39 Olympic Logos From 1924 to 2012

http://wpcult.com The Frosty @WPCult

That’s a nice collection, but I have to say that the London logo is quite strange.
But I am partial to the 84′ Olympiad, because it was in LA (where I’m from) and had a poster hanging in my parents house growing up. :)

Kara

The london one is not cool, but i like vancouvers….
Ian

London 2012 is by far the most interesting and progessive (a little like the city itself). Too many of the others a tired reworkings of a figure. Barcelona is wonderful but Sydney and Vancouver are copies (almost).

London Logo is utterly unique, very now and hence will date wonderfully.
- Vanessa
  
  In response to “…Sydney and Vancouver are copies (almost).” You couldn’t be more wrong. I am more than a bit bothered by the fact that intelligent people (Ian’s not the only one) don’t understand that the Vancouver logo is generally based on landmarks and statues used by indigenous peoples, and possibly specifically based on an inuksuk from the head of Vancouver’s English Bay. I can’t speak for Sydney’s logo, but even without the cultural context, they don’t look like one another.
Ian

London 2012 is by far the most interesting and progessive (a little like the city itself). Too many of the others a tired reworkings of a figure. Barcelona is wonderful but Sydney and Vancouver are copies (almost).

London Logo is utterly unique, very now and hence will date wonderfully.

http://airwvs.com Rizal

i lilke the athens 2004 one.
it’s like a handdrawing.

http://www.michaeladesigns.com Michael Shelton

Cool post!

London 2012 isn’t working for me. Pink and yellow are vibrating too much. It seems more like a kids cartoon logo than for the olympic games.

It’s also interesting how about 5 of the more recent ones use an abstract shape of a human figure as part of the logo. So atleast London’s doesn’t copy that same overused idea.

onetallpoppy

Then you’ll be sicken to know that they paid £400,000 for it (nearly $653,600). However what’s even MORE outrageous is that it almost took a year to conceive by brand consultants Wolff Olins. Some see the infamous Nazi SS symbol in it… personally, I see a severely distorted Keith Haring influence in it myself.

Anonymous

London – Summer 2012
Bad logo. It is a bad logo. Previously, logos have been better.
All logos are good. And this (London – Summer 2012) is very bad.

http://www.simpleisgood.ru Rom@n

Good logos, in my opinion.

old:
Cortina d’Ampezzo – Winter 1956
Melbourne / Stockholm – Summer 1956
Innsbruck – Winter 1964
Tokyo – Summer 1964
Moscow – Summer 1980
Calgary – Winter 1988
Albertville – Winter 1992

modern:
Nagano – Winter 1998
Athens – Summer 2004
Turin – Winter 2006

With greetings from Russia :))))

http://mustardhamsters.com Dean

I do not like London’s 2012 Olympics logo.
I do not like it with a mouse.
I do not like it in a house.
I do not like it on a train.
I do not like it in the rain.
I do not like it Sam I Am.
I do not like London’s 2012 Olympics logo.

Elizabeth

What a delightful homage to the good Dr. on his birthday.

jeremy

Vancouver… the fatty olympics

j dodds

i laughed so hard i farted… when i went back and looked at the logo…
maybe it’s the year of the sumo
Yvan

It’s actually an Inukshuk an human made landmark use as by the native/aboriginal people living in the tundras of northern Canada. It’s not a drawing of a fat person.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inukshuk

http://blog.insicdesigns.com/ insic

London 2012? I dont like it maybe because Im not a logo expert. lol Its just my own opinion anyway. Im sure it is intended to look like it. lol

Elizabeth

Atlanta, Calgary and Munich are nice logos. But London 2012 is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!

http://www.doublejdesign.co.uk Jack

I don’t like London’s either, I didn’t really understand why the committee picked up that ugly and meaningless design. My favourite one is Beijing 2008.

Sinan

found sth funny about that london logo:

http://www.geordiesport.com/images/london2012_logo.jpg

http://twitter.com/obox David Perel

I don’t like a single on of these logos. To me none of them are particularly timeless. In fact I would say that it is in the DNA of the Olympics to have bad logos!

Great post though!

Paul

Hey, you have a point here, but do you think they’re supposed to be timeless? I always saw them as a symbol of the “there and now.” They seem representative of that country/city, with that event, at that time. The olympic rings, on the other hand, I think are meant to be timeless. Abstract enough, and basic enough to have no particular time and place in mind. Only the event itself, and what it means.
Paul

With that in mind, does it change how you feel about them? lol

http://www.inventa.cat iorgos

Barcelona and Athens are the best

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter

Agreed :) But I like Vancouver too…. and yes, I agree with most people, London’s logo is terrible.

http://frederic-soler.fr Fred Soler

Love Turino 2006, nice one.
But hate Berlin 1936…

Fitz

I like Montreal – Summer 1976 logo because it is simple and it creates an “M” for Montreal. Well I think it creates an abstract M it might not be what it is!

I think the London 2012 is better than Vancouver 2010 logo.

The London 2012 logo must have been chosen to stir opinions and get people talking about it. It certainly has done that!

http://www.baltaduonis.com Gediminas Baltaduonis

It also creates a running track and awards podium. I found that description in the book about this olympic games, and yes i totally agree, this is the best olympic logo ever.

John Oliver

I’m British and a designer, and I’m ashamed of the 2012 Olympic Logo. It’s simply awful.

http://www.thethingswemake.co.uk mike

Well you should have out a bit more effort into it then! ;)

I love the 2012 logo

Sochi2014

Sochi 2014
http://www.1981.ru/pages/img/olympiclogo/28_2014.jpg

http://www.onedaywithoutgoogle.org ODWGOOG

Berlin 36, Oslo 52, Munich 72, Moscow 80 & Athens 2004 are saying something about nation branding too in same time

http://www.altograu.eu/portfolio/ Sérgio Soares

Good collection and a nice research of that!
Very good blog here at depot
Thanks

http://twitter.com/wilhelmr WilhelmR

My Favorites:
Helsinki – Summer 1952
Calgary – Winter 1988

And one of the future ones: Chicago 2016 <3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_2016

ChicagoSucks

Hahhh, Too bad that retard Michelle Obama didn’t get what she wanted and it’s NOT going to be in Chicago. (:

chris

great collection
mexico and montreal are the best
didnt like 2012 london

Morten

The upcoming London one was kinda 80′s. It gave that “Yo MTV raps” vibe. Mexico was pretty interesting…. but not pretty.

http://thegeekinsideofyou.blogspot.com benjamin

I disagree… i think is one of the most beautifully designed logos… i think what you meant to say was: it is too serious, specially for such a colorful country…
- Dan
  
  I’m a designer and think as well that Mexico’s is a very interesting logo very well accomplished , agree it’s not a pretty one, but very functional, and stands out from the other ones.

http://www.jeroenmarechal.nl Jeroen Marechal

Nice collection!

I like the Moscow one the best… the London and Vancouver ones are strange and in my opinion not quite nice logo’s.

http://createsean.com/blog/ Sean

London 2012 – WTF, that is ugly and stupid looking. My fav’s are Nagano ’98 and Calgary ’88

http://creativefolder.blogspot.com/ Zulficar

Woooow ….. nostalgic collection

http://www.mkjones.co.uk mkjones

The 2012 logo is a joke and an embarrassment to our nation.

I love the Munich one. Shame those games were marred with violence.

http://www.johannesfischer-webdesign.de Johannes

Almost every logo looks terrible! I guess the logo for 2012 made with MS-Paint.

http://www.amandanorthcutt.com amanda

London 2012 looks like a logo for a youth retreat in the early 90′s.

