Bob Slayed On The Motorway

Coo, first Olympics post proper and its looking forward to the 2010 Winter Olympics, in Vancouver. Yes as much as I wish the Beijing Olympics were already over, there is escape in wondering about logos of the future. Because if the Olympics are about anything, its staggeringly inappropriate logos. What with Beijing 2008’s shot man, and London 2012 “Lisa Simpson fellatio” what can the Canadians do to surprise us.

That’s right, it suggests that the 2010 Olympics is taking place on a motorway.

(It turns out that this is a staggeringly culturally insensitive thing to say as the logo called “Ilanaaq the Inunnguaq” in a traditional Inuktitut standing stone structure which just happens to look a bit like the international road sign for a motorway. Or indeed a Rush album cover - which is in itself just as bad.)

1. SteveM on August 4th, 2008

   Now THAT is a bad logo.

2. Matt on August 4th, 2008

   What’s bad about it ?

3. FT's Pete Baran on August 4th, 2008

   Things wrong with it:
   1) It looks like a stick man
   2) It lacks any sort of dynamism that sport might suggest (even rubbish winter sports)
   3) The colours are a bit OTT, and not even the official Olympic colours.
   4) IT MOOKS LI A RUSH ALBUM COVER
   5) IT LOOKS LIKE A MOTORWAY SIGN
   6) The “head” has a chirpy little mouth which destroys any symbolism from the design and makes it look like a demented pacman has got loose.

   That said ALL Olympic logos are bad, so they are not straying from the rules.

4. SteveM on August 4th, 2008

   I agree with points 1-6 being examples of why it’s bad but I disagree that all Olympic logos are bad (tho in some cases they are compelling iconic motifs in their own right but problematic in context or under current brand design thinkins).

   Also I don’t see what relevance an Inuit symbol has to the Winter Olympics just because they’re happening in Vancouver, esp. given the minimal interest or participation in the event I would expect from people of that culture (but feel free to correct me on this one).

5. Matt on August 5th, 2008

   For better or worse, First-Nations iconography is part of Vancouver’s self-image. The airport is dominated by a great piece of Haida sculpture in it, the hockey team’s logo draws on it, arguably their best museum is devoted to it and any bit of commercial art that wants to mark itself as typically Vancouver will probably stick in some indigenous looking swirls. At best it’s a sign of a wider willingness to engage with their culture, at worst it’s just the empty posing of a city that loves to think of itself as the embodiment of post-hippy, nature-loving liberalism.

   I have no idea if there will be any First Nation’s competitors in the Olympics, I guess not, but it does seem a very “Vancouver” logo to me. I can’t recall any other Olympic logos, so I’d tend to agree with PeteM about their badness.