On the 23rd floor of a modern high rise is the brain power responsible for creating the brand awareness of the upcoming London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This morning the students of Chapman University had the fortune of hearing some of the big picture plans that are in place for these upcoming Olympics.
Current progress of the Olympic stadium, still under construction.
Yasmine Raffoul shared with us the rules put in place to maintain the integrity of the brandmark as well, as their paced roll-out of campaign materials, weekend events and newsworthy bits to keep the citizens of England engaged with the process of the games coming to their country.
Wenlock and Mandeville, the mascots for the 2012 Games
In addition, we learned more about the two mascots developed for these Games. Initially several agencies came to LOCOGO to pitch their ideas about an Olympic mascot. Big agencies - some with heavy backgrounds in toy development. And, some of the initial concepts were typical objects found in and around London; tea pots, London cabs and even a pigeon. Fortunately none of those were selected. The agency who won the contract had put together a focus group of children - who easily identified with these two characters. Each are designed of a shiny metallic surface to reflect what they’ll be learning on their journey as they travel around England, learning about sport. The single eye acts as a camera to record their learnings and neither actually speak. They squeak and whir allowing for the children to use their imaginations to speculate on their conversations. Their names come from historic references of two men; one who was responsible for starting what we now know as the modern Olympics (Wenlock) and the other who started the Paralympics (Mandeville).
It was very interesting to learn that the games are being managed, in terms of campaign roll-out, much like politics. London is the first city to introduce their brandmark as early as they have, and they are trying to slowly build messaging and awareness campaigns - so not to over saturate or peak too early. Which would dilute the value of the brand and the enthusiasm for the Games.
So in this weeks’ assignment, the students are to create a communications campaign that celebrates on of the lesser known sports in the London Games. By this we mean that they can’t select swimming, track & field or gymnastics. Their campaigns need to make the public aware of that specific sport - and ideally, encourage a younger audience to want to participate.
They’ll be presenting their ideas on Friday, up on the 23rd floor.
Eric Chimenti and myself in the lobby of London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
We just finished our first week in London, where the students were to develop an outdoor monument celebrating the athletes of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
On Monday, the students heard about the planning and details that went into the masterplan of the Olympic Park - as well as the big ideas for the Legacy Plan of that same site, as it gets built out over the next 30 to 40-years.
The students were divided up into three work teams - each presenting their own concepts to our group. The balance of our week was spent refining a single concept from each team that would be presented to EDAW/AECOM on Friday.
A trip to The Design Museum midweek allowed for them to recharge their batteries and continue working on their presentations.
Thursday evening became a LATE Thursday evening as last minute polishing of designs and presentations took place. Nevertheless, Friday mornings’ results proved that their time spent was well worth it. Our three teams each presented their conceptual designs to EDAW - and received great feedback on both their design ideas and their presentation ability.
When the presentations were completed, the students were able to ask questions about how graphic designers fit into a firm like EDAW/AECOM and how the company valued its importance.
It’s now our 3rd day in London – and my first opportunity for communication. Indeed, Mind The Gap.
This year’s Chapman University trip has started off much better than expected in terms of my students, their efforts to create good, solid communication design solutions and the added help I have with Eric Chimente, Department Head for Chapman’s Design School. Our only hiccup has been the access to the internet – which we rely on heavily for general communication with clients, family and our ability to continue working while here in London.
The students began their designing their first week, while we were still at the University. I had assigned them to create an INFILL campaign using the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics logo. We had them begin by sketching big idea concepts, and then refining them to a single campaign that would either speak to tourism of London or the encouragement of sport. They performed beyond expectation in both their design solutions and their presentations. For me, it made me breathe a bit easier knowing that they would proudly represent Chapman University. After all, last year’s Uni students set the bar high in their presentations to the design firms that we will be visiting on our trip.
Saturday’s travels were as travel days are; tiring. Nevertheless, we did our best to get out and see a bit of London. I drug Eric to Primrose Hill to eat at my favorite pizza restaurant: J’s. Of course, it was absolutely fantastic pizza.