My favorite is Nagano – Winter 1998

Dennis Williams

I think people need to realise that the London 2012 logo is designed to work as a piece of motion artwork as well as a static piece of artwork. Appearing bold, energised and free the logo encompasses many themes relating to the spirit and ambitions of the Olympics & London. I think that this logo has also been developed to take into account the changes in user interaction and technology by 2012, in particular the development of mobile visual technology.

Check out how the brand comes alive. How many of the other logos / brand could you do this with…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ85HkWwYCw

By 2012 you’ll all be loving it.

http://www.michaeladesigns.com Michael

Dennis,

I agree that “Appearing bold, energised and free the logo encompasses many themes relating to the spirit and ambitions of the Olympics & London. I think that this logo has also been developed to take into account the changes in user interaction and technology by 2012″ are great goals for the logo to have and perhaps the logo does in fact succeed at these goals, however, that doesn’t mean that it is a good logo.

This logo is not the right solution, not necessarily because it doesn’t convey the right messages, but because aesthetically it is not pleasing to the eye. For starters, the colors do evoke “bold” and “energy” yet the pink and yellow together are vibrating too much, displeasing to the eye. There are other color combos that can still envoke the same feeling yet will work better together.

Also, the shapes of the type may again evoke the right qualities, however these forms are more often associated with the 80′s and 90′s pop culture and have been become cliche of that era.

I respect that the folks behind the London 2012 had the right idea, however feel that they failed in the execution of these goals.
- Dennis Williams
  
  Hi Michael,
  
  Thanks for the reply, some interesting points.
  
  I personally I’m not the biggest fan of the pink / yellow combination so would agree with you.
  
  My thoughts though are that if we were both to take this logo and change it to our own personal colour taste and then put these side by side I would relate to your logo as much as mine still. The brand recognition which this logo forms part of is constantly evolving, exciting and even “fun”. I think you have to look beyond the colour of this “thing that’s alive”.
  
  Try and apply the same methods above to any of the other logos and it becomes difficult. Without looking could you for example remember the colour order on the Vancouver logo? Does it matter what the colour order is? With 2012 it doesn’t. If we were to look at this list in 30 years time the logos of the last 10 years would probably look outdated and static, but the London 2012 logo could, in my opinion, almost evolve with the list. The last Olympic logo in China already seems to be fading from my mind, but 2012 with all its controversies is lodged there; I have complete brand recognition across any medium, and I think most people do and will do for a long time after.
  
  I really don’t think we have even touched the surface with this brand and its application. That’s where for me it gets interesting.
  
  Dennis
The Schneid

Dennis – “By the way, I created the 2012 logo.
And I hate all of you.”
John Oliver

Dennis,

Generally speaking, a design’s success is determined by public reaction.

Generally, it’s safe to say that most people like the design of this website. Generally, it’s safe to say that most people (regardless of weather they like the operating system(s) or not!) like the design of Apple hardware. And generally its safe to say that most people like the design of the Aston Martin DB9.

On the same basis.. it is generally… no, almost unanimously, safe to say that just about everyone dislikes the London 2012 logo.

Your comments about motion artwork are correct to a degree.. However I would say that surely a better logo could have been designed with ‘motion artwork’ in mind? Surely this requirement is not *that* crippling to the design brief??

http://hbrito.deviantart.com Brito

Pity London 2012 is the worse by far.

Matt

I agree with pretty much everybody, the London 2012 logo is awful, hurts my eyes to look at it!

I’d say my favorite is the Turin 2006 logo.

http://www.mgitsolutions.com/blog/ Mike

The upcoming Vancouver logo is fantastic – love it! London on the flipside is terrible, don’t understand it, doesn’t connect with me and hurts my eyes.

The ’32 LA logo is sooo American, Berlin ’36 is tragic given its background, Helsinki ’52 is innovative as can be especially for its time, and I’m loving Innsbruck for the proximity to my hometown. Cheers!

Alex Kink

I like the Lillehammer – Winter 1994, probably because its the first Olympics that I followed. Athens is also great in my opinion.

I thought the London one was a joke but apparently its the real deal – Wow! :D

Marie

Living in Vancouver and actually know the meaning behind to Vancouver logo, i like it. It’s a bit too colorful and the composition are simple enough. My favourite of all it’s the Turino’s logo. It still looks very modern even though it’s designed at least 5 years ago?

http://www.psdfan.com Tom Ross

I actually don’t like hardly any of these. It’s a great idea for a list, and really interesting to look through, but most of these just aren’t my style.

pk5

Calgary is the best :)

i don’t like vancouver logo..

Lee Gough

nice logos, i like turin the best i think London is a big let down. it dosnt seem to represent anything and the colour is way off the scale

http://www.misty-blue.net Sarah

Great post! I’m very partial to the Mexico 1968 logo. I think it really set the tone of design for that era, into the 70s. Even now you can see similar typography put on “vintage” style tees.

And as for the London 2012 logo– does it remind anyone else a bit of the Saved by the Bell opening graphics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHKvruzbWl4)? Maybe it’s just me.

Matt Ward

Calgary ’88 for sure. I really like the monochromatic palette, and the way that the logo uses reuses the classic Olympic rings in such a way that actually recalls the Canadian maple leaf without actually making it a maple leaf. I think that this last point is important because, while it’s nice to have a logo that alludes to or suggests the host country, the iconography shouldn’t be TOO strong, since it IS an global event.

The Vancouver 1010 logo does a nice job of this too, by using the stylized inuksuk, which is or course reminiscent of the native Inuit.

http://www.truenorthe.com Courtney

Nagano and Athens are the best for sure. In my opinion at least.

http://www.ArtWorked.com FUNKist

I may not know the best, but I certainly know the worst…LONDON 2012…what a shame.

Sarah

I like Calgary ’88, but I’m a Calgarian, so it’s not fair. I like Naganos the best. I’m just reading about the controversy surrounding Vancouver, but I think a few priorities were missed in the planning of the games.

http://www.designcotidiano.com.br Vilson Martins Filho

Great research!

Best:

Tokyo;
Moskow;
Athens.

I’ve posted in my blog a website that you can find a series of posters from almost all olympic games.

Please fell free to read:
http://www.designcotidiano.com.br/2009/01/the-olymperials-posters-online-de-todas-as-olimpiadas/

http://kitty-music.de Kitty

I really like Turin 2006. It has a winterfeel to it, it is futuristic or the font used is great.

Vancouver is a bit funny but the colors seem very traditional-olympics, so it’s ok.

The London one is horrible, the colors are way too extreme and I’m reading “ZOR” out of it what is weird. Also doesn’t like the font.

I liked the Calgary one and the Rome one too, the best summer game one seems Athens, it reminds me of a holiday add.

The Munich one fits very nicely to the time it was used – slightly trippy 70′s ;)

http://www.michaeladesigns.com Michael

You know, ’96 Atlanta would be very nice if they would have lost that awful green box in the background. The torch shape that is created is quite nifty, but right now that box just closes everything up. Bummer, could have been really nice (in my opinion).

http://www.southmakers.com Alvaro

seems nobody likes London 2012… either do I

navas

london 2012 is acreative and fun logo, so go awaay

Linda

The new London logo is simply ugly. What else is there to say..

http://www.pushingbuttons.net Timothy

The 1924 one is the best

http://www.davingreenwell.com/ Davin Greenwell

Torino 2006 is neat but not really relevant geographically or subject wise. Innsbruck had two olympics and featured two boringly similar logos. Albertville 1992 had a nice clean logo but the two swipes underneath kind of ruined it for me. Not cause it’s Canada, but because it’s really really, well designed – my favorite is the Calgary 1988 logo for combining the circles in a new way to make a leaf AND a snowflake at the same time. This logo nailed it in more ways than any of the other logos and it looks great. I could go on.

