In a word ... savage.
No?
How about ...primitive...crude...wild...unsophisticated?
How about ...edgy?
n.
Typophile
London 2012
This is England ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMN7Xrr_hzY
...one of the greatest countries ever of all times!
n.
I thought they were going to use Tankard's Bliss?
The font though is inspiring.
hhp
Reminds me a bit of Eskapade, which you posted about, Hrant.
Seems like Fraktur inspired fonts are becoming the next big thing.
Four years ago I thought of giving this logo the benefit of time. The pet is almost as bad. I just can't stop seeing Lisa Simpson doing something she should not be doing.
I first became aware of the current British re-style back at 1998-2002. I began noticing it first in architecture and then in civil projects such as bridges and the London Eye. I think that the 2012 Olympics are a continuation of that re-style.
Interesting to compare the overall designs philosophies/concepts of Beijing's Olympic with that of London's.
n.
@rs_donsata I know what you mean... oh Lisa Simpson, where has your innocents gone?
Savage, primitive, crude, wild or unsophisticated it might be – but it is instantly recognisable at virtually any scale, against any background, in any colour.
Proof (nearly) against the depredations of sponsors, partners Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.
It isn’t pretty, but it does the job extremely well, the more I work with it the more impressed I am.
Tim
Ya me too Tim, I'm totally impressed. Bold stuff indeed, yet with a prudent functionality.
I'm wondering what the 2012 Olympic way finding signage will be rendered in?
n.
If they don't use Hague's font it will be yet more proof that the UK is going down.
hhp
I have mixed feelings. When I first saw the logo I didn't even recognize it as "2012", I briefly thought it was an abstract icon of an athlete. Still don't love it, but I admire the designers' willingness to be bold and do something different and controversial.
Another great example of how 'structural' London 2012 has become is this report of what is being policed and banned. For instance, the use of these words:
C) The Banned Words.
The Olympics legislation bans the use by unauthorised businesses (non-sponsors) of 'controlled representations', depending on the context. This is the list of 'controlled representations':
The Olympic Symbol (the five interlocking rings)
The Olympic Motto (Citius Altius Fortius' / 'Faster Higher Stronger'
Olympic (s)
Olympiad (s)
Olympian (s)
The Paralympic Symbol (the three 'agitos')
The Paralympic Motto ('Spirit in Motion')
Paralympic (s)
Paralympiad (s)
Paralympian (s)
London
Games
Summer
Two thousand and twelve
2012
Twenty Twelve
Medals
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Sponsors
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain-flooded-with-bran...
Britain flooded with 'brand police' to protect sponsors
n.
You know this was all started by the US in '84, right? (I know because I was there.)
hhp
I did not know that. Did you compete?
n.
Yes, in the mixed-doubles luge, with Brigitte Nielsen.
hhp
I remember that, Hrant! Congratulations on your silver.
At least I think I remember that. I was 12 at the time.
It might have been an episode of Knight Rider.
I was confident of coming out on top, but in luge weight is critical, and Gill's own Great Dane was a hair larger.
hhp
"Yes, in the mixed-doubles luge, with Brigitte Nielsen."
Impossible as usual. LA84 was summer games, so you must mean mixed-doubles luge tennis, then a non-medal sport that ruined the grass courts and the Harrow Club
New Johnston, specifically the Transport for London, Monotype, version NJFont Signing is used for much of the English wayfinding, the French is NJFont Book. And is appearing on any surface in London (and the UK) from now.
Tim
@hrant – And Brigitte's streamlining didn't help? Oh, well, you can always try for success through modelling.
>I was confident of coming out on top, but in luge weight is critical, and Gill's own Great Dane was a hair larger.
hhp
Cool! Sorry hrant, but I must have been stoned or something 'cause I don't remember '84 all that much.
Training with Brigg must have been wayyyyyyyyyyy more fun than your Olympian climax considering time trials and all. And besides, as we all know, when Gill is at the top of his game his technique is second to none.
No shame in that.
n.
Thanks timd , I was kind of hoping that event site's way finding signage would be rendered in the London 2012 Olympic font.
So, I guess when clarity is needed/demanded fashionable fonts/letter shapes are relegated to display signage only ...sigh.
n.
A security poster in Arabic associated with the Olympics has been rendered unreadable, apparently due to a font substitution:
"However, our supplier substituted one font for another so that the wrong alphabet was used for the Arabic message, rendering it meaningless."
No, the wrong ethnic group was used. For the whole thing.
Related (actually more like inbred):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7702913.stm
hhp
You know: London is ONE swinging place.
The first time I'm in the Tube, there are signs everywhere which say "Way Out," and then they point the way out to the way out stuff.
Which pretty much reinforces what I said in the first place…
Watched the archery team competition yesterday at Lords, the eventual winners Italy had, at first glance, Comic Sans on their shirts, binoculars revealed Chalkduster in all its “glory”.
http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/gold-success-for-italian-archers...
This is never a stylish look, they looked better on the podium.
Tim
I like the way the swimmers are introduced, walking out against a snazzy graphic backdrop, stopping to pose briefly in their cool threads (the US dusters are awesome!) and goggles, with their names behind them (in Gareth’s font). But AFAIK, they don't have their fave beats playing, like hockey players (was it?) in the all-star game.
