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1964 Tokyo
Concept of the pictograms and their use:
To
many spectators, pictograms are a familiar form of Olympic imagery.
First introduced at the 1948 Games in London, they became an integral
facet of Olympic Games design at he Tokyo Games of 1964, serving an
invaluable function as elegant and simple wayfinding devices.

The pictograms of London 1948
Pictograms
have been a part of Olympic design programs since they were first
formaly introduced at the 1964 Tokyo Games. The stylized figures easily
communicate information to visitors and participants who have diverse
language and cultural backgrounds.
New pictograms were disigned for Mexico in 1968, Munich in 1972 and Moscow in 1980.
Montreal chose the use the Munich pictograms. The LAOOC first inquired
about the purchase rights of the pictograms used at Munich and later
Montreal, but found the price to be higher than the costs of
commissioning new pictograms and chose instead to sponsor a
competition. |
Symbols used during the Tokyo Games

Artistic director: Masaru Katzumie
Graphic designer: Yoshiro Yamashita
The
first systematically designed set of pictograms for both sports and
services was created for the Games in Tokyo in 1964 by Masasa Katzumie
as artistic director and Yoshiro Yamashita as graphic designer.

The
Tokyo projekt included the design of 20 pictograms for the different
sports and a further 39 general information pictograms.

Examples of service pictograms
Copyright 1964 by the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XVIII Olympiad |

Book presentation "Olympic Pictograms"
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1968 Mexico City
Artistic directors: Manuel Villazon, Mathias Goerlitz
Graphic designers: Lance Wyman, Eduardo Terrazas
Language
problems associated with guiding and informing participants and the
general public were minimized through the use of concise Olympic
symbology. A group of Olympic Identity Program
designers collaborated on the creation of these symbols, which were
employed to designate the events and installations for bboth the sports
program and the Cultural Olympiad.
( Source document: Official Report 1968 , Vol. 2, page 307)
© 1969, Organizing Committee of the Games of the XIX Olympiad, MEXICO 68 |
Ticket with several pictograms
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1972 Munich
In General
Thirty-four
different languages are spoken in Europe alone. For this reason it was
necessary for the OC in the interest of international visitors not to
limit itself to verbal information, but rather to take advantage of the
possibility of generally intelligible pictorial symbols. The OC also
conceived a second visual system in addition to the sports symbols
which were intended to serve as general information. This system was
constructed of pictograms — symbols which translate the message into
visually understood picture language. It especially included directions
to services, transportation and information which would make the flow
of communication possible and also ease it. |
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Archery |
Athletics |
Basketball |
Boxing |
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Canoe |
Cyclisme |
Equestrian Sports |
Fencing |
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Football |
Gymnastic |
Handball |
Hockey |
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Judo |
Pentathlon moderne |
Rowing |
Shooting |
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Swimming |
Volleyball |
Weihtlifting |
Wresling |
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The pictograms used in Munich, created by the Director
of the Higher Institute of Graphic Arts in Ulm, Otl Aicher.