And I have to agree with everyone that said the London 2012 logo looks bad. It’s like they’re doing it on purpose, trying deliberately to be misunderstood, like a hipster in a private school.

http://www.gheymedia.com Jason

Its amazing how many people dislike the London Olympics (2012 version). I too find it quite disgusting both in shape and colour. Maybe in another 100 years people will start to appreciate it. But I doubt it!

Steve

I don’t mind the London logo, in fact I quite like the way it breaks away from the mould of the drab abstract person throwing/running/jumping we’ve seen it all before type logo, as for the others:

Montreal
Looks like someone giving the finger :)

Los Angeles
Replace with Olympic text with xyz US airline company name.

Turin
Looks like any generic IT company logo.

My favourites are:

Atlanta
Really nice but wish they had picked a better colour palette.

Salt Lake City
Great mix of the torch and snowflake.

http://www.instantshift.com DKumar M.

Nice Round-up walter… I kinda like the London – Summer 2012 logo as it’s totally different and attracting attention.

DKumar M.

http://www.otromadrid.blogspot.com excopete

Barcelona!

http://www.monoroot.com Monoroot

With regards to the London 2012 logo, I personally hated it when I first saw it. As a British designer, the logo initially made me cringe with embarrassment, especially as it was created by the influential Wolff Olins.

Now that two years have passed since the logo was revealed to a shocked public, I’ve got to say I really like it now and it’s vibrancy is infectious. I’d even be bold enough to say it’s light years ahead of all the other logos above.

Memorable? Yes.
For the wrong reasons? Hmm, maybe. Art is subjective.
Dull? Far from it!

The only other logos that come close to London 2012 are, in my opinion:

Mexico – Summer 1968
Munich – Summer 1972

http://thegeekinsideofyou.blogspot.com benjamin

I don´t like that logo and I think you already know this but design is not art… design is not intended to be that subjective

http://www.photosphere.nl/ Andreas

I like the atlanta logo from ’96, although the colors are not good I think, and the font could be better

Drew

Great post.

I really like the Torino 2006 logo. Super clean sans font and simple crisp image.

I agree with the rest of the posters, 2012 London UGLY!!

I also love the upcoming Chicago logo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_2016

Don

Rome 1960 is kind of scary……

yoshi

don, babies suckling on a female wolf is a symbol of the city of Rome. it’s good to know things, no?
Mattheww

Hahaha! It’s Romulus(founder of Rome) and his twin brother Remus being nursed by a she-wolf. That’s how the two boys grew up, they both wanted to be the first kings of their new city, Romulus killed Remus and named the city after himself and was then the king (:

http://imnikos.com ImNikos

I am the 30th guy that I will say that London’s logo sucks.. It was well known that they don’t have taste but this is unacceptable.. :) I think that after Barcelona’s Olympics, all the countries had interesting logos.. Do they have time to change London’s logo?

ADA

Oi – ‘ImNikos’… that’s a bit cheeky! Some of the finest 2oth C art, design and creativity has come from the British Isles… myriad movie directors (working in Hollywood); likewise script writers; actors; musicians (Beatles, Cold Play, Stones, Pink Floyd, Winehouse, Elgar; Sex Pistols); Comedy (Monty Python, Sacha Baron Cohen aka Borat/Ali G, Gervias); writers (Shakespeare, Byron, Christie, J K Rowling, Tolkien); internationally influential and original TV producers; designers and artists (McQueen, Emin, Hurst)… and Tim Berners-Lee (the man who’s made blogs like this possible)…so
“Got No Taste”? But, having said all that, you do have a point re. the 2012 logo. It’s jarring and uncompromising. We can only hope it grows on us and in future we can look back and say: ‘wow that logo was groundbreaking’. Because it’s certainly original. I’m just hoping and praying the designers of it know something we don’t.

http://www.apfelkuh.de/blog/ Manuel F. Graf

I like the one of 2006 in Turin. Great type. Rounded, modern. simply cool. SOme of them are… really… mediocre. ;)
Somehow i cannot believe somebody approved these.

http://www.designcouch.com Jesse Couch

Going to have to say that Olympic logos are NOTORIOUS for bad design, as they are almost always “design by committee.” They didn’t really start to approach decent logo design (see: Saul Bass and his contemporaries) until the 1990′s when they had a string of halfway decent ones. These include Albertville, Lillehammer, Salt Lake, Athens, Turin and Beijing. Unfortunately, the Vancouver logo and the HORRENDOUS London logo are signs of (frightening) things to come. The tradition continues!!

Lawrence

Must agree that the 2012 is very shocking. I watched that promo video for 2012 that someone above link to here… and it still doesn’t explain the madness of the Easter colouring book theme. And the Vancouver logo, well needless to say they would rather open logo design up to the general public by having a contest to pick the logo. However, Vancouver does have some nice mascots. Maybe your next round-up should be of Olympic mascot designs.

Pablo

Nagano 98 is my fave, followed by Munich 72, Torino 06 and Rome 60. But how on earth did those silly sods settled for that 2012 rubbish? It looks as if it was grabbed right out of a school bathroom graffiti in 1983. Even ugly-album-cover-designers at that time would have done a better job.

http://www.thefloatingfrog.co.uk Frog

Rome – Summer 1960, what’s happening there then!

http://www.logodesignguru.com/A/Logo-design-Articles.asp Logo Design Guru

I never realized that there were so many logos attached to those famous rings. I do think that Atlanta 96 is the best one of all. What a great opportunity to create the Olympic logo. Since it is something that is always changing, there are so many promising ideas in the past and more to come.

Sarah

A number of people don’t seem to know that the Vancouver logo isn’t necessarily supposed to [blatantly] represent a person, or a fat person, or someone with no knees, but an Inukshuk, which is a figure made from rocks that is seen all over the coast (North, Pacific or Atlantic) of Canada. I think it’s a great representation of Canadian heritage while keeping with the colours of the Olympics. London, however, is horrendous.

http://www.seraphimcollective.com Seraphim Collective

Good lord! That London one is atrocious! It’s not the only bad one though. Glad to see these all in one place. Gives me a chance to see the changes over the years, good, and bad.

Raphael

omg! >.<
London 2012 is terrible. Read how they was thinking when they done this “ambitious” logo…. look like a kid done the logo..

http://www.london2012.com/about/our-brand/

(…)
The brand
We need a powerful brand to help us achieve our ambition. A brand that combines the power of the Olympic rings and the city of London together.

The number 2012 is our brand. It is universal and understandable worldwide

Our emblem is simple, distinct, bold and buzzing with energy. Its form is inclusive yet consistent and has incredible flexibility to encourage access and participation. It can communicate with anyone from commercial organisations to kids playing sport.

It feels young in spirit. Full of confidence, certainty and opportunity. Not afraid to shake things up, to challenge the accepted. To change things.

For the first time, the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be part of the same brand family.

Our brand will have impact across everything we do, there are huge possibilities, but we have a clear ambition.

Our Games will be for everyone.
(…)

http://www.jugalug.co.nr Jugalug

I love the London 2012 logo.

http://www.designcouch.com Jesse Couch

Can you say “I want to generate an uproar?”

iola

i really like the tokyo logo the most, i think! it’s so simple but strong.
and the athens logo. ♥

i think the london logo is TOO much. i was like; WTH is that? i had to look twice to actually see that it said 2012. and its a bit TOO out of the box. almost all logos have like a graphic and under that graphic text, and this one is like; WHERE’S THE TEXT?
; OH IT’S IN THE GRAPHIC ITSELF. ; BUT WHY ISNT THERE TEXT IN THE “12″ ?

but thats just my opinion. maybe im being closed minded ;]

http://dpencilpusher.wordpress.com dpencilpusher

surprisingly, the latest ones are hideous

http://www.bladeandsoul.pl BNS

Good ones! But London? No way!

