Olympic Pictograms: Miniature Masterpieces

(as I tear myself away from watching it the 51st time) as always, a deeply enjoyable and informative episode just exciting my chakras with all things design - and a pleasure and honour being a cameo (!!!) on your epic show! The break down showing the similar pictograms being altered for clarity was very satisfying to watch, it just stands out when pointed out! And as for your last DIY pictogram: I wouldn't be surprised if Paris 24 sees a similar design to your nifty creation! 😆 grabs pictogram hockey stick and smashes like button

Hey thank you for making this video, im the grandson of Gerhard Joksch. Unfortunately he passed away last year, but i can tell you: He was sooo proud of those icons, he hung 4 pictures of the best icons right by the entrance. There is one story to tell about these figures: My Grandfather was tricked into signing a contract by a higher up that withdraws any rights to these illustrations, he could have sued them, but in 30 years he couldn't bring himself to sue the guy, after that a law prohibites you from sueing (idk why, but thats what he told me). Because of all that: He never got any money for those icons (other than his standard pay of the firm).

This was really great. Loved that bit of the opening ceremony so came looking for a vid and ended up learning a load more!

Another thing about the Barcelona 92 pictograms is that the style used, those loose strokes creating somewhat abstract figures are, most likely, a nod to Joan Miró, an important painter born in Barcelona who had passed away just 9 years before. This especially applies to the logo, which uses blue, yellow and red, colors very often used by Miró which serve to represent Spain (its hot climate, yellow and red, and the Mediterranean sea, blue)!

I actually really love the Rio ones, the use of the ‘pebble’ (I’d call them guitar picks) to dynamically frame all the different poses is really cool

The disguised, hidden figures on the show Masquerade and in Olympic performance are part of a very old part of Japanese theater. They are called kuroko ("black clad"), and they perform very much the same function in traditional Japanese theater.

I had no idea the pictograms we use for bathrooms come from the Tokyo 64 Olympics! That's wild. Also the pictograms for Lillehammer being based on a 4000 year old cave painting is insanely cool. Great video as always. This channel is quickly becoming my favourite graphic design channel on YouTube 🤘🤘

A few words on Mexico 68 - I really love the pictogram system developed for the Mexico City Metro developed by Lance Wyman as a direct result of his Olympics identity work. It was one of the design features I noticed immediately when I visited Mexico city - it helped not only visitors navigate the city, but many people who use the transit system without being able to read can still understand where they need to go pictographically. My comment was not meant to diminish that, however, for the sports pictograms for the games, it seems like Wyman was brought in after significant work had been done already by design students at Universidad Iberoamericana, and this set in particular feels less cohesive. When I say some 'could be traced from a photo' I meant the silhouette is much more organic and truer to life than others which were drawn with a compass and a T-square in perfect flat lines and geometric arcs. There's more commentary by Olympic Design scholar, Markus Osterwalder, here: www.theolympicdesign.com/olympic-design/pictograms… - I think the legacy of these designs in Mexico city is definitely felt, as is clear from the number of comments here, and should be celebrated! But in terms of the impact on the direction that Olympic pictograms overall took through the 20th century, their role is more as an alternative approach which never took hold. Muchas gracias.

I can’t imagine being a designer on a project like this, sounds stressful but also so much fun! Huge props to the design teams

I also really liked that they also integrated the “cultural history” aspect into the pictograms not necessarily with the designs themselves, but by placing them onto 3D traditional Japanese glass bells when the sports were being presented on TV

I love how geometric this year's design, especially the main logo. I think it's a reflection of Japan's cultural design(patterns). Looking back at previous identities, we have seen alot of similar design elements such as expressive brush strokes/ gradient curves etc.

I had no idea the Olympics developed this style! When I was little we had a box of sign flashcards (meant for a daycare maybe?). I was really fascinated with the human representations and called them "public sign people".

Great vid, Linus!

Man, the Japanese pictograms from the 60's were great, and the ones for Japan this year are easily my favorites out of all of the sets shown. All the brush strokes and more rough, imprecise, folksy stuff just doesn't do it for me. I much, much prefer the sharp, precise, elegant look of 2021. Great video!

I was surprised by breakdancing, but the more I thought about it the more it makes sense. They already have artistic ones like gymnastics and dressage (aka horsey dancing). And breakdancing is legit hard to do - the windmill is challenging, and it's the most basic move.

I quite like the pictograms in the dream events of Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. It's fun seeing the pictogram take on the wacky sports.

wow that demo you did shows just how tricky a job they have. craziness.

Those animations from Tokyo are just incredibly well done and revolutionary

The pictograms show was genius. It also encapsulated an inexplicable part of the modern Japanese essence perfectly. We’re basically the land of simplifying things to look cute, and it reminded me both of a Japanese field day and of something that could be on NHK daytime TV anywhere in the past, like, 40 years a way that is very hard to describe. Granted NHK probably edited the onscreen bits so that may be expected, but still. Edit: Huh, Japan actually invented the pictogram?! I guess it’s only natural they feel Japanese lol.

One small error, the Sydney 2000 Olympics pictograms weren't based on boomerangs, they were inspired by indigenous cave paintings that have existed for thousands of years, I can see why one would get confused tho