Otl
Aicher, design director for the Munich 1972 games, developed a set of
pictograms of such breathtaking elegance and clarity that they would
never be surpassed. Aicher (1922-1991), founder of the Ulm design
school and consultant to Braun and Lufthansa, was the quintessential
German designer: precise, cool and logical. The design system he
developed for the Munich games, all geometry, grids and Univers 55, is
perhaps his greatest achievement.
The System of Symbols for Various Sports
There
were only four different traffic signs in 1922. Today there are more
than 150. The continually closer interrelation among traffic,
information, the economy or tourism demands new methods of
communication. Often the very simplest verbal communication is
frustrated because of a lack of the knowledge required for a language
or alphabet. This is especially obvious at large international events
at which visitors from every continent participate.
It
was also a major task for the Munich organizers to design a system of
visual symbols of universal intelligibility which would aid visitors in
regard to information and communications. Thus there are two systems;
one being the sports symbols and the other being the pictograms for
information regarding services and traffic which have been described
already. The sports symbols do not have the function merely to
symbolize the individual athletic disciplines in the press, on
television or medals and souvenirs, but they are simultaneously means
of information regarding the sports sites and training areas of a
specific sport. With the aid of arrows the symbols pointed the way and
designated those coaches and helpers responsible for a certain sport as
well as the admission tickets, schedules, rules and regulations
listings, etc.
After the first
attempts at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, a closed system of
symbols was conceived for the first time under the direction of Masaru
Katsumi in 1964 for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The value of the system
as a universally intelligible means of information instead of
multilingual verbal messages was so effective that all succeeding Games
would not be possible without such a system. At the 1968 Olympic Games
in Mexico City, the Mexican OC developed a system of symbols, which
nevertheless had a more illustrative character and was based on sports
equipment.
Source document: Official Report 1972, Vol. 1, page 271)
© 1972 Copyright by Munich Organizing Committee
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1976 Montreal
Signs
COJO
gave the Graphics and Design Directorate a mandate to design a sign
program for roads, cities, and Olympic competition sites. One team
developed an "outside" sign concept, while a second group worked on a
system for dividing the various stadiums into sections and seat
arrangements, planning the signs needed. In November, 1975, the
directorate was able to present the results of its research to the COJO
executive committee. The project later was part of the vast sign manual
published in order to make everyone familiar with each element of the
sign program, thus guaranteeing their rational and efficient
application in conformity with the overall projection of the 1976
Olympic Games image. |
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Archery |
Athletics |
Basketball |
Boxing |
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Canoe |
Cyclisme |
Equestrian Sports |
Fencing |
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Football |
Gymnastic |
Handball |
Hockey |
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Judo |
Pentathlon moderne |
Rowing |
Shooting |
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Swimming |
Volleyball |
Weihtlifting |
Wresling |
The sign system selected was based on pictograms generally accompanied by an explanatory text in both official languages. COJO used the pictograms from the Munich Games in
order to assure continuity in symbolic language. Some service
pictograms, however, had to be modified for North American needs. The
manual included precise instructions about the design of the sign
panels. Types and formats were reduced to a minimum, first, for
uniformity, and, second, to reduce manufacturing costs. Permanent
panels, mounted at the actual competition sites, were of prefinished
aluminium, while temporary road signs were made of plastic. The
inscriptions were stenciled on and cut from adhesive vinyl sheets.

The
rules of composition for the panels were as follows: all featured a
dark blue background. The pictograms designating the sports were in
white on a red base; those related to services were white on a green
base, and the letters in the texts and the arrows were
Source document: Official Report 1976 , Vol. 1, page 344
© Copyright COJO 76, Ottawa 1978 |
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1980 Moscow
Pictographs
Sports
pictographs, as we know, are pictographic drawings symbolising sports.
They serve as points of reference and help overcome language barrier.
Over the past few years, they have been integrated into the decoration
of Olympic cities, and have been depicted in Olympic posters,
commemorative medals, postage stamps, tickets, souvenirs, etc.

On
the OCOG-80`s request, graduates from several art colleges took up the
design of the pictographs of the insignia as the theme of their
dissertations. With the help of the resachr institute of industrial
aesthetics, the Organising Committee chose the work submitted by
Nikolai Belkow, Mukhina Art School graduate from Leningrad.


Nikolai Belkov
The
State Committee for Inventions and Discoveries under the USSR Council
of Ministers recognised the new design as a production pattern.
Though
highly stylised, the new signs are easily comprehensible. They are
smoother in outline because they are constructed at an angle of 30 `-
60 `(previously the angle was 45` - 90`).
Another
merit of the new system is that the design can be adapted for use in
four representations: direct (solid, black against a white background),
reverse (solid, white against a black background), contour (black
contour against a white background), and reverse-contour (white contour
against a black background), and permit several colour and shade and
size variations.

The symbols for the 1980 Olympic games, held in Moscow, were designed by Nikolai Belkow,
fresh out of art school. His designs are more rounded out and smoothed
than Aicher's, but are still very stripped down and stylized. In
this production sketch that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the
skeleton of each illustration. Notice that the angles he's using (30
and 60º) are much less harsh and deliberate than the 45º angles used by
Otl Aicher.
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1984 Los Angeles
Development of the sports pictograms
The
review committee was given a presentation which surveyed the entire
design development process used by Bright and Associates in creating
the pictograms. Beginning with a critique of the five previous
Olympic pictograms, six criteria were isolated as essential to a
successful pictogram:
o Clear communication; pictograms, by themselves, should be
recognizable
by
people of other nations.
o Consistency; the pictograms should be identifiable as a set, through
uniform
treatment of scale, style and subject.
o Legibility and practicality; they should be highly visible, easy to
reproduce
in any scale and in positive or negative form.
o Flexibility; the pictograms should not be dependent upon a border and
should
work equally well in a positive or negative form.
o Design distinction; the pictograms should avoid stylistic fads or a
commercial
appearance and should imply to a worldwide audience that
Los
Angeles has a sophisticated, creative culture.
o Compatibility; they should be attractive when used with their Los
Angeles Olympic design elements and typestyles.

