Olympic Sized Marketing and Design - Logos, Posters, Architecture...

The Olympics is fast approaching and whether you're an avid spectator, occasional channel hopper or think it's a complete turn off, for more than just sporting reasons, you still can't deny the sheer scale of design involved.

Everything from the medals through to logos, posters, mascots and architecture has to be planned and brought together for probably the biggest sporting event in the world. I thought I would bring together just a small portion of the design and marketing for you.

Hopefully some projects will be coming the way of small businesses for the 2012 games in London and not just reserved for the bigger firms!

The Business Network is your one-stop shop to find out how your business can get involved in London 2012, good luck.

Logos

Barcelona's logo for the 1992 Olympics is one that sticks in the mind for its' elegant brush strokes showing an athlete in full flight. Just one of many from over the years that try to grasp all that is the Olympics in one neat symbol.

Posters

The final 2 of this selection for me are by far the best for design. The Moscow poster typical of strong symbolism and the Seoul 1988 poster is just stunning. A great use of colour that is really striking.

Architecture

The building work that goes into creating an Olympic venue is just staggering and has been taken to another level in more recent times. The Helsinki Stadium below was originally built for the 1940 games but due to cancellation was not actually used until 1952.

The stadium used for the 1932 games in Los Angeles is vast and still in use today.

London 2012 Olympic Games Aquatic Centre Animation below.

Inside the 2008 Beijing Olympic Bird's Nest below.

Medals

Mascots

Not sure about the multi-coloured dog for the 1972 Olympics in Germany but the Cobi from 1992 in Spain far right is very distinguishable. Mishi the bear is from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and Hodori the tiger from the 1988 event in Seoul whilst Fuwa top left are this years official mascots representing the five rings of the Olympic movement.

Advertising

Loving this years branding for the BBC coverage of the games produced by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Based on the traditional Chinese tale Journey To The West, with the characters Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy.

One last thing to end on is the fact BMX racing is included in this years Olympics for the first time!! How good is that! Plus it looks like we have a great chance of a Gold medal in the form of Shanaze Reade.

Some great design that stands the test of time, let's hope the London 2012 games brings more of the same although the logo hasn't got us off to the best start I'm sure the talent will show through.

If you liked this post you might like to read China Design Ideas and Inspiration