Olympic Design #2

original logo on left, redesigned on the right; design by VSA Partners

Almost a year ago, the city of Chicago unveiled its Olypmic applicant city identity. It was welcomed with rare fanfare from the design community. Smart, surprising and sophisticated were all regular compliments. In May of 2007, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) changed the rules of the bidding process for cities, with one clause stating that city logos "shall not contain the Olympic symbol, the Olympic motto, the Olympic flag, any other Olympic-related imagery [such as] flame, torch, medal, etc." Back to the drawing board.

VSA Partners, who had designed the identity pro-bono originally, and would do it again for version 2.0. And finding a replacement for the torch would be no easy task. The logo needed to feel the same, convey the same ides, and capture the same elements of the previous one. It's one of the worst positions to be in as a designer due to the expectations that were already succesfuly met. The resulting logo, unveiled this week, proved lightning can strike twice!

The new logo retains the basic construct of the old icon — a blue-to-green gradient on the bottom, representing the lakes and the parks, and a red-to-yellow gradient on the top, representing the skyline of the city — and integrates one of the few victory- and hope-related elements that the IOC has not deemed inappropriate or off-limits, a star.

See a further explanation of the logo and its elements here.