ICM - Leeds Design Agency

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.