now personally, I am indifferent to the identity, it neither offends me nor inspires me. Maybe it would work better on a T-shirt for Schwipe or as a cover for a new Modular Records release, but either way I give my full kudos to a committee that went through the whole development process and arrived to endorse the identity and run with it.
The brand straight off the bat is brave, bold and undoubtedly controversial. It maybe crude in its execution and some may say simplistic. It probably also doesn’t resonate with the large majority of the conservative, traditional establishment of Old London Town, but you know what? They’re talking. Yeah they’re debating and discussing it all across the nation, from the pubs, to the high courts from the Buckingham Palace to the ghettos down south in Brixton. People have definite views on the ID either way. So isn’t this then communicating with the people? They love it or hate... either way they won’t forget it! Talk about cut through.
But what could be the alternative? Is it some sort of organic androgynous figure holding an English rose in the red white and blue livery with some silhouette of the London Eye in the background? Would we even be discussing our thoughts on this clichéd safe and “likeable” direction on the otherside of the world here in Australia? Would we even know that the games were on in London in 2012, and would we even be discussing this 5 years out? I doubt it.
As a brand designer for now 15 years I have learnt that you are never going to satisfy everyone and since design is a subjective matter, everyone is going to have an opinion either way. I view it as this. Get the brief from the client, work with the brief, expand it, play with it, have fun with it, question it, do what you need to do but make sure you meet it and your clients are happy. Do that and you cant go wrong.
If the client wanted a controversial bold as brass solution they would have either asked for it in the brief, or just organically loved the direction that it took to approve it. Make no mistakes this logo was just not put out there by a self gratifying designer with an agenda with only one person making the decision. This was a calculated, researched, debated and strategically developed brand designed to polarize and create debate.
So in my eyes, it was worth every cent!
Bring on 2012
What do you think? See it here