Mluxus

Tokio and Moscow are the best in terms of graphic design and recognition… http://twitter.com/mluxus

j dodds

I didn’t actually believe that that london piece of crap was for real, but sure enough… it’s official:
http://www.london2012.com/

bilboner

Many people don’t like London 2012 logo.
Well, maybe it doesn’t matter that you like it or not ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfU4BUH8p3k

http://www.modestmessages.com Michael

Turin or the Sydney logos are probably my favorite out of this list. I agree about the London logo. WTF were they thinking. I can only think about the mid 80s when I see that design. How much did that cost again? The Vancouver logo, although a somewhat interesting approach, seems to lack in excitement and execution.

http://xavia360.com/blog Zohaib

The last London summer logo. I hope it’s a logo??

Dark Tech

London 2012? Z I O N (decompress image) ZION

Dark Tech

Look: http://images43.fotosik.pl/58/315c95582da9b9a8.jpg

http://www.artofgarth.com garth

My faves are Nagano 1998 and Athens 2004, they just resonate with me.

Rodrigo

The athens logo is, for me, the most creative. The effect of hand writting gives the impression of something more humanized, just like the games must be.

http://www.4psd.com 4psd

i think that new london logo sux;)

http://ceslava.com/blog/en/ Cristian Eslava

This is a very useful post to find the best abd the worst ever Olympic logo.

You may share your opinion at:

The best and the worst Olympic logo

No registration needed.

En Español:

El mejor y el peor logo olímpico

I may guess for your opinion which one is gonna be the worst :)

vertykal

YO! check out the LONDON logo on its official webside. Its GIFy and accuallz quite cool. Looks waz better than the one posted here.

http://www.igorsaraiva.com Igor de Sousa Saraiva

GOOD COLLECTION!

All in one page, we can se the typographic evolution, as well as the colours changing over the years, when the printing techniques also evolute!

Amazing!

Igor Saraiva

http://netspaze.com/ Rajesh

Wow! Great collections. Thanks for sharing it.

http://espresso-online.info theamoeba

i like the athens logo for some reason, it just has something that the others do not. Great collection, thank you.

They werent very innovative with the innsbruck logo, almost the same logo used twice.

Bill Thornton

I would have to say that only Italy (Turin) and Spain (Barcelona) have done it again. Great logos, hey the best art in the world is coming from there. The rest are from bad to worse. And London, whatever happened there is the ugliest of them all. Nothing personal.

http://www.discoverseo.co.za Bryan Hornby

Don’t like the London Logo at all. I must say the Innsbruck – Winter 1964 was excellent for its time

Stein

A friend told me (yeah right!)
that the London 2012 looks like:

Lisa Simpson giving head.

Manuel Esquijarosa

Almost all the logos are great with a few minor exceptions. The first being the 1936 Berlin Summer games, for obvious reasons and the 2012 London games simply for any lack of style and or poor judgment.

http://ww.fedegrafia.com fede

Really nice gallery;

I like very much Nagano 1998 and Torino 2006 [ I'm italian ;) ]

London 2012 is incredibly ugly … are they going to change it?!

bye

Brian M

I love Torino 2006. By far one of the best Olympic logos. Its just clean!

http://www.brad-clark.com Brad Clark

Maybe this is more a reflection of me than the designers but has anyone notices that the London 2012 logo looks like a girl performing a sex act on a guy?

Am i just seeing things!

take another look!

Carlos

London 2012, the logo says SHIT…but why? I think it’s a joke, it can’t be serious.

I like Lillehammer.

http://steeeeziquai.wordpress.com/ Steeeezi

Can i have a permission to use this post on my blog ?
It’s very cool topic ;)

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com Walter

You can certainly use it as a reference, however, you cannot copy the post. Attribution is necessary. Thanks.

http://www.studiologo.pl logo

Moscow – Summer 1980 is my favorite :)

http://www.andreapelizzardi.com Andrea Pelizzardi

London – Summer 2012
WTF?! Horrible!

Moscow – Summer 1980
Is this the Atari Logo?

Turin – Winter 2006
The best

:)

http://francisablogz.weebly.com francis

Athens – Summer 2004——SIMPly SUPErb…………

http://sahilkhan.wordpress.com sahil khan

both upcoming ones are a turn off…and really disappointed with london games….best acc to me is sydney games 2000

http://www.marocplus.net Directory marocplus

good logo a lot

http://www.marocplus.net Directory marocplus

good logos
a lot

86000tb

http://www.yuga.ru/media/sochi2014_new001.jpg

http://ikab.kilu.de Sanid

London 2012 man that one is really baddd !
Looks like its a design by a 9 year old kid man.

Trilbi

I couldn’t actually believe my eyes when I got to the end of the logo’s to see London’s excuse for a logo….. wow….. I can’t believe the colours, the typeface, the shapes……. everything.
Scrolling down this thread, seeing SO many beautiful logo’s, becoming more and more modern, then BAM! vomit on the screen…. bad neon 80′s vomit. What were they thinking? Was a designer even employed to design this mess….

red

i once saw a lineup of the 2012 London Olympics logo somewhere on the web. search for it and there’s this one particular logo which has a minimalistic design yet it looks perfect. here, i searched for it.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HZw9SxEiAIg/RmbX301lCzI/AAAAAAAAABE/mXA48mPDmNM/s1600-h/newolympics.jpg

it’s pretty unique. what do u guys think?

Lorie

2012 is so bad I did not even realize it was just 2012 with an extra ~square block in the middle.

I think the ones that imply physical motion (like 2000) are much more effective, as are the ones that use a locally recognized symbol with the olympic circles (like 1984 and 1988).

http://simonfarla.com Simon

The most talked about logo in the comments? London 2012.

I would argue this result goes beyond the subjectivity of visual aesthetic. This work has inspired the highest amount of strong feelings in a crowd. This logo wins HANDS DOWN.

Mrct

I really like the London logo, especially the shape of it, which is strangely fascinating.

http://www.kwebmaker.com Mohammed Hussain Kalsekar

Amazing boy!! 2012 is the best for me..

wtf nigz

I like 2012…i like how they incorporated the year into the design and it highlights youthfulness that has come back into the games…gone are the days when some countries would do anything to win..GOOD LOGO

Jalmerk

My favourites are Beijing 2008, and Helsinki 1952. I think they both really represent their country pretty well.

But the London 2012 logo… oh my god… it looks like something i drew on paint when i was 9 years old.. its absolutely Hideous. They could atleast make the numbers a bit more obvious. And change the colours. then i’d like it. yea.

Jalmerk

The Vancouver logo is nice. Not that special, but all in all a good logo

emmy

worst logo after the Berlin 1936 summer Olympics
is the dicy.chunky London 2012 absolutely sans
spirit, sportsmanship or any cultural content nor
does it aspire/inspire any graphic creativity

http://iamkeith.com/blog Keith

My favourite is Turin, 2004.

http://www.stargraphicdesign.com Jessica

Squaw Valley – Winter 1960 Is surprisingly modern

LOVE
Nagano – Winter 1998
Athens – Summer 2004
Beijing – Summer 2008
Vancouver – Winter 2010

HATE
London – Summer 2012

John

I hate the London 2012 logo. It doesn’t even make sense! I think they were trying to make it a…weird…version of the Union Jack. I love Vancouver’s logo. If you are from another part of the world, other than Canada, you probably wouldn’t get it or like it. I like it because it symbolizes part of Canada’s aboriginal culture, AND it incorporates the Olympics. It looks “non-creative” but for someone to actually think of doing that is VERY creative! I think all of the 2000′s logos are great! But, still, London is TERRIBLE!

