It's not early. Almost as soon as the 2012 Olympics are over, some efforts at publicizing the 2016 Olympics will begin, even if major advertising efforts will take place closer to the actual date of the competition - starting at least in 2015, so people can book hotel rooms and the like.

some publicity for dalton maag's work after all :)

I think it's pretty nice.
Not the post-rationalization though. :-)

hhp

Is it April 1 already?

Are ligatures of numerals included?

Sexy, and much more sexy than Lisa Simpson going downtown — as well as all of those British letters made with electrical tape. Congrats to Brazil for getting the Olympic font off the Fast Company 10 Worst Fonts list.

The London logo I can't stand, but Hague's font is nothing short of brilliant, on more than one level. Stay tuned for an article on this by yours truly.

hhp

Splendid work! So many alternates, and none of them superfluous. This exhaustive way of designing is what draws the line between good and bad typography.

http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/rio2016font

I see an ampersand has gone up on the getting to know part of the site, I don’t really get sexy though – it does look better in use on the hanging banner than as all caps though. The logo is a bit mmmnnn, a touch too much BT.

I’m very impressed with this typeface, but not as a work commissioned for the Olympics.

Sorry, but the (albeit lovely) bounce of this type design really doesn’t reflect the discipline and rigor involved in athletic training and competition. Although a few sports/games do have elements of freestyle.

Would it not be possible to write a PR release free of bullshit?

Let’s face it, this represents the international tourism cliché of Brazil, it’s a Mardi Gras carnival font.

Just substitute “dance” for “sport” and “dancer” for “athlete” in the PR, and it makes perfect sense. That can’t be right, sport isn’t dance.

Nick, the money comes from the spectators, so the font is for the spectators, not the athletes, and watching the Olympics hasn't been about discipline and rigor for quite a number of years now. Now it's just a great vacation or a decent staycation; I've done the former in Barcelona and the latter in LA, and there was nothing strenuous about them! Offhand I can only think of the 24 Hours of Le Mans as being strenuous for spectators.

Would it not be possible to write a PR release free of bullshit?

The spinners getting this sort of thing financed would be out of a job without it. Consider all the "anchor" and "upward movement" BS involved in the selling of the new Turkish Lira symbol (which I actually find quite decent of itself). Just go with the flow, and focus on the actual font.

hhp

I thought the money came from the corporate sponsors? Which means all future fonts should be very conservative-yet-comprehensive multifamilies with a serious look.

In the end the ones forking over the dough with zero "return on investment" (because it's not an investment, it's just buying stuff) are the consumers, buying cable coverage, airfare, t-shirts, etc. That's where the sponsors get the money that they spend on the event (and of course they keep a big chunk of it).

hhp

I think of the Olympics as an event, and not as a 'local happening'. I guess in its purest state the Olympics were once upon a time marketed as being all about athletic achievement. And to me - having spent a lifetime in sport - I feel that this go 'round in London is bang on the money.

Everything about the 2012 Olympic event is raw to the bone. The sites, the font, the logo, the army, the ground to air missile launch sites, the brand police, even the local issue of traffic control is raw to the bone, mean, nasty stuff. It all competes in harmony with the force an any of the Olympic athletes.

Brazil 2016 seems to be more about a temporal event place - interpretation - disassociated from the Olympic competitions brute force energy. Brazil 2016 might just turn out to be a like a smoothie you'd buy at the local convenience store.

n.

Just because no one can mention Olympic branding without reminding me of this, here it is again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-t707wAfk

They should have got Ale Paul to do this, but I suppose he's Argentine, not Brazilian I'd love to live in Brazil. Someone who grew up there told me it is like insanely dangerous there. Could a 34 year old gringo survive there? Anybody know?

Before getting too far ahead

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/

@John
another forthcoming olympic branding: a tulip fish eating up İstanbul http://www.istanbul2020.com.tr/index.html plus a splendid type in the olympic spirit …

http://typographica.org/on-typography/a-fruitful-discomfort-the-face-of-...

hhp