The not- quite- daily internet column of Dave Walker. Dave is a freelance cartoonist who draws a weekly 'Guide to the Church' for the Church Times. (
It seems to be fashionable to be against the Olympic Logo, so I am going to be for it.
One reason is that I was once rude about a logo I had seen, and then discovered that the person I was talking to was the person who designed it. I was mortified and have not yet really recovered (I wore sackcloth for a while, but now just prefer to wear a t-shirt with an abrasive label on the collar). Just in case I meet the designer of the Olympic Logo at Tescos whilst pondering the chilled Indian ready meals I am going to say I quite like it.
I suspect the reason that most people do not like this logo is that we have come to expect logos to be boring and corporate. We are so used to seeing the bland and ‘safe’ logos of multinational companies that we have come to think that that bland and safe equals good. This logo is not boring, which to my mind a good thing. Of course everyone thinks they can do better – lots of people have spent twenty minutes on their computer designing a logo and sent them into the BBC, but the results look like designs done by people who have done them in twenty minutes on their computers.
One thing that needs to be borne in mind is that this is not a static logo, but rather an animated one. In five years time of course everything will be animated – adverts, t-shirts, even the labels on chilled Indian ready meals, so there is no point designing a logo that is not animated. You need to watch the video to see the whole animated sort of aspect.
Of course it has not gone down well with the newspapers, though it should be noted that the same tabloids who have poured scorn upon the design have been very happy to receive a large cheque from Lloyd’s bank to display a full page advert with the logo at its centrepiece.
Other Pro-logoers:
prblogger.com » Blog Archive » I like it
Byrne Baby Byrne » London 2012
gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards": 2012 olympic "brand launch"
The Rosemont Loving: Where is the love?
Update:
John’s point about the Olympics taking funding away from worthwhile projects is one that needs to be heard.
In other news, Radio 5 just phoned me and wanted me to be on their show defending the logo. I declined because my thoughts are jumbled and not well thought out. Also they wanted me to defend the £400 000, which I cannot do. Hopefully they found someone else – the piece is on at about 11 o clock.
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