Sunday, still a bit rough around the edges, the group took the bus tour around London. BTW – I hadn’t mentioned that the weather is incredibly hot – and quite humid. So we endured the heat, enjoyed the overview of the city – and headed back to the hotel to clean up and look for a place to watch the World Cup.
We found a classic English pub, not the touristy type, and settled in nicely with some traditional British eats.
I’m down to my last few hours in London, and wanted to unload some additional information that was very enlightening for myself - and I hope for the students of Chapman University.
When I initially watched the closing ceremony of the Beijing Games, and London’s presentation of their Olympic logo was revealed to the people of the world, I held my judgement - yet was a little underwhelmed when I saw the double decker bus performance.
Now that I’ve spent three weeks riding the crowded buses and Underground trains, walking thru the markets and seeing the diversity in the city’s people, food and architecture - that London performance makes perfect sense. In fact, in watching it again, I liked it even better.
I had a conversation with Allard Marx, principal brand strategist for INCIDE. We both agreed that in developing brand marks for clients - some solutions feel immediately comfortable, while others sometimes take a bit of ’sleeping on it’ to sink in and grow on you. The latter of these situations is quite often the outcome of a creative solution that is pushing boundaries. Taking people to places that might even be uncomfortable, particularly when it’s their own company’s brand mark. They tell us to take them to the “next level,” yet when it comes down to it they are quite often afraid to push those boundaries and truly take a stand to stand out.
When Wolff Olins was charged with creating a brand mark that would “shift” how we had previously been presenting the Olympic Games, they were already challenged by the issues that face a brand agency that’s to present a mark to the world. What cultures would see this logo? What languages? What religions?
No pressure, right?
Once the brand mark had been concepted, and potentially approved by the client - Wolff Olins had to present this logo to selected groups of people from various religious backgrounds, languages, age groups, etc., so that they could show them this brand mark from the front view, backwards and upside down. They would ask these groups if these shapes, or rings, or colors offended them in any way, or if they saw images in these shapes that were against their religious beliefs.
In the brand world we’re always asking clients about audience. But in THIS brand world, this one of international exposure, the Olympic logo being the most recognized brand mark, as well as the most protected brand mark in all the world. This puts a very different set of questions and rules on an agency to uncover as they develop their design solutions.
As I walked through this diverse city, and observed the people, clothing styles, languages, and those things that give London its unique flavor as a city - I grew to really embrace what this new brand mark embodies. It’s jagged edges, its wild color scheme and the ability to contain “infills” that truly represent London, sport and the Olympic Games.
I spent my last day, yesterday walking through my favorite neighborhoods. Eating at my favorite cafe and having that last pint of English ale. As I looked back on that first night in town, trying to get on to the new time zone, sirens and the noise of the city keeping me awake - and now, having made new friends and zipping around town like a local, I realized how quickly London became an easy place to fit in to. The intensity of an urban city that has its pockets of gardens to escape noises and people. Even the short train rides to the country for a real breath of fresh air. Yet this city is in an intense undertaking to build a grand park for the world to come and see - and judge - and I hope, embrace what London and it’s design community have put together.
Monday was our office visit to Buro Happold, the engineering firm who worked side-by-side with EDAW on the master plan, and legacy plan of the Olympic site. Our purpose for this visit was to expose the students to the finer aspects of professional collaborations and to gain a stronger sense of thinking, planning and designing for sustainability.
The presentation by the Buro Happold team was fantastic - along with the Q&A session that followed.
We wrapped our day with a spin around the London Eye - appropriately timed for sunset.
Yes, I went mountain biking again. But if you know me, this no surprise. This time however, when catching the train out of Victoria station, we stepped onto the wrong train. So unfortunately we ended up in some town South of London - where we realized that we’d have to catch a train back North to Clapham Junction and catch a train heading to Dorking. Our mistake put us about an hour behind schedule.
