London 2012 - An identity crisis

As a logo that was designed by Wally Olins you might expect the "right" price tag. It was around £400,000 but this is not the issue. You might expect for something else given the fact that Olins is one of the founding fathers - if we can say that - of the modern idea of branding and corporate identity.

One of the comments on a page set up by BBC for receiving inputs on the new logo says: "I have vomited better logos" and with him, the vast majority of people disagreed with the current logo design. Wally Olins created numerous famous brands and his expertise is recognized and respected in the "brand world", however, this logo really makes you wonder if the idea of the logo is and can ignore the design part.

When working on a logo, the designer needs to focus on at least two aspects - the IDEA and the way you COMMUNICATE it. In this case, the COMMUNICATION part suffers a lot in my opinion.

Seb Coe, London 2012 organizing committee chairman says: "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." He also noted: "It's not a logo, it's a brand that will take us forward for the next five years,". Tony Blair also said: " When people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life."

The ideas behind the logo are beautiful - design a logo for youg people, give them hope and a sense of meaning - however, as one responder on the 606 website noted: "It looks like a logo designed for young people by old people who don't understand young people." - I tend to agree on this.

With all due respect for Mr. Wally Olins, I have to agree that if the Olympic Committee wanted to focus on the young generation, they should have used the services of a younger company.