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2012 Logo: Lance Wyman says "give it a chance"
Posted by Mark Sinclair, 7 June 2007, 16:30 Permalink Comments (15)
Along with Aicher's work for Munich 72, another classic year for Olympic graphic design was Mexico 68, the logo for which was created by US designer Lance Wyman. His concept was radical – it hinted at Op Pop while embracing the vernacular visual culture of the host city – and, like London 2012, it was essentially a graphic stamp, rather than a traditional image with accompanying city name, rings and year. We asked Lance what he thought of the London 2012 work.
"The London 2012 logo has been presented with promising descriptive text but besides the date, I don't think the logo itself attempts to reference anything of significance," he says. "It has certainly aroused a lot of critical references, from grade school paper cuts to porno.
"My gut feeling though is to give the logo a chance, he continues. "It has a recognisable, brash character and might offer an open book of application possibilities that will keep it fresh into 2012.
"I remember, in the early stages of designing of the Mexico Olympic program, a Swiss journalist commented that the Mexico68 logo didn't work because it wasn't very legible. It really frightened me but I knew what we had in mind and stuck with it."
It's now one of the most famous Olympic logos ever designed. Will London 2012 follow suit if we give it time?
15 Comments
I have to say I was as shocked as everybody when I first saw the logo. Being a British designer working in America, most people here didn't know London had the 2012 Olympics, but they do now. The internet and news stations are full of the controversy surrounding the logo. There wasn't this much coverage when London announced it had won the 2012 Olympics. Had the logo been very safe then most people around the world would still be non the wiser.
I'm sure once the logo is applied to various applications people will grow to like it, maybe this was an amazing piece of brand strategy from Wolff Olins. Everybody around the world is talking about it and everybody now knows London has the 2012 Olympics!
2007-06-08 05:21:46
I have only some doubts with the colours, but the Logo works very well, the typo is well constructed, it is balanced, it has a different style from the old and boring one (with exception of past editions memorable masterpieces of course), you can easily remember it, it is young and not the usual boring icons, I think people needs time to understand it.
Enza Morello
2007-06-12 11:09:49
I have to say I've warmed to the logo. I think its brash and dynamic, and could be the foundations of a very strong overall visual identity. I agree with mr Wyman. Give it a chance.
http://www.smaller-spaces.co.uk/blog/2007/06/another-olympic-logo-blog-post.html
2007-06-13 15:49:11
Its been frustrating seeing a piece of design slammed so hard when in fact there has been a careful amount of future proofing applied to this logo. No one knows what we will find pleasing on the eye in 5 years time as such I think the designers should be applauded for their daring solution.
2007-06-17 12:45:54
The Lance Wyman identity was bold because it cleverly combined Mexican folk art motif (see eye magazine article) with the op art that was evolving from the mid 60s internationally. Cultural and graphic. You can't really compare the 2 IDs. Sure the 2012 ID has created reaction and is bold and energetic in animation but I find it hard to see much national identity in it...sure London is a multi-cultural street hub but I don't get any deeper cultural connection. I've always seen the Olympics as an opportunity for the host to express an identity in its evolving sports and cultural life . This feels very now , but what about later on? We'll all just shut up and watch I'm sure.
2007-07-12 07:59:54
Nonsense Wolff Ollins are a bunch of charlatans who take so much money from their clients and create the biggest, ugliest mistakes - gives branding and design a bad name. A great logo should not have to be explained. Lance Wyman i think was being kind - he is an amazing designer and still doing what he loves.
2008-01-31 20:09:59
I'm not so sure this logo has the legs to last until 2012. It's very trendy in 2008 to hark back to the 80's with bright neon colours and sharp angles. What's trendy now could well be very dated in four years time. It's like house music in 2008. It was very cool and mainstream in 2000 and we all danced like it was 1977, come 2004 no-one was interested. I'm hoping that this logo will work in 2012, but I wouldn't bet money on it. Then again, it's so "out there" now, so maybe I would bet on it.
2008-07-18 00:27:01
I think this is hilarious! I bet he had to sit in a meeting explaining this design for about 3 or 4 hours before he was able to convince his clients to pay him. I do agree that style in 2012 will change, but i also agree that good design never requires an explanation. Let's face it, if it were good people would still be talking about it, but not because it needs a harsh critique.
2008-07-24 14:40:22
Mexico 68 = Mexican vernacular / op-art
London 2012 = Shoreditch neo-rave / lisa simpson gone bad
err...
2008-07-25 16:46:38
Creo que ambos son avanzados y atrevidos en sus momentos, y ese es el punto del diseño: inovacion, identificacion, que se vuelven CLASICO.
I think that both are advanced and creative in their time of each one. and that is the point of the design: innovation, identification that becomes in CLASSIC
2008-08-22 06:02:37
2012 = SS
2008-08-26 22:10:49
I don't mind the style of the logo at all... its just that the 0 looks like Australia...
Is it a coincidence the Nectar card was designed by an Australian?
http://www.visionary-shops.com/images/nectar1.JPG
2008-09-05 16:17:26
Linkbits 06.28.07 « p2p Capital
28/Jun/07, 1:58 pm said:
"[...] Although everyone hates the new London Olympics logo, the 1972 Munich logo was worse. [...]"
you must be smoking crack. Munich's olympic graphics were by far the most sophisticated and well developed to this day. Look how the logo integrates with the rest of the graphic materials.
Check out:
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/72/
2009-02-23 23:03:51
Munich is undeniably genius. Even designers in its era saw it as brilliant.
The 2012 just looks ridiculous. it is a bad 1980's sleeveless sweatshirt throwback that required little thought and even less execution.
2009-03-03 00:42:48
hello: I am mexican born in 1966, two years before the 68 olympics. some times I think; if the travel machine could exist i would like to travel to those glorious days in mexico. that time was the end of one of the best times in my country. In Mexico this olimpics games looks like a pretext for the political things that hapend that days, It´s a shame we never will belive in what we are able to do.
2009-04-26 16:59:47
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