Warning... This logo could be dangerous to your health!

I Posted on AdHurl yesterday about all the shit hitting the fan when the new London Olympics logo was revealed while I was in London... No don't blame me, blame Wolff Ollins who took a year to come up with it and scammed the Olympic Committee out of $800,000 for the job. Not only does just about everyone in the UK hate it - They've started a petition to get rid of it and in the first couple of days they've got about 50,000 signatories. What's even funnier is that the animated version used on TV and websites has started triggering epileptic fits - OK, it's not funny if you're an epileptic, but that's just me. William Hill, Britain's biggest bookmaker is now laying odds on when it will be scrapped. Trust the Brit's, crazier fucking gamblers than the Chinese. What you have to love though is the shit that came out of Lord Seb Coe's mouth when he launched it last week... "This is the vision at the very heart of our brand. It will define the venues we build and the games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world. It is an invitation to take part and be involved." Fuck, it's just a fucking logo. Not a cure for cancer, and definitely not for epilepsy. This guy could make a killing in a BDA.

Guess who heads up Wolff Olins? 

Comments

[kypar]

If you look at it when your on acid it makes perfect sense. LOL

[popgoestheweasel]

George you old fart, what we've got to do is this: pick three shapes at random (any old shit will do), add in a DASH of color. What say you to red, blue and white? Seems in keeping with Cool Brittania, so why not), P'raps swish in a tad of a swish, a'la Nike, add a bit o' type, some Olympic rings and t'dah! Wollop! One new logo for London's Olympics, that'll be five hundred grand Sir Seb, if you'd se so kind, an make that cash, and Sterling on account of the exchange rate being shite. We'd need two LARGE suitcases for the moolah, and we could sign a waiver saying we'd never darken their door again as long as they left us the fuck alone and blamed Pentagram if the great British public cared not one jot for our labours! I'm all packed, and I can meet you at JFK on the morrow. We could cobble some bollocks together on the plane, anything will do, as is evident by this so called logo. And what is Seb Coe smoking these days? Really, I have no idea what the nation is coming to. Cheers you old sod! Here's wossname in yer dodad.

[the lower depths]

hey pop...aren't you over-endeavoring to be british a tad?

c'mon, come clean, you're from Missoula, Miss., right?

[popgoestheweasel]

Lower Depths, I can sink much, much lower and I've never been to Missisippi ... or however you spell it: too many mossies, and alas, sorry to burst yer bubble but tis true: British through and through dear boy ... and Irish as well, which means I show my feelings, now ... do bugger off and earn yer daily bread while us retirees count our cash for the lap dancers, there'a a good chap! ;) Here's mud pie in yer eye!

[makethelogobigger]

Scam is right. 800K? Damn. And whodda ever thought a bad Olympic logo would overshadow Beckham’s return to England’s national team?

[thelowerdepths]

o.k. pop... you're a limey sod... done and dusted, but before i go toil in the salt mines again (thank god it's friday! and i'm an atheist!) i do want to comment on that travesty of a "brand effort"...

in my real life, as opposed to this second life (sorry george, had to slip that in) i am an awarded and published senior level designer/art director and i have to say that if anyone on any team i was on suggested ANYTHING that looked as lame as that colorforms project above, i would have asked them to get back to their regular duties in the mailroom and leave the concepting to the seasoned vets in the room.

now, i know all the arguments for forward facing, conceptual layout and design. but time and place, for the love of all that's sane... cutting some architectural shapes and painting them magenta for a historically rich association like the Olympics seems to be a great diservice to both the client and the event.

all fine and well to contemporize, but for the English audience, not the Klingons in the crowd.

[popgoestheweasel]

Lower Depths,

As a Limey Sod, I agree wholeheartedly. In MY other life I am a creative director, winner of a few awards, yada, yada, yada, and if any of MY staff had proposed the magenta afterbirth put forward by Wolf Ollins, I'd have foregone the mailroom and simply had the buggers bullwhipped. No, scratch that, I'D be doing the bull whipping.

In my stained, tattered and dog eared book, the Olympics is the holy grail of design jobs: do it right and you'll be remembered for all the best reasons. Fuck it up and you're toast. My response to Wolf Ollins malange of piss poor shapes in magenta? What utter bollocks! Happy Friday, here's mud in yer eye.

[n]

Don't any of you see the tie in with the paralympics?

I'm not anything professional and as employable as Julie, I guess. But even I noticed that. As for the Olympics, my hero was always Mark Spitz. I guess maybe my hero should really be his coach, Doc Counsilman. Please look up the definition of amateur, as he defined it and maybe you will see what old people remember of Olympics. Those under 30 have logos to remember more than anything.

[popgoestheweasel]

"Don't any of you see the tie in with the paralympics?"

Er? No.

And please tell the story of amateurs as per the Doc Counsilman's definition to save us geriatrics having to look the bleedin' thing up, tah very much. And "those under 30"? My dear, try thosae under 130 and you'll be closer to my mark. Now, go and look up Mark McCormack on my old mucker, Alistair Cooke's "Letter from America", then, come back here and let's talk about logos, and advertising, and not Mark Spitz, cos he's a swimmer, not a designer. Cheers and here's mud in your swimming pool eye!

[n]

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=5997

Broken and bent,
spoken and spent
A cafe rhyme
Ten pennies a dime

Ten cent

Sent tense

many a penny

for your

bought thought.

And Mark Spitz was the perfect design for Doc Counsilman's coaching. His mind just needed a tweak after the Mexico Olympics.

Doc said:

Mark Spitz is so good even my grandmother could coach him, and she's been dead for 10 years. [not verbatim]

I'll return with a better doc quote after I visit his pool.