Pictogramms used on the exterior of the Coliseum are in Festive Federalism colors.
In
the development stage, Bright and Associates sought to create
pictograms that would be used primarily for directional signing
purposes, a critical factor in the Los Angeles area since the events
would be held at a variety of locations. Therefore, it was essential
that the pictograms communicate clearly and be highly visible. During
the Games, the pictograms served primarily decorative purposes rather
than as signing elements, but in 1980, no one anticipated that this
would be the case.

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n
creating the new pictograms, exploratory sketches examined the use of
partial figures, realistic figure images and speed lines combined with
the figures. It was concluded that partial figures and realistic
figures were difficult to decipher and movement associated with the
figures made them too busy and impaired legibility. A simple figure
composed of 10 fundamental body parts worked well: a circle for the
head, an oval for the torso and eight simple parts representing the
arms and legs. This modular figure, when placed against a grid pattern,
could be recreated in any desired position, effectively portraying any
Olympic event. 
I
These new pictograms met the specified criteria. They were easily seen
at a distance and clearly communicated their message in a consistent
manner using a system of modular forms and a common scale. The system
was also practical and flexible, allowing for a variety of positions to
be created with a minimal number of design modifications and permitting
reproduction in a positive or negative form, with or without a panel or
border. The design was distinctive, with the pure, geometric forms
creating an idealized human figure which was memorable in appearance
and free of stylistic fads.

Registration and copyright of the pictograms
The 23 official pictograms were copyrighted and registered as trademarks
by the LAOOC in 1981.
(Source document: Official Report 1984, Vol. I, page 248)
© 1985 Copyright by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee |
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Pictograms 1988
Pictograms
were produced to help overcome communication difficulty arising from
different languages. They were also intended to accentuate the unique
image of the Seoul Olympic
Games.

Sports pictograms, used on banners and infomational balloons,
were convenient for spectators.
Sports Pictograms
In
March 1985, the SLOOC produced 27 pictograms to be used for the Seoul
Asian Games and the 24th Olympic Games. Following the Asian Games,
however, the SLOOC decided to develop new creative Olympic pictograms,
clearly distinguishable from those used in past Games, so as to
emphasize the refreshing image of the Seoul Olympics.
The
work on the pictograms started in December 1986, and 30 draft
pictograms were produced in April 1987, including 23 for the official
sports, four for demonstration and exhibition sports, and three for
torch relay, marathon, and water polo. After two rounds of screening,
the draft pictograms were approved as official pictograms in May 1987

The
sports pictograms were distinguishable from the past Games by the
division of the composition into trunk, arms, legs and head. The
connecting parts for arms and legs were treated in a simple and clear
fashion but resembling as close to the composition of human frame
as possible. Sports pictograms were also utilized as elements of
expression in various public relations and printed materials, including
decoration, admission tickets for each sport and posters.
Guide Pictogramms

Funktional pictograms helped guide visitors to transportation and other services
Guide Pictogramms
Guide pictograms were used to direct people to amenities, facilities or services.
In
September 1985, the SLOOC organized an in-house production team to
begin the work on the guide pictograms; final designs of the guide
pictograms covering 70 types were compledtd in January 1986, and were
used during the Seoul Asian Games. In preparation for the Seoul Olympic
Games, eight types were additionally produced in September 1987. The
guide pictograms were designed in forms to enliven the image of the
Seoul Olympic Games and to be easily understood by all concerned.
( Source document: Official Report 1988, Vol. I, page 650)
© 1988 by the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games |
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1992 Barcelona
The pictograms 1992
Pictograms
had been widely used since Munich in 1972. The person in overall charge
of the visual style of those Games was the great designer Otl Aicher,
under whose direction a series of sports and services pictograms were
created from a basic geometric formula. They became so widespread as to
be practically universal. At the Montreal Games they were used without
any changes, in Los Angeles and Seoul only slight modifications were
introduced. In Barcelona, though the Munich shapes were still used as a
starting point, the break in style was more audacious, as the geometric
formula was abandoned in favour of the characteristic line of the
emblem created by Josep. M. Trias and its representational
simplification of the human body in three parts (head, arms and legs)
was also adopted.

