I was recently listening to a British “design critic” on BBC News discuss the shockingly inferior designs of Olympic mascots since their use began at the 1972 Games in Germany. This led to a discussion of the latest egregious emblem developed for London 2012 (which surely will compete with Atlanta’s for the worst designed Olympic brand ever).
“The Olympic athletic ideal has been summed up as faster, higher, stronger. The mascot designs produced to represent that philosophy seem merely to be poorly executed, computer-generated, kitsch which is dimmer, dumber, crasser. I suggest we step back and take inspiration from the 5-rings concept which was simply and brilliantly executed.” (BBC News source)
Tragically, the person from the London design committee who approved their new mascot said it was primarily designed to get young people interested in the Olympic Games. (uhhhh.....and licensing cha ching?) I still find it surprising that so many people think “young people” are only attracted to low quality materials that are poorly designed! But then, junk food was first created for kids, too—though sadly, people keep eating it as adults--and look where is that is getting us!
Curious about the London 2012 mascot designs now?*
The design is credited to Wolff Olins Brand Consultants of London.
They charged £400,000 for the work.
A spokesperson from the agency indicated focus groups of children were used to get ideas for the logo designs (need we say more?).
"The children told us a number of things: they weren't that sold on furry animals and they actually wanted a story."
A segment of animated footage to promote the logo was said to have triggered seizures in a small number of people, prompting it to be removed from the Locog website.
*Source: BBC News and BBC Sport
Moral of this story:
We will keep fighting the good fight for high quality design and the integrity of “brand consulting” as a meaningful endeavor! Any time design steps on the worldwide stage, it deserves to be the best that can be achieved. (No offense intended to those who create by focus group.)