Glosh

Surely the london Logo 2012 needs to be revised it bright ……………for olympics
iwouldn,t love to keep it in my house either .

http://www.genexbs.com Muhammad Bilal

Thank you for the collection of the logos. We really enjoyed having a look at all of them together, it was like blast from the past. We have professional logo design experience and most of the logos in this collection inspired us but not the last one for London. It really is looking out of the shape, huge, and not good at all. I hope they will modify the logo, can they?

:)

Aris

Quickly scrolled through the comments, didn’t see any positives for the London2012. I would take the risk saying it is just perfect! I just love the fact that nobody almost accepts the logo. This is just the way it SHOULD be! The logo was released at 2007 or smth. it had to live additional 5 years prior coming out “live”. This is though. Of course they cannot modify the logo on the course as the design world moves on. Of course they won’t do that. It just has to be on the right line on the 2012. And it will. They will do absolutely everything needed (and they have the power) to teach the world – this is how you will be thinking at the 2012. Take a look at the 10 year old car. What a brilliant piece of design it was back these years, eh? And was it changed a lot since then? Of course, no. People’s mind was changed.

Soctane

In three simple brush strokes, Barcelona conveyed joy, humanity, vigor, coolness, excitement. Nagano and Sydney came close to repeating that.

Vancouver’s is a bit cold. Just some rocks standing there with a silly grin slapped on its face.

The London logo, however, is just hard to look at. It is an angry design and gives me a headache.

Hmm

London’s is hideous.

JayDee

What about the 1928 Amsterdam olympics? I’m missing the logo or a reference to it.

Angel

ewww to the London logo, what where they thinking? It looks like somebody made it in Microsoft Paint lol.

Vancouver is cool because it is of cultural significance I don’t remember the name of the indigenous people from that area (I Don’t want to butcher that). But it looks unique.

Stan

Nice call on MS Paint!

Sani

Love Vancouver’s logo!!!

http://www.alinspired.com ali Karim

i love the bejing 2008 however i think that the england 2012 logo is really crap, its a design disaster gone bad and its all boris ‘idiot’ Johnson’s fault, i mean i could design a better logo with my eyes closed, really shameful given they design and art history of Britain…

http://www.paynebyname.com Payne by name

I’m disappointed with the London logo. It looks like something of a saturday morning kids programme and isn’t the showcase for British design that I would have liked to have seen.

Considering how cool many of our Olympic sports kits look nowadays, I would have hoped we could have done better.

However, it’s unfair to blame Boris Johnson for this atrocity.

The logo was revealed on the 4th June 2007. Boris didn’t take office as the London Mayor until 4th May 2008, so I’m baffled as to how he could have exerted influence on the logo. He wasn’t even selected as the conservative mayoral candidate until Sept 2007.

http://www.gport.nl Gerben van Dijk

I think especially the last couple (2010 and 2012) are completely unclear and not resembling the Olympic spirit.. Most of them are great, nice list!

zoeve

love :
Nagano – Winter 1998
Mexico – Summer 1968

London 2012- weird?

Markus

I wonder what they paid for this “logo” for london 2012. It is really bad!

onetallpoppy

It was over $650,000 US dollars.

Alex

Munich 2018 sounds promising… They think about a whole environment and not only about an ugly separate logo (who said London???):
http://www.muenchen2018.org/

Patrick

to be totally honest, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the London 2012 logo. It looks cool; it’s modern; it’s unique; it’s even 80′s retro (my god, we’ve gotten to that point). Anyway, I like them all. the early, early ones don’t get me like the newer ones do, but hey, those were just meant to be classical looking, so whatev. I also just saw what the London 2012 one was: 20-12. for the longest time I thought it was some odd configuration of person with the Olympic logo being in the head/face part. I still dig it though. And no, I’m not color blind, I just have broad tastes.

Mattheww

I love Rome’s! Haha… Romulus and his twin brother Remus being mothered by a she-wolf!

234

MEOW!

stansult

now Sochi 2014 has official emblem (the one listed above is candidate’s emblem):

sources:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5gX4ObJW6OzBBtCOH2mo5GntBZcQwD9CAJOVG1?index=0
http://sochi2014.com/106629

Anana

Epic olympic fail

Any delapiedra

The london logo is just not right. It does not transmit any of the games’ spirit. Surprising to see British design loosing its power. They are trying to be modern, but forgot to say anything about people, sports, spirit and London… too bad. Had a chance and lost it!

Jason Stobbe

If you want the truth about these Satanic Logos and what is really in store for 2012 go to youtube and type in Gorilla199. If you only knew the truth!

Newton

My congratulations to Wolff Olins, the outfit that designed the London 2012 logo. You’ve successfully created the worst looking logo in Olympic history. Even logos from the former communist block outshine you. The fact you guys got paid 400,000 pounds to create such rubbish makes me want to puke! But thanks anyway for making my logos look great in my clients eyes. I now use your logo as an example to my clients of ‘what not to do’ and it works a treat :) Cheers.

Osvaldo M.

I am probably missing a lot of hidden meanings in the rest of the logos, but I loved the way they played around with the logo for Sydney – Summer 2000, it was not until i found the opera house, the 3 boomerangs, that i enjoyed and liked the logo, it’s all extremely well done. Munich 72 and Los Angeles 84 are way beyond horrible in my humble opinion

http://ammar.blog.com ammar hassan

yeah i like the 2012 too, but beijing was the fascinating one :) for meeee

http://www.neograf.ca salamalekk

Poor London!

http://profeivanonline.blogspot.com profeivan

Taking into account the importance of the event, I think the London logo is one of the worst logos ever “designed”. A logo must “speak” visually, no matter the language or the design explanations behind it. Es uno de los peores logos jamas diseñados.

Wouldn´t it be interesting (just for fun) to make some proposals and post them in some social network? (facebook, flicker)?

Ronster

1st: Thanks for collecting and posting these logos. A great design study!

Squaw Valley started the trend toward modern design among the Olympic logos. It would be nice to see that in color. I really like Atlanta as well. Nice use of color, type, simple lines and organic shapes. Mexico 68 and Calgary 88 are cool too. Very memorable and fitting. Nagano 98 is nice but would have been better without the grey “shadows”.

I really to like the 2014 Sochi Olympics logo by Transformer Studio (the one that was not chosen). It lives and moves and speaks in context—which is what it should do.

I agree strongly; London 2012 is NOT good! It’s not interesting, there’s no “Ah-Ha”, no relationship to place or sport or anything.

Lars

RE: London’s 2012 Logo and everyone’s negative reactions.
Your not supposed to like it. It’s designed for imprint on your mind the staged false flag operation they have planed for it.
Just look at the Munich ’72 logo and what took place there.
Wait and see.

http://twitter.com/karlaidoscope Karla

I love:

Innsbruck – 1964
Nagano – 1998
Sydney – 2000
Turin – 2006

And the London one? aaahhhh……..it’s going to be a strange 2012.

http://www.dezifi.com Colin

I really like what Vancouver has done with their logo. It is easily recognizable, displays the olympic colours and shows Canadian character well. I think its one of the best logos of all.
the London design is aiming I think too much to young teens with a throw back to wild crazy and loud 80s colours. Its a very of the moment logo which will feel very dated very quickly and I just don’t like it.