When I arrived in Dorking, I caught a black cab to Westcott - dropping me at Nirvana Cycles.
Jackie and Simon had set me up with a very nice Turner 5-spot.
Today I was riding with Chris Moore once again, and a friend of his Russ (also an architect). Today however, we were an hour behind so the pace would be a bit quicker in order to hit all the good trails.
Tucking in out of the rain...
It began to rain as we climbed our first hill, but the canopy of the trees kept us fairly dry. Within 30-minutes or so the rain had stopped and the balance of the day was perfect weather conditions.
Trail markers....well, maybe.
A nice little drop for Chris, followed by some airtime...
This was one of my favorite sections - as I'd only seen terrain like this in videos. Tight tree groupings. Winding, roller coaster single track + jumps that went between the trees. The end of this trail finishes off with a section of what we like to call "bike surfing" - controlled skidding...at it's best. Absolutely a blast!
My Turner 5-Spot - in Peaslake for a quick bite to eat.
Wending our way back to Westcott along some of the prettiest bit of track.
Our final decent into Westcott. if you look real close (left of photo) you can see that "single track" here means about 6" wide. Nice.
A shout out to my boys at Revo Cycle…you gotta get here.
Chapman Graphic Design Students at Wolff Olins London
This past week the graphic design students were given a design problem to solve; create an “infill campaign” using the 2012 London Olympics logo. They were to create a theme with this project and show how it might be used in various media throughout London. During the months of July and August, 2012, London will primarily be displaying adverts and graphics relating to the London Games. The students’ work is to represent those two months when London’s would be filled with visitors interested in exploring the Olympic site or seeing the athletic events.
Theme: artist drawn infill focusing on places of interest for visitors of London to explore during their visit.
Theme: the boroughs of London. This team focused on visitor and even locals going out to visit some of the 32 boroughs that make up the greater London area. Each borough has a unique feature that would be highlighted within the infill, and copy would support the the campaign.
Theme: I am 2012. This campaign was to encourage both young and old to embrace sport in their lives. B/W portraiture was used to illustrate everyday people in London + the sport they participated in.
Theme: This campaign utilized the abstract grid pattern that made up the 2012 logo - and created shapes of sport figures and confetti to celebrate the Games.
Theme: GO BOLD! ((Gaterade as client)). This team created a campaign for a corporate sponsor, using varied quotes that would be specific to the media it was placed on. It was to encourage you to break out of your everyday and be bold.
Theme: Banksy graffiti art and the edgy aspects of London. Using the stencil art of Bansy, this campaign speaks to a younger audience to encourage them to get outdoors and do sport.
Theme: alternative ways to watch the games. This group went out and asked local people to pose for their shots used in this campaign. The images were of people watching the games on their iPhones - which is part of the IOCs plans for the 2012 Games.
When the presentations were complete the students were critiqued by Wolff Olins - and once again the accolades were very high marks. Neil Cummings, art director, had told the students that he had never seen such polished presentations from a group of students - and Amy Horsburgh had commented equally on their verbal presentations. The suggestions from both were to have the presentations give more information about the inspirations that created these campaigns - and to be careful that the infill not be so complicated.
I was very pleased with both the students design solutions and the feedback from Wolff Olins. Next week we visit Buro Happold.
This week we had the opportunity to visit with Wolff Olins, London. They are the agency who have created the new brandmark for the 2012 London Games. As a graphic designer, I have always looked at the Olympics - and the branding of - as one of the highest achievements in our profession. It entails the creation of an icon that should last a lifetime. The ability to design the “look and feel” of an event that would be seen, and ideally embraced, on a world stage. It would need to clearly communicate to all cultures and languages. In our industry, quite possibly a legacy to leave behind.
So let’s start with a little bit of Q&A. Who are these Games for anyway? What are they supposed to represent in their ideal form? Would you agree that it is supposed to be about sport? And inspiring our youth to get involved, get outdoors or try new things?
