What do these numbers have in common? Any ideas?
Before you scroll down to reveal the answer I was at a wedding last weekend and the Father of the bride spoke with great pride that his daughter’s grandma’s on both sides of her family were still alive and unless they passed away in the next three weeks (that was a direct quote!) then they would have lived through three London Olympic games. This remarkable fact is very unlikely to happen again with the modern Olympic movement we experience today. This fact stuck with me throughout a very enjoyable evening and I thought it would be interesting to look at the different design styles of these three very different moments in time.
The 1908 Summer Olympics were the fourth modern Olympic Games to be held outside of Athens. They were scheduled to take place in Rome, however Mount Versuvius erupted and the Italian government had to use money from hosting the games to actually rescuing some of its audience. The event took place between 27 April 1908 and 31 October 1908, with 22 nations participating in 110 events. The British team easily topped the unofficial medal count, finishing with three times as many medals as the second-place United States.
1908 London Olympic Games Poster
This poster by an unknown artist was lost until recently. No copy is held in BOA archives, nor by the IOC, one reason being that the poster was in fact prepared by the organisers of the Franco-British Exhibition. A copy of the image was known on a folder describing the Olympic stadium, but it was research by members of the Society of Olympic Collectors that established it was the poster image – a postcard exists showing the poster in situ. 2
An interesting starting point for the first London Games as there is no clear identity or iconic image to distinguish itself. The poster has hints of Art Nouveau. The left hand side of the poster shows the athlete in the foreground holding a scroll that points down and directs your eyes to the title – Olympic Games. The familiar branding of the five olympic rings was only adopted by Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic Movement) in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artefact from ancient Greece.
The laural leaf draped along the top of the sign hints to the heritage of the games and in my research I found some evidence to the poster having being designed by a Frenchman which may explain the prominence of the french flag over the UK one.
1948 London Olympic Games Poster
The 1948 Summer Olympics (the Games of the XIV Olympiad) were the first to be held after World War II, with the 1944 Summer Olympics having been cancelled due to the war. Showing a collective unity after the war, 59 nations competed in 136 different events between 29 July 1948 and 14 August 1948. Germany and Japan were not invited to the games due to security reasons. Unlike the last time the UK hosted the Olympics, the British athletes did not have a high medal count, finishing 12th in the unofficial medal count with only 23 medals. 3
The 1948 London Olympic Games Poster is a Lithographic print taken from a original drawing and painting, designed by Walter Herz.
The context of the poster shows an iconic building of London.The hands of “Big Ben” are pointing to 4 o’clock. This was the time that the opening of the games.
The background uses a cool, clear blue sky. The buildings are subtle, muted and look like they are catching the last sun rays of the day. The discus thrower is smooth, simple and coloured like a marble statue of ancient Greece. The iconic bold colours of the 5 Olympic rings dominate the foreground.
The discus figure focusses our eyes on him in two ways. He’s central and is in the foreground. Secondly the lighter colour distinguishes him from the rest of his surroundings. A nice touch is that the discus thrower’s arm reaching up takes our eye to the clock tower, as we wait for him to cast his throw. The angle of the road and the blurring effect creates the impression of speed and brings your eye down to the rings. A distant lamp post on the left side of the road creates the illusion of perspective and distance.
The typography is simple and, apart from the dates, it communicates the exact same message as the main image – London Olympics.
2012 London Olympic Games Poster
In an interesting break from convention, these evoke the 1908 posters in their lack of familiar Olympic branding. The 2012 posters feature twelve different designs. British artists, including Bridget Riley, Tracey Emin, Martin Creed, Rachel Whiteread, and Bob and Roberta Smith, have all designed posters to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
I think that these posters need the benefit of time to be evaluated. It’s very easy to make a snap judgement and dismiss them, because they don’t conform to our accepted notion of what an Olympic poster should look like. My personal favourite is Rachel Whiteread’s Olympic rings. The design is based on the mark from athletes’ water (not coffee cup stains!) I like the energy of the design, the emotion that it conveys.
My brief look at these three Olympics show the incredible changes that have happened in London every fifty or sixty years. A great article will lots of interestings statistics is the Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/jul/10/london-olympic-charts-medals-competitors
I’m not sure if I will be around in 2082 to write an update blog about the new London Olympic posters. If I am, I’m sure Marilia will make sure it gets done!
James Chantler is Creative Director at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
