A while ago I wrote a blog about Aicher’s pictogram work for Munich 72, I thought I’d follow it up with another classic year for Olympic graphic design which was Mexico 68, the logo was created by US designer Lance Wyman. His concept was radical – it hinted at Op Pop while embracing the vernacular visual culture of the host city – and, like London 2012, it was essentially a graphic stamp, rather than a traditional image with accompanying city name, rings and year.
Lance had this to say about the London 2012 design.
“My gut feeling though is to give the logo a chance, he continues. “It has a recognizable, brash character and might offer an open book of application possibilities that will keep it fresh into 2012.
“I remember, in the early stages of designing of the Mexico Olympic program, a Swiss journalist commented that the Mexico 68 logo didn’t work because it wasn’t very legible. It really frightened me but I knew what we had in mind and stuck with it.”
One of the main issues when designing the Mexico 68 logo, tickets and information boards was Language. Problems associated with guiding and informing participants and the general public were minimized through the use of concise Olympic symbology.
Below is a ticket from Mexico 68 and this is a brilliant example of how pictograms can replace words and be understood by all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ticket with so few words on.
The simple graphical style was put to good use on a variety of other applications.
Some of us do it when we’re on the phone, some of us do it in meetings, some of us don’t do it all, and some of us can’t stop doing it.
Obviously I’m talking about doodling; that little creative pasttime that some of us can’t help but do. To celebrate the nation’s greatest doodles and doodlers you can now take part in National Doodle Day this Friday the 5th March.
National Doodle Day is all about putting pen to paper while raising money to help people affected by epilepsy and neurofibromatosis.
So what is a doodle?
Doodles may be shapes, patterns, drawings or scribbles – anything we produce in an idle moment while the focus of our attention is elsewhere. It’s amazing how creative we can be without even trying! Strangely, doodles seem to take shape of their own accord, as if they had a life of their own in a parallel world. So you may suddenly find a circled word transformed into a sun beaming down on a desert island, punctuation turned into arrows or flowers, or a lover’s name emerging bold as brass from a memo.
Why do people doodle?
Doodling has been defined as ‘to scribble or draw aimlessly, to play or improvise idly’. The word ‘play’ is interesting because we now know that play helps children deal with situations they find difficult. For example, playing ‘doctors and nurses’ can help a child cope with anxiety relating to illness.
When you are on automatic pilot and only half attending to what you are doing, you may find yourself thinking of something that has been at the back of your mind. Underlying preoccupations surface and, before you know it, take shape as doodles. Doodling maps the wandering of your mind as you plan a new venture, worry about money, or dream of a lover or holiday. At an unconscious level this seemingly aimless pastime may actually be helping people sort out their problems.
Doodles are like fragments of a map that shows how someone’s mind works.
Comedian, Jim Moir, better known as Vic Reeves is one of my favourite doodlers. Here’s one of his creations:
Hundreds of celebrities have contributed to National Doodle Day, you can see their entries here.
Over the next few days we’ll be doodling here at ICM, maybe some of those doodles will make it onto the blog…
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