London 2012 Logo - Bright Colors for a Cloudy City?
I recently (and yes I know I’m a little late) looked at the London 2012 logo. And after hearing so much bad about it, how aweful it was….I was plesantly surprised when I saw it. It was not nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. In fact I kind of like the new logo.
The logo which draws its shape from the numbers 2012 is bright and colorful. With dynamic movement and lines that allow it to stand apart from our logo saturated culture. This is a logo that people will know at a glance, if not for its shape (which breaks away from the safe curvilinear lines that designers seem to love for logos) then for its bright colors which are so vibrant that they look like they could move as you’re looking at them.
Furthermore the shape draws the viewer to its center, bringing them in to a logo that is clearly inspired by a youthful energy of an urban culture. Beyond that, the logo looks like it will in fact be flexible. The bold shapes look as though they could stand up to any new media, despite the quality of display. And if nothing else, to me this logo is a zeitgeist. Maybe not the most timeless logo…but definitely the type of logo we could look at in 50 years and actually use the phrase “remember when…”
The new logo is certainly an improvement on the candidate city logo, which to put it lightly, was imbued with all the innovation of a stone wheel. We are a modern culture, but certainly not unfeeling. Although my designer friends will probably disagree, I think this new logo is warm and I think will work well for the 2012 Olympics. The new logo will join a group of past Olympic logos….some good, some are so-so. This one will surely stand out.
The new logo was designed by Wolff Olins, the same company that did the Athens 2004 logo and one of my personal favorite logos, the Tate logo.