Also like: Sydney, Nagano and Calgary.

Mike

I’m very partial to the Calgary 1988 winter games and also the Salt Lake City 2002 winter games.

RE: I like the Vancouver winter games for this year.

As for the london games in 2012, I hope they didn’t pay actual money for that monstrosity.

http://www.electric-sun.co.uk ElectricSun

I’ve always been a fan of Otl Aicher’s designs for the 1972 Munich Olympics, especially the logo. There have been some nice ones since, but was Munich’s that made the tide mark.
Nice collection.

http://www.webbydesignguru.com Webby Design Guru

It is really a nice collection of logos.Cool stuff!!!

Matt

I love the 2012 logo: combining the characters “2012″ and a stylised man dancing – genius.
It’s bold, it’s striking, and it conveys the festival spirit that London is aiming for.

Stan

Good – Salt Lake, Sapporo
Bad – is London’s 2012 thing even a logo?

http://www.estudioray.com Joe Ray

Damn, that London logo still scares me! I’ve avoided looking at it but now that I see it, it still gives me that uneasy WTF feeling. Has anyone seen the NFL’s Superbowl 2011 standardized logo recently done for next year? The Blue Hairs have totally castrated the image with a lack of inspiration and imagination.

Duy Nguyen

Top 10
01. Mexico 1968
02. Torino 2006
03. Munich 1972
04. Nagano 1998
05. Albertville 1992
06. Sydney 2000
07. Lillehammer 1994
08. Seoul 1988
09. Calgary 1988
10. Barcelona 1992

London 2012 gives people heart attacks!

http://www.willooi.com Will Ooi

My favourites are Mexico 68, Nagano 98, Moscow 80.

Scrolling down the page was really nice, seeing all those rustic, classic designs slowly evolve over time, a lovely snapshot of art almost immediately distinguishable with their respective decades … and then it ends with London 2012 – a colossal block of pain.

And I mean, quite literally, pain.

@webnathy

59 684 people on Facebook think that London 2012 olympics logo looks like lisa simpson giving head: http://bit.ly/bmunRG

I think so!

http://www.mushroomdigital.co.uk website designers

I really like athens 2004. in all honesty london 2012 is the worst.

lordy

Here you can find the real logo for Canada 2010! http://www.peta.de/olympiaschande2010

http://jonraasch.com Jon Raasch

It’s funny to me the ones that don’t use the olympic rings logo (like Munich, ’72)…I look at that logo and I definitely don’t think olympics at all.

http://www.franzone.com Jonathan Franzone

Agreed. I think the London 2012 olympics logo is fail.

http://flickr.com/photos/prosto Prosto photos

You should’ve included the Sochi 2014 logo too: http://sochi2014.com/en/ — it sucks, of course, but should be included on the list, I guess.

http://www.gorfed.net gorf

The London 2012 looks like a late 80s album cover, and a bad one at that.

Bart

You’re missing the 1928 Amsterdam games logo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_Summer_Olympics

http://www.alejandrobriz.es Alejandro Briz

Barcelona,Athenas,Beijing is great jobs. But the new logo of London is to heavy.

Jimmy Chocolates

London 2012 is the best – the rest are rubbish

Erness

GREAT POST!
From all the logos of this collection, I really like the Calgary 88 Logo! It’s simple but quite good! also like the handmade font of Sidney 2000!

BUT WTF with Vancouver 2010 logo???? IT’S HORRIBLE! and London 2012! Is thas supossed to be a logo??? I really feel it’s a sign that the world will actually end in 2012! TERRIBLE design!

WeAreNorth

Was the LA ’84 logo designed by Vince McMahon. Fugly. Sorry.

The Moscow 80 logo is genius. Looking at it is like watching Rocky IV.

daniel

wow, muc ’72 is so a different level.

http://xeno10.com @derekvigil

I did a project exactly like this in art school. The Vancouver logo is clean and conservative. The London logo is kind of refreshing given the previous logos. It will be interesting to see how it is used. Only then I will say if I like/dislike it.

http://www.jmphotographyonline.ca jay

I’m a big fan of Mexico and Munich!

A tip of the hat to Montreal for sucessfully getting the middle finger into their logo.

LewisK

I am actually a fan of the London 2012 logo – I think the fact that you’ve embedded it as the largest image out of all the logos on the page doesn’t help it’s cause though! Try dropping the size a bit or using it in context of the brand guidelines and I bet it works better.

The font used for ‘London’ is a shocker though, but it’s certainly a brand that is adaptable and very easily recognisable. You can see how it will roll out across all medias; with digital and tv in mind especially. Olympic logos are far more than just a logo on a t-shirt these days, I guess.

http://www.kaaliss.com nicolas cornwall

Thank you LewisK!!!! I browsed all the comments searching for this kind of point of view! I love this logo!!

My point of view:

First break: 1964 with insbruck and tokio (love the tokyo one!) simple shapes, plain colors, simplicity, efficiency

second break: 1992, barcelona, hand made logo, dynamism, emotion, worldwide.

third break: 2012, london- stands out, unique, it says “I’m future!”. london will win a lot with this image, people wil remind this logo for decades and associate london to this uniqueness, this trendiness. I just love this logo.

And if you still doubt it, look at wolf ollins website for the brand guidelines, it just looks great.

And to finish: vancouver logo: I won’t say anything, just copy and past jeremy’s comment:

Vancouver… the fatty olympics?

Nice article though!

I’ll tweet it right now

http://www.undo-studio.com Isa

Good research, thanx for sharing. My favorite is Athens 2004. Even when i don´t think London 2012 is the best logo ever, i do believe is efective. Everybody knows it and talks about it, and for sure it would be unforgetable.

http://www.wiijii.com/amdgrafix/index.html AMD GRAFIX

Just by observation, I divided the progress of the Olympic logo design into two parts. The first part from Paris of 1924 upto Sarajevo of 1984, is classical. The second part is from Los Angeles Summer 1984 up to the present or future of London 2012 is modern. You can feel the movement of the olympic logo design as it gradually converts from classic to modern. I love all the logos. Thanks for this.

http://live.com daniel

i know people think the vancouver logo is strange but if you are canadian you will understand. the natives would place rocks like that to show where they have been so its a tribute to the natives. but kinda dumb cause other cultures wont understand

http://savvysavingbytes.com savvysavingbytes

The last 2 designs – Vancouver and London – fail for me, the main reason being their lack of life. Neither suggests motion. And to me that’s what the Olympics are about. Bodies and spirits in motion.

My favorite is Innsbruck ’64.

picaso

How can you say it’s about bodies and spirits in motion and pick Innsbruck’64 as your favorite? Unless I’m just not picking up your sarcasm, and you mean that it’s your favorite bad logo.
- http://savvysavingbytes.com/ savvysavingbytes
  
  Actually I do see motion in the logo. No sarcasm involved. The top curves in the coat of arms suggest mountains to me. The thinness of the Olympic circles and the way they barely touch with their white outer edges suggest swooping motions. And in the the curve of the Innsbruck type itself, I see skiing down a mountain and ski jumping.
  
  It’s interesting how people can look at the same thing and interpret it so differently.
- picaso
  
  You’re absolutely right, it is interesting how people see different things. I don’t see motion at all. To me, it’s one of the most stationary logos there is. It says on Wiki that the two indentations caused by the rings represent the two Olympics that Innsbruck hosted. I could see that being true for the ’76 logo, but not for ’64 since they’re virtually the same logo. And in ’64 they obviously hadn’t hosted two games. The description must have been added by some knuckle-head.
  
