No Small Plans

The Chicago 2016 Summer Olympics organizing committee has unveiled a new logo. The previous design, beloved by graphic designers (and here, I'll add) for its elegant depiction of the city's skyline as a stylized Olympic torch--its buildings the flame, and the waters of Lake Michigan the torch; the city and the lake reflecting onto each other--was actually illegal per the International Olympic Committee's graphic standards for candidate cities:

The city's bid to host the 2016 Olympics took on a new look Wednesday with the unveiling of a revised logo that features the six-pointed Chicago star that adorns the city's flag. Gone is the Olympic-style torch (left, below), a design no-no for applicant cities under strict Olympics rules.

Noting that stars serve as guiding lights and as symbols of athletic greatness, Mayor Richard Daley told an auditorium full of schoolchildren, "This logo will become a great symbol of hope for our city and our nation, as we work together to seek the privilege of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

The white star is set against bands of color, the staggered yellow top meant to represent the city's skyline and architecture, the red center symbolizing passion for sport, the emerald green below that evoking the city's parks and the blue at the bottom symbolizing the lake. The points are meant to represent hope, respect, harmony, friendship, excellence and celebration.

Below: logos old and new.

   

Compare with London's 2012 approach, here.

Chicago schoolchildren explain some of the more unwieldy aspects of the logo--the parts about "excellence" and "harmony"--in a video:

Nevertheless, it's cool that the logo is fundamentally architectural. It evokes a place-specific relationship between urban form and water, where the extreme vertical meets the extreme horizontal--at the lakefront, the city's defining geographic feature. The other threshold described in the logo is that between buildings and sky, which is absolutely fitting in the birthplace of the skyscraper. Even the organizing committee's slogan quotes Daniel Burnham.

Below, Chicago's Olympic Stadium, as currently envisioned for Washington Park.

Comments

[Sonia]

Chicago rocks.

[Ken]

As a lifelong citizen of Chicago, I pray that we do not get the Olympics. Chicago has a crumbling transit system, underfunded public schools, and an appalling lack of affordable housing.These are the problems that my ridiculous property tax increases should be going towards, not a party that only Mayor Lazy and his corrupt friends will benefit from.

[Grame Smith]

Place your logo on your website, letterhead, brochure office building, in advertisements, on flyers,
and anywhere potential customers can be found.