Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Some things give me a headache...

... or, why not have your parish Mission Statement written by the people who designed the logo for the 2012 Olympic Games:
London 2012 will be everyone’s Games, everyone’s 2012. This is the vision at the very heart of the new London 2012 brand. It will define the venues that are built and the Games that London and the UK will host. The new 2012 emblem will use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people. It is an invitation to take part and be involved.
These will be a Games where everyone is invited to join in. A Games where people are inspired to either take part in the many sports, cultural, educational and community events leading up to 2012 or inspired to achieve personal goals.
London 2012 will encourage active participation involving people nationwide in a whole range of Games initiatives from community activities and volunteering to sporting and cultural events. It will inspire young people and connect them to sport by putting the inspirational values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games on the school curriculum.
[Read more and watch the video]
BTW, the logo is really lame... Or as the designers say:
The new emblem is dynamic, modern and flexible. It will work with new technology and across traditional and new media networks.
It will become London 2012’s visual icon, instantly recognisable amongst all age groups, all around the world. It will establish the character and identity of the London 2012 Games and what the Games will symbolise nationally and internationally.
Consider my eyes well and truly rolled.
The Telegraph has more on the logo:
Bosses of the 2012 Olympics were plunged into a fresh row last night after spending £400,000 on a controversial new logo for the London Games..
In a move billed as the most significant event since London beat Paris in 2005 in the race to host the Games, the organising committee unveiled a striking, jagged emblem as the official symbol for the Olympics.
Aimed at the younger, "internet generation", it will will also be used as the logo for the Paralympics and will be crucial to hopes of raising private sponsorship for both events.
Based roughly on the figures 2012 and apparently inspired by graffiti artists, the image - which replaces an earlier logo devised for London's bid to host the Games - was hailed as "dynamic" and "vibrant" by organisers.
Who seriously thinks that the younger "internet generation" will care a fig for the logo?
Lord Coe, chairman of the London Games organising committee (Locog), said the new logo was "edgy" and appeared to suggest it was designed to provoke a strong reaction: "We don't do bland - this is not a bland city. We weren't going to come to you with a dull or dry corporate logo that would appear on a polo shirt and we're all gardening in it a year's time."
Tony Blair raised hopes that the symbol would leave people "inspired to make a positive change in their life" while Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, praised it as a "truly innovative brand" that would appeal to the young.
Anyone out there inspired to make a postive change in their life from viewing the logo? Will it become the next generation's Shroud of Turin?
But the logo, which cost £400,000 and took the best part of a year to be devised by brand consultants Wolff Olins, came up against widespread disapproval yesterday, with one Jewish person even ringing the BBC to complain that it was reminiscent of the infamous Nazi SS symbol.
Design guru Stephen Bayley condemned it as "a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal".

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lord Coe, chairman of the London Games organising committee, said the new logo was "edgy" ... "We don't do bland - this is not a bland city. We weren't going to come to you with a dull or dry corporate logo that would appear on a polo shirt and we're all gardening in it a year's time."

Dude.

Emily said...

That logo is aimed at the younger generation like guitar Masses are aimed at the younger generation.

Seriously, it looks like something that would go on an oversized t-shirt to be worn with legwarmers and a sideways ponytail. I think the creators are conflating 'controversial' with 'edgy,' when sometimes 'controversial' really just means it's bad.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure whether the image is perverse or simply nonsensical . . . or maybe I'm supposed to actively participate in the games by envisioning (perhaps even actualizing!) my own distinct interpretation of the logo . . . gah.