Who Designed the Logo?
-The Olympics logo was originally designed by
Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. Baron Pierre designed
the logo based around the “five” continents which include
Africa, Asia, America, Australia, and Europe.
About Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
Baron Pierre was a French educator and historian,
“who was founder of the international Olympics committee, and its second president. He is known as the father of
the modern Olympic games.” He was born on January 1st,
1863 and passed away on September 2nd, 1937. He is only
famous for creating the classic Olympic rings logo.
What is the Idea and Creative Process in the Design?
-The idea around the Olympics logo was to be
fully representable of everyone around the world. This is
why the five rings represent the five continents. The rings
colors include the first one being blue, then yellow, black,
green, and lastly red. According to 99designs.com it states
that, “the six colors [including the flags white background]
combined in this way reproduce the colors of every country without exception”. For example, there is the yellow
and blue for Sweden, the blue and white that represents
Greece, and even the colors for Brazil, Japan, and China
are included. The rings represent unity and community because of the circular shape. The idea of bringing everyone
together and representing the people around the globe.
What typeface is used in the logo and what does it express?
-There are no typefaces present in the Olympics
logo. However, when a new state hosts the Olympics they
get to create a logo based around whether they are hosting
the summer Olympic games or the winter Olympic games.
For example, in Tokyo’s 1964 Summer Olympic games logo
it includes the typeface Akkordeon Eight. According to
emtype.net the Akkordeon typeface, “is a display font family roughly inspired by grotesques…designed to be used in
short texts such as magazine titles, banners, cover books,
charts, advertising, branding and any situation where a
compact, solid and powerful font is required”. This powerful typeface used by Japan in 1964 represents power and
impact.
the OLYMPICS
What are the colors and the reasons for their selection?
-The colors in the Olympics logo are blue, yellow,
black, green, and red. Each ring represents the five continents, those particular colors were chosen because they
were diverse and international. There are many flags that
you can see represented in this color design if you start
combining colors.
How the logo has changed through the years.
-The Olympics ring logo has never changed over
the course of time however, whenever a new state gets to
host the Olympics they get a chance to create a new logo.
This not only includes the classic five rings but represents
their country as a whole. For example, the summer Olympics logo in 1964 was hosted in Tokyo, this logo included a
white background along with Japan’s red rising sun, which
can be found in Japan’s flag. Underneath the red circle
includes the Olympics logo and the words, “Tokyo 1964” in
gold lettering and color. There is a new logo, new typeface,
new imagery everytime a new state hosts the Olympics. The
Olympic games logo has developed with every new host. In
1896 the very first Olympic games held in Athens, Greece
showed greek writing and extreme detail to the figure and
scenary shown. Over the course of sixty-four years the logo
became simplified and a more minimalistic approach took
place. The immense detailing and artwork was no longer
the preset for the Olympic hosts.
Where can we see the logo on products and advertising
campaigns and how is it placed and sized?
-Olympic products are hard to come by, we never
actually see any Olympics themed merchandise and if so it
is rare. However, that doesn’t stop the long history between
the Olympics and their well known sponsor Coca-Cola.
For the Olympic games in 2012 the Olympics teamed up
with their loyal sponsor to create a new design for the
Coca-Cola cans and bottles. For the summer games held
in London they decided to create multiple designs based
around the Union flag, which include the colors red, white,
and blue and included all the Olympic’s colors as well. For
the Union Flag designed bottle it included in the front
the union flag with the words “Coca-Cola” and above that
placed the logo for the London Summer Olympics. At the
top of the bottle it included the Olympic colors with red
being the main color that you see, since it covers 90% of
the aluminum bottle. For this design the Olympic rings
are nowhere to be seen. However, in other designs of the
aluminum bottle the Olympic rings are placed dead center towards the bottom of the bottle with the blue, yellow,
black, green, and red colors taking up a lot more space.
For that particular bottle design the Olympic ring logo was
most likely placed at the bottom center of the bottle so that
when you lift the bottle up to drink it you see the logo.
When a new logo is created for the host of the
Olympics the rings are usually centered on the bottom
sporting their usual colors. Sometimes the colors are
changed to match the specific logo that was created. For
example, the rings may sport an all blue, all gold, or an all
black look. The Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996 made
the rings dead center but all black featuring the typeface
Bodoni Nr 1 SB Med Cond. For the Salt Lake City logo for
the Winter Olympics in 2002 the rings were also all black
and centered at the bottom, featuring the typeface Neue
Frutiger 1450 Pro Italic.
Has the brand had an important role in pop culture? Is
it associated with other brands, celebrities, movies, and
videos?
-The Olympics brand has had a big role in pop culture as well as making a global impact. The Olympics bring
people together because its main goal is to be international
and celebrate amazing athletes around the world. According to aperianglobal.com, “They bring together the world’s
leading athletes and hundreds of millions of spectators
watch in awe as they represent their home country(countries) and compete for the ultimate glory of bringing home
a medal”. They continue to state that the Olympics have,
“improved means of transportation…they are a tool for
economic development, cultural integration, and social
regeneration”. Michael Phelps is arguably the most famous
Olympic swimmer. Michael Phelps holds the all time records for Olympic gold medals with a total of twenty-eight.
Michael Phelps qualified for the Olympics in 2000 when
he was only fifteen years old.
Did the Design/brand influence and inspire other logos
since its creation?
-The Olympic logo has a unique symbol and we are
not quite sure if there has been a company that had been
inspired directly by the Olympics. However, the logo for
the car company Audi does share the similar rings/circle
look. The Audi logo has four straight across circles. The
four rings are supposed to represent the four independent
vehicle comapnies, which include Audi, DKW, Horch, and
Wanderer. The rings, much like the olympics, bring together a community and in this example from Audi is brings
together four independent companies. Whenever a new
hostess represents the Olympics they take direct influence
from the ringed logo itself and create a unique design.