Vancouver 2010 Mascots Revealed
Every Olympic Games needs a mascot, right? Well the Canadians have come through with their adorable new ambassadors for the 2010 Winter Games. And boy are they cute!
From a post on Dexigner comes a bit more info (in the form of a run-on sentence) about the mascots’ origin:
Designed by the Vancouver-based company Meomi Design, Miga, Quatchi and Sumi were inspired by local Aboriginal mythological creatures and also strongly influenced by popular culture, modern animation styles, the Olympic and Paralympic Movements, the culture and wildlife of British Columbia and Canada, and the artists’ own imagination.
Check out the mascots in action at the official Vancouver 2010 site »
What I find most striking about the Canadian mascots is how simple they are. The flatness and limited colour scheme for each makes me wonder if they didn’t originate as a Flash animation, or at least with reproduction and versatility in mind. Compare them with the Beijing 2008 mascots, which are clever and cute in their own regard but with much greater intricacy, and the 2010 ones looks more modern, friendly, and approachable. If that isn’t an alegory for global social-politics, I don’t know what is.
FYI, Miga is not a penguin, but rather a ‘sea bear’. I have to say, she did remind me, at first glance, of our old friend Chilly Willy.
Chilly Willy the Penguin
As you’ll recall, I talk a fair amount about the design and branding of the Olympics, such as here and here.
// a tale of brands & branding, national identities
// 2 Comments »
// 29 November 2007, 05:09
[...] The result…not one, but three cartoon characters which upon later discovery, reminded me of some overly happy Nintendo character/Monchichi cross. Or if you’re Perez Fox, maybe Chilly Willy the Penguin. [...]
// 09 July 2008, 11:35
[...] since that time, and have even multiplied. Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympiad will feature 3 mascots, while Beijing is checking in with 5! (Funny story about the Beijing mascots, they were recently [...]