olympic aesthetic

I'm sure you're surprised to hear from me since it's been a week with no word.  My apologies, I've been laying on the couch or the bed feeling under the weather and weathering it under the covers.  It stinks being sick, especially in the summer. 

Anyway, enough excuses and feeling sorry for myself and back to blogging and working.  yay!

Well ok, one more thing about being sick, I really think if you're going to be sick this summer the time to do it is during the Olympics so you can really maximize your watching time.  I'm really excited for the games to begin this year and while reading one of my favorite design blogs, DesignBoom, I came across  a recent post about the design theme for the games.  I haven't seen anything really with the official Olympic theme and now that I have I have to share.

And there she is.

I really have to know what you think about this.  Apparently it was designed to draw in a younger crowd and show how modern and edgy England is.

It also is said to be one of the most cohesive Olympic designs ever, which as you see more images I'm sure you'll agree with.  This is the first time ever the Paralympic Games will share the same branding- see the second logo from the left.  Although I do have to say the definition of cohesive has nothing to do with attractiveness.

Those are the pictograms that will be used for the games, a staple element of the Olympic brand since 1964.  I actually hate these a little less than the logo but they do manage to take out every bit of grace and elegance of the human form.

There are some elements I like, I think the tickets look great.  I love the way the color is overlayed and the figures highlighted with color.

I love how the stadiums are wrapped with this twisting fabric. 

You can see one just past the Olympic Park below...

I also love the idea of touring the Olympic park by following the butterflies.

And the Olympic medals aren't too bad, although I'm not sure why they chose the purple ribbon since the colors seem to be bright pink, orange and blue- not very cohesive there.

Now I saved the two biggest stinkers for last.

Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, the official Olympic Mascots. The one eyed creatures are made from the last two drops of steel used to make the Olympic Stadium. Apparently the characters can change to incorporate different branding elements- maybe a liquid steel kind of thing.   Now if their personalities are good I could see these guys growing on me but at first glance they're a little goofy.

Okay, I should have said three biggest stinkers. Because this one takes the cake for me, the ceremonial costumes which you will see a lot of...

Straight up StarTrek.  I mean seriously???  Couldn't we have gotten Burberry or Sarah Burton to design these things, that would be a whole lot more "London" don't you think?

Anyway, I hate to be a negative Nancy about this.  I always try to avoid negativity in my posts but I just feel like the Olympics are an opportunity to do something beautiful and powerful and impactful with the design- the whole world is going to see it!  Plus being an art student you see so many people who throw something together and convince people that it's great because of a story or because it's "cohesive" and I think those elements can be important but aesthetics are number one.

What do you think?

(Either way my eye will be on the athletes and their amazing performances not on the branding.  I still can't wait!)

All images via Designboom.com