Athens to London Olympic Logo Design That Inspired Me

Olympic fans everywhere are looking at the awe-inspiring Olympic cauldron with hearts that are no doubt leaping out of their chests. “Let the Games begin!” had once again been spoken out loud last July 27, 2012. It has always inspired excellence and elite sportsmanship amongst the participating nations. But more than that, the Games is above all else an enduring symbol of world unity and harmony.

The flame will burn until August 12 but even as the closing ceremonies will quench the actual fire, it will keep burning not just in the hearts of all the athletes, coaches, and organizers, but within the billions of spectators in the stadiums and those watching and following it on television and the Internet.

What started as an almost ritualistic homage to the Greek gods in Olympia is now the world’s foremost and most respected sports event. At least 200 nations are now participating in the games of the XXX summer Olympiad in London, England. The International Olympic Committee has been overseeing the games since its founding in 1894.

The technological revolutions of the past decade has enabled not just better coverage of the Games, but better sharing of experiences between participants and spectators. The Olympic flame will perhaps burn on even longer this year given the extensive media coverage. And that striking poster which says, “Be inspired” will also play a part.

The Games of the I Olympiad in Athens did not have actual posters to commemorate the event. On an ancient page of a report on the proceedings, one reads a declaration similar to all the other posters that followed, from that year until 2008.  Joyous Olympiques! Olympic Games! These posters are united by a mostly minimalist design dominated by a human figure (or figures) in various stances suggesting athletic prowess. The posters also declare the proud city host’s name and the duration.

Perhaps it is as well known that the bid to host is as fierce as any of the featured sports events themselves. Paris. Antwerp. Melbourne. Stockholm. Tokyo. Montreal. Los Angeles. Seoul. Only 22 cities in the world can proudly say they have hosted the Summer Games, and only 18 can hold the same claim to the Winter Games. London’s pride of being the only city by far to host the Olympics three times (1908, 1948, and 2012) is reflected in the undisguised joy of its official logo and promotional poster. Fifty-five events are represented in colorful pictograms, as though the slogan would not draw enough inspiration already.

This 2012 poster for both Olympic and Paralympic Games is at the end of the spectrum when compared to the posters of the previous five –the Beijing 2008 poster at the other extreme. It was the Barcelona Games (1992), thought by many as one of the best of them all in many ways that produced a poster that would define the ones that came after. And this year, another leap is made in totally new direction. London 2012’s official spread is a vibrant poster which some may call somewhat the most crowded of them all. But it is a rather smart design, made fit for these times that are saturated with realized possibilities that the last century had only dreamed of.

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