London 2012

I don’t think I can recall ever hearing about such a backlash against a logo. Ever.

The branding has cost around £400,000 in its development, leaving a lot of the general public outraged at it’s unveiling. In two days 48,615 people had added their names to a petition calling for the logo to be scrapped. The BBC even ran an article calling for alternative logos to be sent in by its viewers.

There are many critics of the branding, for instance a lot has been made of the lowercase ‘cartoony’ style lettering of the word ‘london’, saying that it undermines the character of the city. The organisers defend this saying they did not want to include any London stereotypes or landmarks, as the Games is not just for London, but the rest of the UK and indeed the world. Which is a fair comment.

The brand is the work of the people at Wolff Olins and has been targeted at the young people organisers hope will get involved.

“Each edition of the Olympic Games brings its own flavour and touch to what is now well over a century of modern Olympic history; the brand launched today by London 2012 is, I believe, an early indication of the dynamism, modernity and inclusiveness with which London 2012 will leave its Olympic mark.”

Personally I am not a fan, however… although I wouldn’t say the branding has grown on me, I don’t find it quite as offensive as when it was first unveiled. There are some positives, such as the way the branding can be manipulated as above to blend in with different pieces of advertising such as the colouring in the above example, but overall I am disappointed with the chosen branding.

Some links of interest: David Airey opens the debate regarding the new design

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