If we look at some of the past brandmarks - it’s become a little embarrassing. Russia: seems a bit like constructivism. And what followed between 1984 to our latest Beijing Games completely seems formulaic.
1. Pretty picture on top
2. Name of event location
3. Olympic rings
Really? Are we that afraid to draw outside the lines? The agencies who get to sign the big contracts and get paid the big bucks - is this the best they can do? When you look at what Frank Gehry has done for the vocabulary of architecture, then why hasn’t the graphic design community expanded their vocabulary with similar strides?
The Olympics have become my parents’ Olympics. Corporate opportunities and sponsorships that outweigh sport or inspiring our youth.
New Rules
Enter Wolff Olins; and a brand brief that specifically asked to make a shift in how we celebrate the games. They, the client, the IOC, have also noticed the formula designs and overdone corporate aspects of the games. They’ve also noticed that cities dating back to the 1972 Games are STILL paying for the party.
Rather than building a billion dollar party space, that’s only to last 4-weeks, it was time to begin thinking in a more economically sound way. London won the Olympic bid as a result of master planning a derelict property and revitalizing it FIRST, then overlaying how an Olympic Games might fit into the new master plan. Certainly the IOC thought it worthy.
So when Wolff Olins was put to task on creating a brand mark for this event, they had some new territory to explore. Boundaries to push.
It’s one thing to create a brandmark for a company selling a product or service. You have control over everything; the print, the packaging, the multimedia. But when you’re creating a brandmark for an event, it’s a completely different set of rules. You have to be willing to give up some of that control.
In the past, these brandmarks that you see (left) were placed on products, ads and wearables like a postage stamp. Regardless if the colors clashed or the fonts didn’t work well together. The postage stamp was it. No questions, just rules.
In working out how this shift might take place, Wolff Olins looked at how they might get the key sponsors to embrace the brandmark as part of their message - part of their look and feel.
Initially they tried some of the “safe” logos; images of London’s skyline, the River Themes, etc. But they continued to push beyond the comforts of a conservative brandmark. And truly, what they have done is fantastic.
As you look at the two columns of words, note that the first column is what we have been doing with the Olympics in the past - and the second column is where we are going to make that shift the IOC was looking for. The Olympics are for PEOPLE, no longer NATIONS. It’s an attitude that should be with us EVERYDAY, not just 2 WEEKS. It’s about SPORT+, appealing to ages 5+, it will be viewed everywhere, on the STREETS, internet, phone devices, etc. And no longer is it just for the ELITE, it’s for EVERYONE.
One of the brilliant aspects of this mark was that Wolff Olins created a area of “infill.” These colored zones that you see can be replaced with an outside sponsors own brand colors and imagery - leaving the framework of the London Games still in good form. No longer will sponsors be stuck with the postage stamp add-on that muddies up their corporate look and feel, like an afterthought. They will now have messaging that will truly embrace the look and feel of the London Games and maintain their own corporate identity. The example show is Lloyds TBS. They’ve used their own colors. Adidas has also stepped up their materials by photographing athletes around London, and placing their images within the framework of the 2012 logo.
So what happens with we purposely decide the break the rules, and go against the traditions of society? We get black eyes. When the London press saw the logo for the first time, without having been given the background or viewed the lead-up presentation, they began burning crosses. And when you have a city that’s pushing the 10-million mark in population, sensationalism newspapers can truly ruin a good thing. So yes, Wolff Olin got thrown under the bus. To a point that paparazzi were camped outside the homes of the Wolff Olin Principals, waiting to photograph wives and children for a scandalous news story.
The bad press has faded. Good corporate brands have embraced the new rules and are now running toward 2012. So as we move closer to the London Games, I hope that you might look at the new rules of branding an event as Wolff Olins had done with the 2012 Olympics.
We’re into our second week in London - and we’ve just visited the Wolff Olins‘ London office. As well, we were very fortunate to have heard the history of the 2012 London Olympics brandmark presented to us by one of the key designers, Luke Gifford.
