LOGO DESIGN BLOG   LOGO DESIGN REVIEW

At the closing ceremony of the Torino Olympics, a torch will be passed to the mayor of the next host city, which will be Vancouver, Canada in 2o10. Let’s take a look at the logo for Vancouver, which is oozing with just as much symbolism as Torino’s.

Vancouver’s Olympic logo is a stylized image of the inukshuk, which were stacked rock formations that served as guideposts created by the Inuit people to provide direction in the vast wilderness areas on the North, according to Vancouver’s officical Olympic website. The image has become a symbol of friendship, hope and hospitality, and is called “Ilanaaq,” the Inukitut word for friend.

Here is a more complete history of the inukshuk. Here is another good resource for a history.

The Vancouver Olympic committee decided to run a contest to create the logo design. They recieved more than 1600 entries and finally decided on the one you see here, which was designed by the Riviera Design Group of Vancouver. The colors in the inukshuk are the same ones you see in the Olypmic rings, minus the “arms” of the inukshuk, which are a darker shade of blue instead of black, which appears in the Olympic rings but not in the inukshuk icon. I’m not sure what the font is yet, but using “What the Font” on MyFonts.com , I came up with Relay Medium as a good possibility.

You may also recognize the inukshuk logo from Rush’s album “Test For Echo.”

As now the Olympics are nearly half over, let’s take a few minutes and talk about the icon that represents this year’s winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The Torino logo is certainly eye-catching and bold, embodies a feeling of aspiration and seems to appeal to the younger crowd.

The logo was created by Benincasa-Husmann creative studio out of Milan. Here is the low down on what the logo means, according to the Official Torino Website:

* The logo recalls the Mole Antonelliana (city and architecture) as well as the nearby Alpine peaks.
* Mountains are not an impediment but a gateway between Torino and the rest of the world.
* Dynamism: Torino is always on the move

The logo also needed to have a great style because it is the home of some of Italy’s leading designers. Two worth mentioning are Giugiaro, founder of one of the world’s leading design firms–Giuiaro Design–which designs everything from high speed trains to park benches to package designs, and the other is Pinifarina, a company that designs mostly automobiles.

The logo is, in my opinion, one of the better ones we’ve seen recently. That may be, of course, because the logo is achieving its goal of appealing to a younger demographic of which I am a part. But it looks good and seems to go pretty well with the five-ring Olympic logo design. You can see they used the same blue for the Torino portion of the logo, which makes it all fit together pretty well.

You can buy official Olympic gear online at the Olympic Store.

The Olympics date back to ancient Greek times, but the Olympic logo we know and recognize today has been around less than one hundred years. Frenchmen Pierre de Coubertin designed the logo in 1913 for the Paris Congress of the Olympic Movement. The logo was first found on a flag and had five interlocking rings–one for each continent represented in the Olympic Movement. Six colors were included as well, black, yellow, blue, red, green, and white, which were colors present in each nation represented by the organization. No ring is “assigned” to any particular continent.

The popular account that de Coubertin found stones carved with an ancient Olympic logo which he immitated in the modern rendition is false, according to an article published in Olympic Review Magazine in 1992. Though carved stones were found bearing the logo, they were created for the torch relay from Greece to Germany in 1936. They were later mistaken for ancient artifacts, according to the article.

In addition to the Olympic logo, most host cities also design their own logo as well. Here is an interesting site that has many of the past cities’ logos, dating back to 1924. Though it’s not a complete collection, it is fun to see how well the logos embody the era in which they appeared.

Source: International Olympic Committee