  I’m inclined to think the indentations were just to accommodate the rings, and the fact that they look like two mountain peeks is just coincidental.
  
  Personally, I’m a huge fan of Olympic logos. You’ll never see more basic examples of each culture’s design styles and symbolism at that moment in time. Good or Bad. Thanks for the back & forth. You have a valid point. The direct meaning of these logos is often different than what the individual may see, or feel.

http://live.com daniel

my fav are vancouver, montreal and calgary. just so u no im not canadian

Kathleen

Vancouver because it captured the “theme” of the wilderness and ancient times. The figure looks like stacked stone, or feel of a totem.

I also like Beijing because it’s lyrical, and hints at a chinese character……

London is GOSH awful!!!! Looks like someone threw it together as a last minute freshman design project, an overnighter. What the heck!!! They paid money for that? Worse yet, that’s the best they had to choose from in the whole design community? Is this a committee member’s kid brother/sister?

Kathleen

(like Turin and Nagano a lot too)

vnikey

My favourite one is Nagano.

As for London 2012 o.O it needs to be revisited!

Danou

Ugly ! The logo for 2010 is really ugly !!!
What a shame !

Anne

I like the following logos because they reflect the city/country well

Athens – The laurel wreath harking back to the Ancient Olympic Games reminds us of its
origins. Beautiful colors too.

Sydney – The use of Boomerangs to form the body of a gymnast with the Opera House
as the ribbon is a stroke of genius.

Vancouver – The logo pays homage to the First Nations and is the symbol of Illanaaq
(inukshuk) a symbol of welcome that acted as a guidepost for travelers
across the snowy north.

http://valiras.ru Alex

The first logo that useing a web address is SOCHI 2014:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/51/Sochi_logo_for_the_2014_Winter_Olympics.svg/200px-Sochi_logo_for_the_2014_Winter_Olympics.svg.png

annabella

- my fave is nango 1998 by far. i like how it has movement, hidden shapes of people, and just seems to burst.

- calgary ’88, is awesome. Simple but effective. (but the color is kind of dull)

-i really like the fonts used for Sydney and Beijing. I also love Beijing’s symbol, it’s asian looking lol.

- vancouver’s is excellect, i like the history and symbolism behind it, and it’s recognizable.

- london’s… well… i can see what they were trying to go for.. the geometricness of it is a good idea, and i’m not opposed to pink, and other bright colors because they’ve never been done before. it had potential, but in the end it was just a fail. it looks cheap and amature, and at first i thought it was a joke. i also like logos with a symbol, or picture, and i don’t really like the one’s where there is just the city name a a number

http://www.tombulowski.kinssha.org Tom

I prefer Nagano. More dynamic – shows disciplines – use olympics’ colours – has a nice and strong structure.

2011 – Nice one too. It represents Canada very well. It either has a refreshing look and it is artistic.

2012 – I don’t understand this … England use to be great in music industry and usually good artist, that visual no link with the Olympics taste. Would OK for small coffee shop or something like that. took me a while to see the big 2012. Maybe it will be nice with the promo product like jackets caps … but it could have been a much better work done on this.

Roger

The munich is the best and so is the Mexico…….i like black and white

http://lakerhoops.net Gino

The London 2012 Logo should be blown up! They should seriously consider changing it because it’s disgusting.

Atlanta 1996 is the most uncool logo of them all…downright hideous.

I really love Lake Placid ’32

and a few others like Mexico and Moscow and Helsinki

Julie

Montreal is beautiful, my favorite one! It pops out from the others with its simplicity,
love it!

http://yahoo alex

dang man all of the logos are crap except for the mexico one its the best

Mike

Love looking back at old olympic logo’s. I’m actually a big fan of the london 2012 logo, most people are jumping on the band wagon of the general populus. As a designer myself, I understand it. Look how different it is, it screams change and pace, with dynamic shape and movement, it’s youthful and can be used across various applications. Congrats Wolf Ollins on creating something truely original for London that will still look shocking and spot on in 50 years times.

Also love the Lillehammer very nice indeed.

http://claudiagomezdesign.blogspot.com/ Claudia Gómez

Mexico – (Summer 1968) is the best!

It is considered one of the most successful as far as innovation and visual proposal is concerned.
Marked tendency in the design of that era, with a design on one side used as a basis the optical art, one of the vanguards of the time, and the other was part of the colorful handicrafts Huichol.
For over 40 years if done this event, remains a myth and a reference in the schools of graphic design, urban designers and architects

alexis fuller

Mexico is the best. The new one sucks completely. Horrible!

dearro

Beijing is the best one! That figure is also a Chinese word for something… I forgot…

Alex P

the word “JING”, Capital. (“bei” means northern)

http://www.wearingrainbows.com/mens-waistcoats-ties-c-2659.html Billy

A very interesting collection, So many I don’t remember, it’s good to see them side by side,

Thank you,
Billy

http://iZabotin.ru iZabotin

And now we new logo for Sochi 2014 http://sochi2014logo.ru

deniz

did anyone heard about that the london logo actually spells ZION and was intended to be another more or less hidden, lets say “masonic symbol”? look it up on google if you are interested in. moreover, does anyone of you guys know logos refering to be masonic,
like AOL or CBS?

http://google.ca that guy

londons sucks

kkes

Serious… does anyone remember any logo (besides the five rings)?
If WDD hadn’t list the logo I wouldn’t have remember the logos

J-man! :D

Well I hate the London 2012 Olympic Logo.
I’m agreeing with dearro with this —luvin the Beijing 2008 logo!
Chinese people rule!
lol

Chris

Ugh, I simply hate the 2012 logo. And it cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to come up with such rubbish!! Someone described it as Lisa Simpson giving head to Bart Simpson . . .

Graham

The London 2012 logo has no set colour scheme. It’s designed to be versatile for a digital age. some of the alternative colour schemes i’ve seen have really improved the logo. The London Olympic committee have admitted making an error by unveiling the logo in the garish pink/blue/orange colour schemes and not making it clear about the versatility of the design.

Here are a few different versions i’ve seen

http://wemadethis.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/05/lloyds_2012.jpg

http://www.lloydstsblondon2012.co.uk/_assets/images/olympics.png

http://www.wharf.co.uk/2012logoWEB.jpg

I used to really dislike it, but i’m now starting to see why they chose such a forward looking design. It’s a grower!

She Ji Si

Bejing Olympic’s branding is a hueg sucess compared to the others. it reflects well on the culture and olympic spirit. Not just the brillant logo, the extensive branding of the sport icon are well illustrated too.

London 2012 logo looks decent compared to it’s mascot.

hahahave a nice day.

Alex P

Don’t understand why anybody would like Atlanta’s. It is extremely unimaginative and rigid, especially if you compare it with other logos in the 90′s. I don’t mind seeing it in the earlier 20th century, but to have a lazy tight-bottom design like that in 1996 is unforgivable. I immediately feels outdated within, like, 5 years.

Personally I like:
Helsinki 1952: imagine how innovative it must be back in the 50′s
Squaw Valley 60: works well monochrome. The text circle works surprisingly well.
Tokyo 64: can’t get simpler than that, yet its identity is clearest.
Mexico, Munich. A break, then I like everyone from Salt Like onward.

My take on London’s:
Don’t know what to say… really don’t. I want to try to keep an open mind and accept the form, but the bottom line is–it doesn’t say much. I am sorry, but London isn’t him enough to pull this off.

BY THE WAY SINCE PEOPLE ARE ASKING: the Chinese character in the Beijing logo says “JING”, i.e. capital.