In
the sports pictograms, the fundamental reference point is the human
body in the postures which are most characteristic of the practice of
each sport. The competition ground, however, also appears when
necessary for the sign to be understood, as in the case of swimming,
water polo and the nautical sports, in which the water line appears in
various guises. In the other sports, the human body is combined with
the characteristic equipment of each one (net, racket, foil, ball,
rifle). There were thirty-two sports pictograms for Barcelona'92: one
for each of the twenty-five official and the three demonstration
sports, plus four for the modes (synchronized swimming, diving and
water polo —differentiated in this way from swimming itself, the races,
which were identified by the generic pictogram for swimming— and slalom
canoeing, which had to be distinguished from the flat water variety).

Service pictograms
The
services pictograms were intended to guide the public in the
surroundings and the interior of the Olympic units, whether competition
venues, training facilities or service centres. In Barcelona eighty-two
were specially designed in the same graphic style as the sports
pictograms and five more were invented incorporating existing symbols
for public services and transport.

(Source document: Official Report 1992, Vol. III, page 326)
© 1992 COOB'92, S.A., Plaça de la Font Màgica, s/n, 08038 Barcelona |
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Pictograms 1996
To
many spectators, pictograms are a familiar form of Olympic imagery.
First introduced at the 1948 Games in London, they became an integral
facet of Olympic Games design at he Tokyo Games of 1964, serving an
invaluable function as elegant and simple wayfinding devices. Abstract
imagery had been most common in pictograms used at prior Olympic Games,
but in the spirit of the 100th annivarsary of the modern Olympic Games,
ACOG selected pictograms of the human form that captured the
commonality between the grace of a posed athlete and the graceful,
personal quality of the South.

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Archery |
Athletics |
Boxing |
Canoe |
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Canoe Kayak Slalom |
Cyclisme |
Equestrian Sports |
Fencing |
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Football |
Gymnastic |
Handball |
Hockey |
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Judo |
Pentathlon moderne |
Sailing |
Swimming |
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Tennis |
Volleyball |
Weihtlifting |
Wresling |
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Badminton |
Rythmic Gymnastics |
Swimming Syncron |
Waterpolo |
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For the Atlanta Games, 84
pictograms were used—31 sports and 53 service
pictograms—as well as 7 zone code and 5 transportation
code symbols.
Prior
to the Games, the sports pictograms were used extensively by licensees
in Olympic Games merchandise and collectibles. Official use was
restricted to documents and signage specific to individual sports and
disciplines.

Sports
pictogramms were used extensively in the Look Program. To complement
the sports pictograms and facilitate wayfinding, Creative Services also
designed a series of service pictograms that were used extensively at
Games-time.
(Source document: Official Report 1996, vols. I, page 134)
© 1997 by The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games |
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2000 Sydney
The Sydney 2000 Pictograms:
There will be 28 sports and 19 associated disciplines at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The 34 sporting pictograms represent 24 of these sports and ten of the disciplines.
The
pictograms have been specially designed for the Sydney Olympic Games to
be used as a directional aid to spectators, athletes and officials
during the days of competition in 2000. This is why some disciplines -
rather than their controlling sport - have separate pictograms if they
are being contested at different times or at different venues.
For ease of understanding, the 28 sports are:
aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing,
canoe/kayak, cycling equestrian, fencing, football, gymnastics,
handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing shooting,
softball, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball,
weightlifting, wrestling.
Seven
of these sports have disciplines, which are separate competitions
contested under the jurisdiction of a specific sport. The seven sports
and their disciplines are:
Aquatics: four disciplines - diving, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo.
Canoe/kayak: two disciplines - slalom and sprint.
Cycling: three disciplines: road, track and mountain bike.
Equestrian: three disciplines - dressage, jumping and three-day event.
Gymnastics: three disciplines - artistic, rhythmic and trampolining.
Volleyball:
two disciplines - volleyball and beach volleyball (nb: volleyball
discipline is played indoors. The sport and the discipline share the
same name).
Wrestling: two disciplines - freestyle and Greco-Roman.
Source document: Travis Cranley, Sports Publications |
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The pictograms of Sydney 2000
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Sport Pictograms
Sport
pictograms are used as the essential visual reference for any
information related to the Competition Schedule and the Venues. Each is
a seperate image showing the Sports and Disciplines special features
and enabling the viewer to recognise them immediately. The Image &
Identity Department directed the design of 35 pictograms representing
the 28 Olympic Sports and certain Disciplines.
The
ATHENS 2004 Sport pictograms were inspired by three elements of ancient
Greek civilisation. The simplicity of the human form is inspired by the
Cycladic figurines. The Artistic expression of the Pictogram derives
from the black-figure vases, where solid black shapes represent the
human body and a single line defines the detailing of the form. The
figures of the pictograms are solid and clearly drawn on a background
similar to a gragment of an ancient vase.
While
their inspiration was very artistic and cultural, the ATHENS 2004 Sport
pictograms were very accurate in depicting the most recognisable
movement of each individual Sport and Discipline and were approved by
all International Federations and by the IOC.
Source document: Official Report 2004 , Vol. 1, page 323
© ATHOC, Copyright ATHENS 2004, ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE GAMES |

