image interpretation

I'm getting all excited about the Olympics (as usual). They're great for all sorts of reasons - impressive athletics, heartbreak that doesn't actually do you any damage, international intrigue that doesn't revolve around war, interesting architecture as each city tries to make itself worthy, technology (torch design for a start, more on that in a minute) and graphic design - my key interest in things today.

Turin 2006 Olympic emblem is this:



Emblems and icons and other minimalist-but-full-of-meaning images are faced with a host of problems before they even get started, especially when you have people from every culture imaginable eyeing your image. They claim that the "emblem portrays the unmistakable silhouette of the Mole Antonelliana. It is transformed into a mountain, among crystals of ice, where the white snow meets the blue sky. The crystals come together to form a web: the web of new technologies and the eternal Olympic spirit of communion among peoples."

Never having been to Turin I wondered what this Mole Antonelliana looks like and discovered this:



Interesting, I thought, because what the emblem most reminds me of (especially growing up in Wisconsin, and having visions of snow running in my head) is this:



Now, I admit the shape isn't right, but you have to imagine this snowfence at the end of the winter when it's been battered back and forth by blizzards and plows and any other manner of things. It looks fairly twisted, and not entirely unlike the Turin 2006 emblem. But orange.

All that said, I like the lines of it and still find it quite pleasing. It just reminds me that I can never take for granted what someone else will see in one of my designs.

Which brings us to the mascots. Meet Neve and Gliz:



What's your first thought? Me, I saw marshmallows. But it turns out that they are an "elegant snowball" and a "lively, playful ice cube." They're cute enough though, and are fairly charming in the video (go there and it's right at the top of the page.). The concept of mascots started in 1968 with Schuss, the skiing man from Grenoble (oy) and has wobbled on. Given that I don't recognize any of them I have to say that designs have been fairly weak all along. Beijing 2008 has also unveiled their plans - altogether more interesting inspirations (Tibetan antelope anyone?)

And torches, because I had no idea what all was involved:

"It cannot be re-lit and it must not go out even in bad weather conditions such as rain, snow and wind.

The flame of each torch, which burns for 15 minutes, must not be higher than 10 centimetres. As for the materials used, the outside shell is made of aluminium; the inside fittings are of steel, copper and techno-polymers, and for the surface finish, a special paint is used that is resistant to high temperatures."

(Again from olympics.org)

Cool.

Tags:

• graphic
• design
• olympics
• turin