So have you seen the new logo for the 2012 London Olympics? Wow. This is so bad that when I first saw it I thought it was a joke. So bad that a petition circulated to protest it gathered almost 50,000 signatures in England within a few days. So bad it’s precipitated discussion in the House of Commons. There have even been warnings that an animated commercial using it actually caused epileptic seizures among viewers. No, I’m not joking! And this was some very expensive design work– 400,000 pounds worth, according to this story in the UK Telegraph. That’s almost $800,000 for something that just makes me want to scratch my head. Are the pink rectangles meant to suggest bodies? Islands? According to the Telegraph, “A year’s research, including consumer testing, went into creating the jagged new logo, intended as a modern take on the Olympic colours. Organisers have hailed it as dynamic and vibrant but critics say it resembles a ‘toileting monkey’ or a ‘broken swastika’.”
I’m told the pink bits are actually meant to signify the date of this upcoming event: 2012.
But perhaps I’m being unfair. According to a BBC news website:
Michael Wolff, who co-founded designers Wolff Olins, which created the logo, although he is no longer with the company, said it had not been “done justice” and blamed Olympic organisers for not publicising it properly.
So there you have it. A designer who believes bad design can be overcome if it’s simply publicized enough.
Sigh. We’d have done it for a lot less, and I’ll even throw in a guarantee that none of my logo designs have ever caused elpieptic seizures.
ps. looks like we’ll be leaving for NM by mid July! Now we just need a place top go
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