I should get a setup like that for my front door.
The font on the French Men's Basketball jerseys looks real nice. Not sure what it is.
Hardly about design at all, but the funniest thing I've seen for ages.
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Olympic 2012 well organized by London. Awe-sum opening ceremony. I liked it...
Watch this if you are able.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01f87nh
Especially the catastrophisation episode.
Tim
@Ryan : it's a bespoke typeface by French type designer Christophe Badani for the French Federation of Basketball : http://www.typophage.com/actualites/44-fontes-exclusives/209-typographie...
"A place of mud, illiteracy, embarrassing diseases...."
Oh, and thanks, Frank.
London 2012 is shaping up to be really awesome super special.
In a time when there is very little groovn' up the folks back home in the U.S.A. their Olympic athletes are coiming up big against their main foreign debt holder ... China. And already there's been many Olympic records shattered, especially in the pool.
I can't wait for the dust to settle after this weekend, there's a couple dozen gold medals up for grabs now that the track is open.
Thank God for women's beach volleyball.
I keep up to speed here ... http://www.london2012.com/
n.
That Boris speech is brilliant John.
Sure, it's hot to watch the women, be it in the sand or track'n'field. But I still gotta wait two years more for my favourite disciplines in an Olympic setting: Biathlon and cross-country.
Paradoxically, to me the Winter Olympics is hotter.
hhp
A nice timeline:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/olympic-powers
hhp
Coolio timeline!
Interesting to note averaging the American's post WWII performance, very consistent. Another interesting note is when drug testing became the street cred of a nation's performance ;)
And does a nation's size in terms of population matter? I've been waiting for India to step it up...
n
What's "interesting" is how US media flip-flops on how to show the country ranking (number of golds, versus total medals) depending on what would put the US on top; I've personally seen it change from day to day. A tactic reminiscent of its Cold War arch-enemies.
And actually interesting, from last time:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7576446.stm
Armenia is in there, twice. But this time we're doing very poorly.
hhp
Even on the official London 2012 website I've seen the countries one day ranked by golds and then the next day ranked by total medals, I think there must be something ICO about it for the listing to be publicly published.
GO ARMENIA GO!
n.
The official stuff is always golds-first.
Contrast these two:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/medals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/historical-medals-beijin...
Is ten more medals overall really better than 15 more golds? Denial only accelerates decline.
But hey, your cheer worked! :-)
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/08/05/armenian-athletes-win-silver-an...
hhp
Don't you have homework to do, Mr. Papazian?
Am I the only one annoyed that athletes names in 2012 STILL are not displayed with correct diacritics? Not to mention arbitrarily cut off and forced into a Western name order. How hard is it in the age of unicode and near-infinite storage to get this right?
Apparently it's Type 2 Impossible (I Don't Wanna Do It!). For the record, Type 1 Impossible is "Never Seen It Happen Before". Other types of Impossible are believed Rare or even Extinct.
Birdseeding, that would be awesome especially the arabic names.
n.
That guy is Iranian:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aegir/7712232780/
hhp
Oh, actually in that screenshot they've actually got the correct name order for the Korean dude. Which makes "Krisztian Pars" (instead of Pars Krisztián) all the more mystifying.
n.
n.
>Western name order
I suppose it would depend on where you see the names, I have seen Korean and Chinese athletes’ names in their preferred order on scoreboards, shirts and television captions.
As for use of diacritics I am convinced there are IOC rules for the presentation of names – there are rules for virtually everything else, all wayfinding within a stadium or the Olympic Park has to be bilingual (French and English are the two official languages of the Olympics), but as soon as you step out of the stadium only English is required for LOCOG wayfinding. You would not believe how complex the guidelines for some of the wayfinding was/is.
Tim
It bothers me that the logo is unevenly spaced and furthermore that the atletes' names are simply printed on what looks like A4, sometimes in very condensed Futura, all in caps. Also, those blue standing charts are awful!!! All caps, very rottenly spaced, all caps. Why??? I also noticed a really oldfashioned score board with red LEDs. When the OG cost so much, couldn't they afford a nice huge hi-res screen?
Free styln' the ampersand!
n.
I didn't know they let decapitated corpses into the olympics.
Many of the events are pretty mindless.
hhp
London Bridge is falling down.
On a positive note, It is enlightening to know that I spent a great deal of my indolent youth training for the Olympics...
@hrant – Well, the OL are not a Youth Association event, so we won't see pancake baking, flower IDing or skill runs on the list, more's the pity.
Just reminded me of some anon's saying: "The '-do' is a '-jutsu' gone to the Olympics."
The amazing Kate Moss doing her thing along side the almost as amazing Olympic cauldron during the closing ceremonies!
Check out all that typography in the background... :)
n.
George Michael performing his mega hit Freedom! Closing ceremonies were awesome!!
London 2012 will live forever.
n.
Well , I think the logo will be recognisable for a long time, although not attractive by any standards, it is striking.
http://www.sportslogos.net/league.php?id=27
Tim
Captured from commoncrawl.org on 28 Apr 2015. original URL