London Olympics, which is now less than a year has a unique logo comprises of four broken blocks representing the year of 2012, each jagged with sharp edges. The block representing the number “2” has the city name London, written in a lower case. While the block representing the number “0” has the International Olympic Committee symbol of five intertwined circles i.e. Olympic rings. This symbol has the pride of being unveiled five years before the Olympic event itself in 2007. Thus, it also acts as the torchbearer (not physical) for the entire Olympic event as it is the only thing that would come to anyone’s mind when they think of this global event.
And so the organizing committee took pains to create this piece of art that they say it conveys to the world their “openness, invitation” to the various global community to take part in the games. This logo is the result of £400,000 and designed by the Wolff Olins. It is said that it is aimed at the youth and “young people”. The design is lauded by the organizing committee and the persons who designed it but the public reaction to it is from mild to negative and hardly positive. Many observers panned the logo as a broken “Swastika” and even compared it to a sexual indulgence of a cartoon character. Not to forget a version of Swastika is the symbol of Hitler’s Nazi Regime. So there was widespread negative publicity. Iran came to the point of complaining to the IOC about the similarities of the Logo to the word “Zion” and threatened to pull out of the game but later it revoked. The logo is very bright in color unlike various former Olympics logo and modern too, resembling none of the cultural significance of the world’s biggest kingdom. An animation video released along with the logo caused seizures in number of people with photosensitive epilepsy triggering the cut down of the shot.
The symbol devoid of neither any cultural significance, nor any relation to sporting activity except the Olympic rings is a letdown to many including me. So I thought of creating my own logo for the grand event. It is composed of both the number 2012 and the word London. The first and last three of the word London is made to resemble the year 2012 and also the word “LO” of the London resemble a person active in a sport either running, throwing a disc or a ball. It also depicts an open arm inviting people to come and join the grand sporting event. The four Pink stripe found over the letter N and O represents the four United Countries; England, North Ireland, Scotland and Wales which constitute the United Kingdom. London, which is the capital of the United Kingdom is the painted first “O” colored Pink, with a white dot representing “London Eye”
I don’t hate the original logo, just that it didn’t reached my expectation. I know the hard work the persons involved would have undergone to create that logo. But it could have been better. I just don’t want people to remember that broken piece of glass as the reminder of one of the best Olympic Games that is going to occur at an international city of London.
I have no idea with which software did the designer created the logo, but I have done my version of the logo with the help of simple Paint Brush application of the windows XP OS in a matter of a day so it wouldn't be as sharp and clear as the original. Though I would be happy if the concerned authorities provide me at least half of the £400,000 they spent on the original London Olympic Logo. J