Alex P

I mean “London isn’t HIP enough”

http://www.infopunta.com Punta del Este

ok the london 2012 is horrible, HORRIBLE

http://advinroynetto.wordpress.com/ Advin Netto

I liked these three logos
1] Moscow – Summer 1980
2] Athens – Summer 2004
3] Turin – Winter 2006

But London – Summer 2012 is horrible..
whether our designers are growing down or what?
Is dat a logo or a poster?
Anyways this is the advise for the guys who developed that logo
Before coming up with the final design they have to think that is going to be a big event and it will be published all over the world!

JD

Yeah, the London 2012 logo really is much too vibrant. I don’t like it very much either.
But still, the worst in my opinion is Munich 1972. No reference at all to the Olympic Games I think.
I really like Lillehammer 1994 and Torino 2006.

http://www.decisioncom.com/ Advertising Agency Singapore

Paris – Summer 1924: Simple and beautiful line art.
Lake Placid – Winter 1932: Reminds me of American WPA posters in the 1930s.
Tokyo – Summer 1964: One of my favorites of all the Olympic logos.
Mexico – Summer 1968: Exceptionally well thought out and designed.
Atlanta – Summer 1996: Quite like the unique colour palette for this one.

Ho Li Lin, Graphic Designer

anthony

My Favorite was Barcelona, Athens and Sydney.
The 2012 one is just plian disgusting, what the hell were they thinking? Ive seen other designs that were purposed and they are all a lot better than that.
You’ll be relieved to know however, the Rio De Janerio for 2016 looks quite nice.

amy

NYC’s candidate city 2012 logo was awesome….too bad London was chosen instead and came up with that hideosity…

chiz

The London one looks like Lisa Simpson giving someone head. Dont like it at all.

Al

London Logo is amazing. Lots of them are amazing but its so true that the format had gotten boring. The london logo brings it somewhere new. A brave choice I think.

NapoleonGSolo

If I had to choose one to wear on a patch then Lake Placid ’32 is my clear winner. But, this is the Olympics, an event of it’s time to all who attend, compete and work at the event….. memories to last a life time. In that context I think London 2012 is by no means the worst. London 48 is poor. As an advert for hope, following the war, it fails badly and looks like it was a government department product. Insbruck 76 is just a poor copy of Insbruck 64 and Lake Placid 80 looks like the logo from the municipal leisure centre. My winner is Mexico 68. I look at that and can smell the late 60′s, the sights, the sounds, and the early colour tv coverage. I think LA 84, Barca 92, Sydney 00 and Athens 04 are also good examples of logos that combine an ‘of their time’ quality whilst reflecting something of the host country.

http://alexinapaiement.com Alexina

My favourite is the Nagano one — very fluid, and I like that they’re using several figures to represent some of the winter sports featured in the games. It’s abstract, in a way, but still retains a lot of realism to communicate what the logo is about.

I also rather like the Athens one. A nice hand-drawn touch.

Vancouver 2010 — I remember the outburst in the design community when this logo first came out. “Too many colours!” I didn’t particularly care for it at first, but it grew on me. The inukshuk is a landmark in British Columbia, and there are several Native tribes in BC alone. I cannot stress how much the Natives have suffered in Canada what with the Indian Act (1876) and so on, so for them to be represented on a grand scale for a world event was wonderful.

London 2012 — I hate it. I can’t understand it, it clashes, it’s one of those outrageously expensive abstract things (statues, paintings, etc) that people ooh and ahh over in hip highbrow shindigs. They like to instill “meaning” into it, and in this case it took a year apparently to get the logo “just right” (ha) but it’s still just abstract art that no one gets but supposedly has “meaning!”.

http://www.windtee.com Windtee

My opinion as a graphic-artist is London 2012 appears frantic, nervous, chaotic, disturbing, ugly, and obviously different. I hope it’s not a sign of things-to-come. Anyway, it’s not my personal flavor; yes, I meant flavor.

For visual-art’s sake, I’ll admit it is different, provocative, and a conversation-generator… an “example” of existing successful creations. Most folk are not art-connoisseurs and don’t care about the “science” of graphic/visual-art. I’ll assume the general-public will find the choice for London 2012… questionable.

In conclusion, the Olympic event should define the logo and hopefully… not the other way around.

Compayee

They just unveiled Rio’s logo:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/10/rio-brand-olympic-games-logos

German

The colors of London logo are correct mix, yellow is opposite to violet, so neither is relevant, but, im my oppinion those colors are for another kind of desings not for this case. My favorite is Nagano 1998

bex

I HATE the London logo. They paid a company millions to design it, when people on the street can do better for free ( in a competition maybe?). Hardly anyone here ( I live in England ) likes it. It reminds me of the SS logo and the first broadcast of it changing colour had to be pulled because it induced epileptic fits. London logo = Fail all round.

http://mojica_ricky_rance@yahoo.com kowreck

I like the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, it’s simple yet very classy. It’s timeless, the logo can still be used if Japan will hold another Olympic games. It is by far way better than the others.

39 Olympic Logos From 1924 to 2012

Paris – Summer 1924

Lake Placid – Winter 1932

Los Angeles – Summer 1932

Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Winter 1936

Berlin – Summer 1936

St. Moritz – Winter 1948

London – Summer 1948

Oslo – Winter 1952

Helsinki – Summer 1952

Cortina d’Ampezzo – Winter 1956

Melbourne / Stockholm – Summer 1956

Squaw Valley – Winter 1960

Rome – Summer 1960

Innsbruck – Winter 1964

Tokyo – Summer 1964

Grenoble – Winter 1968

Mexico – Summer 1968

Sapporo – Winter 1972

Munich – Summer 1972

Innsbruck – Winter 1976

Montreal – Summer 1976

Lake Placid – Winter 1980

Moscow – Summer 1980

Sarajevo – Winter 1984

Los Angeles – Summer 1984

Calgary – Winter 1988

Seoul – Summer 1988

Albertville – Winter 1992

Barcelona – Summer 1992

Lillehammer – Winter 1994

Atlanta – Summer 1996

Nagano – Winter 1998

Sydney – Summer 2000

Salt Lake City – Winter 2002

Athens – Summer 2004

Turin – Winter 2006

Beijing – Summer 2008

Vancouver – Winter 2010

London – Summer 2012

	Yes, they're great for usability.
	No, they remind me of frames.
	Fixed what?

39 Olympic Logos From 1924 to 2012

Paris – Summer 1924

Lake Placid – Winter 1932

Los Angeles – Summer 1932

Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Winter 1936

Berlin – Summer 1936

St. Moritz – Winter 1948

London – Summer 1948

Oslo – Winter 1952

Helsinki – Summer 1952

Cortina d’Ampezzo – Winter 1956

Melbourne / Stockholm – Summer 1956

Squaw Valley – Winter 1960

Rome – Summer 1960

Innsbruck – Winter 1964

Tokyo – Summer 1964

Grenoble – Winter 1968

Mexico – Summer 1968

Sapporo – Winter 1972

Munich – Summer 1972

Innsbruck – Winter 1976

Montreal – Summer 1976

Lake Placid – Winter 1980

Moscow – Summer 1980

Sarajevo – Winter 1984

Los Angeles – Summer 1984

Calgary – Winter 1988

Seoul – Summer 1988

Albertville – Winter 1992

Barcelona – Summer 1992

Lillehammer – Winter 1994

Atlanta – Summer 1996

Nagano – Winter 1998

Sydney – Summer 2000

Salt Lake City – Winter 2002

Athens – Summer 2004

Turin – Winter 2006

Beijing – Summer 2008

Vancouver – Winter 2010

London – Summer 2012

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