Readers of this blog will know that I love national branding and Olympic logos. Well, the 2016 finalist cities were announced recently, and so I figure it’s my time to critique the logos for each bid.

Let’s get right into it:

Chicago’s logo, in spite of being their own silver medal choice, is still pretty sharp in my eyes. It represents the two most iconic features of Chicago, the skyscrapers and the lake. I don’t mind a gradient-based logo, like many in the design field, but I’ll be interested to see how this is expanded across to other media and logo systems. Not a fan of that star, I’m afraid. For a more in-depth analysis of the Chicago logo, check out the official explanation.

They came close for 2012, and this time around they’ve created a truly great logo. The hand in warm and welcoming and the bright colours not only represent the Olympics, but feel vibrant and energetic in general. I actually think this could work in other settings because it doesn’t look like “an Olympic logo”. You may remember that this logo was actually a contest. Dunno how I feel about that — hope the guy got paid.

Poor Rio, they bid pretty much every year but can never get their shit together. While this logo looks distinctively Brasilian, mainly due to it’s colour scheme, I simply don’t get it. A leaf? A butterfly? And with that poor typography, I fear this one’s a loser. That and the Olympics will never come to South America because it will be open season on tourists in terms of muggings and kidnappings and other malfeasance. Sorry.

Tokyo’s logo appears to me as the most “Olympic”, but also distinctively Japanese. Unfortunately, it doesn’t strike me as particularly modern or energetic. From a country that produces such wacky and out-of-the-box designs for everything from soup to electronics, I must say I’m a little disappointed.

Doha, Qatar is already out of the running. An Olympics in the Middle East would be interesting because you know they’d build the whole freaking city out of a desert practically overnight. In many ways, I bet it run way smoother than a European or American city where politics can be seen choking every aspect of the preparations. But that’s not the point. The logo itself: shit. Sorry, but cmon, you gotta do better. I’m sure it’s very clever how the Arabic script is turned into a flower, but this just doesn’t work.

Prague too has already missed their chance to host the games. However their logo is pleasantly well done. This logo conveys to me a sense of calm, of peace, and of relaxation. Perhaps spending a summer in central Europe is just what this world needs. Do the Czech people have any distinctive iconography they could have relied on? I must confess that I know virtually nothing about those former Iron Curtain nations and their design traditions.

What’s your pick for 2016? Do you think the best logo will win the day? Remember, these are bid logos, not the official logo. After all, London’s 2012 logo didn’t appear until well after they’d won the games. I almost didn’t mention it.

// a tale of brands & branding, design, national identities
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