Rio 2016
- London 2012 (left) and the new identity for 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (right)
This year starts with quite a carnival as Rio unveils its identity for the 2016 Olympic games. The identity was unveiled on New Years eve at a big party on Copacabana beach and has set the blogs on fire already. It certainly isn’t as controversial or gutsy as Wolf Ollins’ London 2012 but in what is becoming an unfortunate trend its already been ripped to shreds and dissected in great detail by logo sharks around the world.
This has become somewhat of a virtual spectator sport, when in fact the focus should be on the real sport. Back to the logo and what’s really interesting was the final design, by Brazilian firm Tatil survived a 130 agency competition. It isn’t groundbreaking or revolutionary in any way but it seems to capture the spirit of Brazil quite well. The wordmark below the emblem is also nicely resolved and seems to work well in 3D (scroll to about the 3:50 mark on the time-line of the video below).
But will it be as memorable as the 2012 icon? I have to admit I am a big fan of the London 2012 identity and its application so far has been pretty good– even the mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville are worth looking into. The organizers of Rio 2016 have played it safe so far and hopefully they can bring more of that carnival spirit and energy into future applications.
The launch video for Rio 2016
UPDATE: The Guardian has done an interesting story on why logos for the Olympics are what they are. Worth a read here http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/10/rio-brand-olympic-games-logos
I must say I love it
I think I fell in love when the guy in the video held up the white three dimensional model.
Ah! Matisse.
I must say I really like it. In fact, I do prefer it to the London 2012 simply because of the human element in it. It seems apt both for the Olympics as well as for Rio