Vancouver 2010's New Brand

[mr.x]

VANOC unveils 2010 sports pictograms
New website to be launched tomorrow morning

Wednesday, September 17 - 11:41:58 AM
Shane Bigham

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The Vancouver 2010 Olympic \'image\' is coming more into focus today. VANOC has unveiled the 2010 Olympics graphic identity, including colour schemes and pictograms associated with each sport and venue.

VANOC also introduced other graphic design elements for venues, merchandise, as well as volunteer and staff uniforms. The grey, green and blue colours of mist, forest and ocean symbolize the \'sea-to-sky\' regional aspect of the Games. Those colours and symbols will dominate everything from banners to in-venue signage--even postcards.

The pictograms are sport illustrations that VANOC says will convey the visual personality of the Games to the world. Traditional pictograms rely on a simplified silhouette form to depict each sport. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic pictograms depict each sport while incorporating the added dynamism of the athlete in motion.

VANOC says more focus has been put on the athlete in order to convey the \"human and heroic qualities within the silhouette\". The addition of the highlighted areas on the athlete’s body and equipment helps to convey the speed and fluidity of each sport.

Beijing used black and white stick-figure like art--relatively simple drawings similar to what\'s been used at previous Games since they were first introduced unofficially in London in 1948. They became an official Olympic element at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

VANOC says its designs include elements of the region\'s spectacular natural scenery.


The new brand itself:
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/2de3e3f6-b472-4835-9142-3ead50913788/closr.graphicidentity_bannera.jpg


http://rogersradiointernet.com/BC/CKWX/images/2007/Olympic%20pictogram_alpine%20skiing.jpg
Pictogram for alpine skiing
All images TM/MC VANOC

http://rogersradiointernet.com/BC/CKWX/images/2007/Olympic%20pictograms1.jpg
All images TM/MC VANOC


I LOVE IT!

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/parepre08a.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/premoguls9a.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/previewskate9a.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/previewmoguls9a.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/preview2010e.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/preview2010f.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/preview2010a.jpg

http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/gallery/preview2010/preview2010b.jpg

[deasine]

Those ones look cool. Good thing I didn't buy that shirt yet... now that there's a new brand theme =P

EDIT: OMG I WANT THAT UMBRELLA! =O

[mr.x]

^ LOL, me too!



Vanoc unveils new graphic illustrations for 2010 Games

Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

VANCOUVER - The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee unveiled its new graphic illustrations at a Board of Trade luncheon at Canada Place today.

The illustrations -- which the design team said involved enough research to circumnavigate the globe four times -- will be featured on 2010 Olympic banners, signage, venues and merchandise.

The illustrations are primarily blue, green and white in colour, and feature layers of illustrations. The aim was to highlight Vancouver's natural beauty, as well as its modern, urban side.

The sports pictograms are more modern than those of Games past, designers said, reflecting the evolution of the sports.

"We're very proud of them," said Vanoc spokeswoman Renee Smith-Valade.

Canadian Olympians Amanda Overland (short track speed skating), Chris Wong (freestyle skiing), Anne-Marie Lefrançois (alpine skiing) and Paralympian Tyler Mosher (cross-country skiing) unveiled the pictograms and the series of sport illustrations.

They were created in collaboration with illustrator Irene Jacobs of I'm JAC Design, and incorporate elements designed by Xwa lack tun, a Vancouver-based Aboriginal artist.

"The pictograms and sport illustrations were inspired by modern sport photography, pop culture, fashion illustration and manga-style comics (a Japanese genre of comic books) to give athletes an heroic feel and a close-up view of their intensity and athleticism, while also serving as an inspiration to youth," Vanoc said in a release.

Tomorrow, Vanoc will launch a refreshed website designed to offer an enhanced, in-depth and interactive experience for virtual visitors worldwide.

[dleung]

We're riding on the green, blue and light blue combo for too long... think YVR carpets, new totem poles, logo, etc; Canada line livery, Oval finishes, City of Vancouver signs, etc. Yeah they get it... sea to sky region, great. It would be ok if the colours are matched with some interesting geometry that is unique to our region (not necessarily Bill Reid, but i'll be down with that), instead of all the lame swirls and arcs.

[deasine]

The Canada Line should've be red... I got mad when they put the blue and green X__X" HAHA well YVR and Olympics are... CONSISTENT =D XD

[spongeg]

well they got the green right - we certainly won't be see any white stuff - ya know snow that we don't normally get

hehe

[D J M K]

i love it. the pictograms look mean!

and i love how the snowboarder is jumping over canadian geese and the figureskater is dancing with a tug boat. i finally feel vancouver is represented.

however.... i must admit that these are not very "masculine" (please excuse me) colours. i do not know if i would wear a teal hoodie. but, i would buy one for my wife.

[raggedy13]

I think it all looks great, including the merchandise... though I get your point DJMK - I'm not so sure just anybody can pull off the teal look. :lol: I like the looks of that t-shirt though. Looks a lot better than conventional tourist/event merchandise. And of course that is a pretty sweet umbrella. I wonder how many Olympic tourists/media members/athletes are going to rush to buy them once they get here and realize it is going to be raining for two weeks straight. ;) The city could be a sea of those umbrellas. :D

But with that said I like the colour and graphics scheme. I get dleung's point about these colours being overused in this region but at the same time I think that's because they just work best. I can't really imagine other colours representing us. Vancouver, both in man-made and natural form, has always come across visually as a cool, moist, lush place (mountains/ocean/clouds/condo glass/rain-soaked moss-covered concrete/etc) so the cool greeny/blue colour tones just seem right to me.

I also like the retro-comic-book looking style of the pictograms.

[dleung]

The colours are fine, but my main frustration is with the fact that while we've mastered the west coast colour palette (the textures are also pretty good), the geometry of the graphics are completely generic. It could be anyplace with a climate/landscape similar to ours: Seattle, Switzerland, Sweden, etc. The graphics for Beijing 2008, especially the pictograms, were distinctly and unmistakably China. And they look a lot more masculine also.

[D J M K]

The colours are fine, but my main frustration is with the fact that while we've mastered the west coast colour palette (the textures are also pretty good), the geometry of the graphics are completely generic. It could be anyplace with a climate/landscape similar to ours: Seattle, Switzerland, Sweden, etc. The graphics for Beijing 2008, especially the pictograms, were distinctly and unmistakably China. And they look a lot more masculine also.

there are not too many cities in the world that can say they are in a rainforest, next too mountains, rivers, and an ocean (especially Switzerland?!?). i love these graphics more each time i look at them. i love how the posters show haida art, geese, tug boats, lanterns, rains, tree rings, leaves and basically no snow or ice. for me, this is vancouver.

i find the pictograms super cool. compare them here against previous Olympics

http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/pictograms/

i did not know that the chinese pictograms were supposed to represent ancient chinese writing. to me, they looked like ancient cave drawings, like you would in France or in the movie the English Patient.
but comparing china and vancouver is unfair. China has 1000s of years of history and culture they can draw on. Vancouver has 100 (or 22 post expo). and china looked into the past for its graphic inspiration, vancouver graphics is all about now.

besides teal is the new red. i really wouldn't wear either