Archery |

Athletics |

Badminton |

Baseball |

Basketball |

Beachvolleyball |

Boxing |

Cycling |

Diving |

Equestrian |

Fencing |

Canoe Flatwater |

Football |

Artistics Gymnastics |

Trampoline |

Rythmic Gymnastics |

Handball |

Hockey |

Judo |

Modern Pentahlon |

Rowing |

Sailing |

Shooting |

Canoe Kayak Slalom |

Softball |

Swimming |

Swimming Syncron |

Tabletennis |

Teakwondo |

Tennis |

Triathlon |

Volleyball |

Waterpolo |

Weightlifting |

Wrestling |
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2008 Beijing
Please visit the Official Beijing 2008 website for more information: Pictograms 2008
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A Mini History Of Olympic Pictograms
You can test your knowledge of the history of Olympic Pictograms.
By Yuri Kusina (03-29-2006)
The 1996 Atlanta Olympics are behind us now, but take one more moment
to look at what I found on Olympic Pictograms. I think that you'll find
it interesting. Above are examples of what we'll see 2 years from now
in Nagano, Japan. Beautifully sweeping lines create the movement that
defines Olympic action. Nice. If any of you know who designed these let me know (the article didn't mention it, unfortunately).
Below
you will find a collection of past pictograms from the past 30 years.
These examples came courtesy of Wei Yew, a graphic designer in
Edmenton, Canada who's recently authored "The Olympic Image-The First
100 Years"(Quon Editions, available with a companion CD-ROM). Except
for a rare brochure found from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the article
stated that there was no documentation of signage programs for the
Olympics until 1968.
The German graphic
designer, Otl Aicher, is today regarded as the father of the visual design of
Olympic Games. He developed the coordinated set of pictograms for
signage and a rich palette of colors for street decorations and signage
for the 1972 Munich Olympics. His pictograms were used again in the
1976 Montreal, they were so good.
The next
major contribution came from America's Deborah Sussman and Paul Prejza
for the 1984 Los Angeles Games. I was there and it was truly a gorgeous
presentation. The most current graphic wizards for Olympics come from
the Design firms of Copeland and Hirthler and Malcolm Grear Designers,
who created the look for the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Guess the Pictogram
Guess what year and where a pictogram was used. See answers below!

Game Results
01. 1936 Berlin
02. 1968 Mexico
03. 1972 Munich, 1976 Montreal
04. 1976 Innsbruck
05. 1980 Moscow
06. 1984 Los Angeles
07. 1984 Sarajevo
08. 1988 Seoul
09. 1992 Albertsville
10. 1992 Barcelona
11. 1994 Lillehammer
12. 1996 Atlanta |
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The pictograms of Torino 2006

The pictograms of Salt Lake City 2002

The pictograms of Nagano 1998

The pictograms of Lillehammer 1994

The pictograms of Albertville 1992

The pictograms of Calgary 1988

- The pictograms of Sarajevo 1984

The pictograms of Lake Placid 1980
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