See ya' in an hour or two.

[n]

A quote from the article.

The professionalization of amateur sports became one of Doc Counsilman's last challenges. Though usually phlegmatic he was surprisingly ardent in his derision of the cataracts of money washing into amateur sport. In fact any contaminant that threatened fair-play and what we might term sport for sport's sake angered him. He had numerous complaints with the drift of college sports into gaudy show biz and away from the ancients' ideal of a healthy mind in a healthy body.

[n]

Okay so here is the quote:

( i can send the picture of the poster where this is poster and even name the typeface if you want.

"In recognition of my needs, I sought a stressful situation, but I was largely influenced in the formation of my philosophy by my coach, the late Ernie Vornbrock, of the St. louis Downtown YMCA Swimming Team. His primary obligation was to the swimmers; to see that they achieved their potential academically, athletically, and socially. In other words, he tried to conduct his program in such a manner as to help is swimmers gain self fulfillment. That I fee the same obligation as a coach is due to this example."

Anyway, the guy was a great, and he acknowledges the greatness of someone before him. True homage.

As for the logo:

I see a wheelchair.
I see a prosthetic limb.

I see oneness in the two divided olympics.

[popgoestheweasel]

nl,

Thanks for the quotes, and for what I can only assume is a poem, of sorts. As for the logo, well, where do I begin? You see a wheelchair and a prosthetic limb and oneness in divided Olympics. Hmm, interesting. Here's what I see: I see the police sneaking up to your door. I see blue lights and bullhorns and SWAT officers with guns and gas masks. I see them breaking down yer door and carting you and your HUGE stash of LSD off somewhere padded. Here's mud in yer psychodelic eye!

[n]

I live in a small room on the intersection of two busy streets. There are always sirens and emergency vehicles on my streets. IF they come to my door, I will open it. That's all they need to do is knock.

to tell you the truth, it doesn't matter at all to me about the logo. Or about the olympics. And I am sorry I don't do any drugs except some camomile or licorice tea sold at the local grocery store. See, i started reading into these drugs and found them all to be medicine for the mentally weary. Understand, that my wits are sharp and quick, my body is stronger and flexible than probably 80% of the 30 year olds out there, and my soul is in peace at one with the om..well who needs drugs or the olympics.

A dip in the pool, a 5 mile walk a day, a brisk step to the corner grocery store, dreams of a harem of men making love to me all night long, and a pray every now and then.... Heck, I am perfectly Ef- II- En -EE.

Here's wishing you all the best on this special day, too.

[George Parker]

n...
I have just one question... Are you a guy or a gal... And what the fuck is in that tea???
Pop...
How about a psychodelic pint?
Cheers/George

[n]

gal, why ask?
you have a job for me?

[the lower depths]

george, the spirits have eaten your last few brain cells: n is NANCY!

sheeeee's baaaaack!

it's that amazing ability to not only disregard what's being said, but to drive the point even further from origin so everyone's completey confused as to what's being talked about.

the inability to connect 2 simple to read dots together has no greater champion.

[George Parker]

LD...
Damn, I think you're right!
She's benn AWOL for a few weeks.
Cheers/George

[n]

George's Mr. Hughes in his Dylan shoes wearing his disguise

[n]

LD,

the flexible but strong thing got you really hot and bothered, didn't it? Okay, it's that time, summer. They do have machines, magazines, and websites for that kind of thing. Don't let all that possible genius spill over your keyboard.

[the lower depths]

sorry, nancy, it wasn't "the flexible but strong thing..." that's your private delusion.

it was the inability to hold a coherent line of thought and to try and pass off crap poetry as a deeper statement to god only knows what point.

[n]

You are the professional. You should know.

Look up Allison Lappers in your spare time.

[George Parker]

LD & n...
You two do go at it... Maybe there's something going on here? Either way, makes for interesting reading and it turns me on...
In a weird way!!!
Cheers/George

[n]

George,

Everything I know, I learned from 27 years of motherhood and being in the kitchen, laundry room, family room, and bedroom.

and I typed Alison's name wrong I believe it is Alison Lapper: http://www.alisonlapper.com/statue/

[the lower depths]

sorry george it's just that incoherency gets under my skin....sort of like W.

speaking of which, i just heard and interesting quote from the then Gov. of TX when asked if the bible shouldbe taught in Spanish in their schools, he replied:

"if english was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me..."

there. did that lighten the mood?

shame you left the kitchen, n, and WTF is with that bizarre statue?

[n]

lD

everybody left the house, what's there left to do in the kitchen?

[George Parker]

LD & n...
Good, back on an even keel here. n... I will catch up on the significance of Alison after a couple of drinks.
LD... I wonder if W knows that Jesus was a jew? An English speaking jew, that is.
n... Did they leave, or did you chase them away? Just kidding!
Keep posting guys.
Love Ya All/George

[the lower depths]

george, you're emboldening her, to paraphrase W.

speaking of which, i wonder if he's even aware?

i mean in the general sense, not just of jesus' ancestry.

[n]

The thing significant about the statue is that the English tend to do those controversial type of things as much as I could gather from reading things from them on the internet and being there. So the Logo is really quite londonesque to me. (well, not to say that i really liked scotland better)

What's the significance of the altered natural form of said wood carving in above blog entry?. Shouldn't they have left the bark on? Oh English, jews... I see they have the same way of circumventing or was that sizing up issues? Have I connected any dots yet?

[the lower depths]

not even remotely...take a left at pluto, head for the bright spot in the distance, we're the third one from the end...

[n]

gads, that hum drum place?