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Now that the 2012 London Olympics logo has been released into wild, only to spread impromptu protests and full blown epileptic seizures, I’ve come to admire the level of controversy this simple design has appreciated with such short-lived exposure.

My knee-jerk reaction to it was probably very similar to the reaction of a lot of other people.

Yuck.

But, I have to admit, having investigated the designers’ intent and observing the public’s caustic reactions to it daily, my interest has been intellectually peaked. This happened in spite of the fact that in just about every visual sense, I’m appalled–particularly by the garish disorder of it all (I’ll also admit that it took me a full day to register that it reads “2012″).

In fact, the four fragmented planes may very well represent the four different ways I read the design.

• The design nerd in me calls it as he sees it. Garbage. A total trainwreck of geometry. No fluidity or elegance.
• The usability nerd in me has no appreciation for it, and for all intents and purposes, never will. Ick. Aesthetics. But he does wonder at what level it was developed to speak to a certain “persona” and if he (meaning me) is in fact a “statistical anomoly” outside of that segment. If only he and the brand nerd were on speaking terms.
• The brand nerd in me may know a few more things than the others. Then again, maybe not. He knows it’s a risk, but a risk with a potentially good payoff. Yes, he knows that it was designed to appeal to a younger audience. And what could appeal to youth culture more than pissing off mom and dad? In any event, this is the first time in many years that brand nerd has paid any attention to an Olympic logo.
• The art nerd in me remembers that people don’t always appreciate new ideas and new forms of expression. When someone tells him, “That can’t be art. I could do that!” he knows it’s a total tell for pedestrian thinking. And it makes him sad for a second, until he remembers that he can still create whatever the fuck he wants and elevate it to the level of art.

Wait a second… Nope. I just looked up. Still garbage.

Truthfully, I think there’s more to this argument. But I should probably wait and see if anybody else in there still has an opinion.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 7th, 2007 at 10:13 pm and is filed under brand identity, design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.