unstrungstudio

At the AIGA conference, I was able to attend a session that focused on the Olympic design process, an issue that is near and dear to most Portfolio Center students. This was a panel session that included Dana Arnett of VSA Partners, Patrick Cox of Wolff Olins and Min Wang, who is the head of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, China's largest design and art school.

Each of the speakers provided a different perspective on the Olympic design process. Additionally, each of them discussed their final designs in different terms. Dana Arnett kicked off the discussion with a review of the VSA approach to the Chicago bid. He walked through the creation of their first logo, which ultimately got kicked to the curb by the IOC because you can't use Olympic iconography in your designs. (FYI, it's a torch.)

VSA's approach to the logo was thoughtful and compelling. Dana walked us through the research that led to their final logo, but he also showed us a series of logos that did not make the cut. The first logo was beautiful, but when the IOC snuffed it, VSA picked up the torch again, pun intended, and designed a new logo, which is also compelling.

Patrick Cox, in contrast, spent the majority of his talk discussing the approach and relevance of the London logo. He started his presentation by saying that they intentionally avoided leaping figures, brush strokes and stars. His logic, to say the least, was compelling, and it cast the logo in an entirely new light for me. (The logo, as you might remember, became a design whipping boy upon its release.)

Don't get me wrong, I still think that it was a mistake, but it does achieve the goals that Patrick outlined. The London logo is meant to capture that cheek and rebelliousness of London. It literally breaks all the rules, using the numbers as a container into which new ideas and content can be poured. They are doing some interesting stuff with it, and they have basically stuck to their guns, keeping the logo around.

Min Wang's presentation was a little different. He had a number of pieces to show, and he mainly focused on the work that has been produced by CAFA's students and faculty for the Beijing Olympics. He showed the logo, pictograms, identity, medals, torch design and posters. All of the pieces melded Olympic design with Chinese artifacts and ideas.

At the end of the presentations, I was impressed with the amount of thought and time that each speaker had devoted to the designs. Nothing was designed without a significant amount of consideration. I also had a new perspective on what an Olympic logo should do. I am biased, but of all the logos, I preferred the first VSA logo, which really captured the spirit of Chicago. The London logo is, well, the London logo. SOme great design is being done for the Beijing games, but the pictograms are really something in my opinions, simple, elegant and thoughtful.

posted by J.  # 1:16 PM