During the presentation Luke had given us an overview of the past Olympic logos along with some of the associated words that made up the brand briefs of the past. He also shared with us that the I.O.C. was looking for a “shift” in the way that the Olympics had been presented, in that they have become too predictable, and less attractive to the youth of our world.
NOW: NEXT:
NATIONS PEOPLE
2 WEEKS EVERYDAY
SPORT SPORT+
LOOKING DOING
35+ 5+
TV STREET
ELITE EVERYONE
Chapman students very engaged with the presentation
Luke then shared with us a reel of footage that really helped the students to understand the ENERGY behind the new brandmark. It was certainly a light-bulb moment for all. Luke also went on to explain about the bad press that had taken place with regard to the brand launch. He said that the London Press had sent a car to his home to take photos of his wife and children - anything for a story. It was truly unfortunate.
The tide has shifted and Londoners have embraced the new look and feel of their upcoming Games. Wolff Olin like to refer to this as BRAND NEXT. And we, well, the students are about to embark on their next problem solving exercise.
Working out which train was mine from the plethora of trains coming in and out of Victoria station
Yesterday I had the opportunity to venture outside, and took a train to the small English village of Surrey Hills. I had pre-arranged a bike hire, and brought my shoes, helmet and various gear. The only hold up that I saw was finding my way around the trails. So, as serendipity would occur, there was another guy on the train platform, fully geared up for a big days ride.
We struck up a conversation about the local mountains and talked about the differences between the riding in California vs the UK - he, having been to Scotland, Wales and England. Chris Moore, ironically enough an architect, offered to bring me along with he and his mate who were bound to ride for the day.
After picking up my bike and gearing up we rode to the next village to pick up his mate, Chris #2, also an architect. The weather, although grey and drizzling, was perfect temperature for riding, and the thick cover of trees took care of keeping us fairly dry.
Chris taking in some fresh air
The trails were mostly single track - my favorite (as compared to some of the compulsory fire road we have back home). But the real difference of this experience was the amount of green throughout the ride. Winding little bits of single track meandered through thick forests of ferns - fern that were 4 to 5 high. Then the trail would open up to a glen of trees, where the bike path dodged in and out of the forest. Occasionally we would pass by an open field of golden grass - contrasting to the dark greens that we had been riding through.
THIS is what I mean by really green single track...
Taking a quick break after a climb - preparing for a good run thru the trees
As usual, the rides usually begin with the uphill climbs, followed my a myriad of downhill fun. This was no different - with the exception of the absolute beauty in which I was riding in.
This was a place we stopped for a cuppa tea - yeah, castle-like structure, on the top of a mountain, in the midst of...no where? They promised me that on a good weather day, the views were spectacular.
About 3/4 into our day, we pulled into the very little town of Peaslake. The picture below pretty much shows you what’s there; a bus shelter and a small market to pick up sandwiches - perfect for re-fueling.
The village of Peaslake
A favorite spot to grab a bite to eat
The boys...
We rode a bit more - a few more hill climbs, and a racey bit of single track that they referred to as Telegraph. By now the drizzle was falling with more vigor, but our ride was nearly complete. We ended up at a small village pub; The Volunteer, and grabbed a pint before heading back to town. Of course, heading back to town meant one more opportunity to climb a small grade and race down some single track with stunning panoramic views.
The field to the right provided some great views
Like this...
We took our pints outside, as we were probably not the best guests to be hanging around inside the pub - particularly after a full days ride.
Our last bit of track as we head back to Dorking to return my bike. I only fell twice...banged up my knee a bit, and yeah, I'm going to blame it on the equipment. Regardless of riding that mid-level, ridged tail, riding with Chris and Chris through such great landscape outweighed all of that.
I grabbed as many photos as I could. This being a difficult task with most of us mountain bikers. If you’d stop every time you saw something inspiring, you might never get to put in the ride that you were looking for.
I hope you enjoy.
PS - if you’d like to get an idea of what we were riding, take a look at this YouTube video:click here
