Video by Beijing 2022 on YouTube.
Video by Beijing 2022 on YouTube.
Beijing capped an exciting year of preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Thursday with the release of the Games’ official sports pictograms, which were inspired by traditional Chinese seal engraving.
With some of the country’s top sports and entertainment celebrities in attendance, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Beijing 2022) unveiled the pictograms at a televised countdown party on New Year’s Eve, a major milestone in preparations with co-host city Zhangjiakou, Hebei province for the winter sports gala.
The set of 24 pictograms for the Olympic Winter Games identifies each of the disciplines across seven sports. However, freestyle skiing and snowboard have six and five icons respectively in order to represent the different equipment and courses used in these disciplines. Six symbols identify each of the sports at the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games.
Designed based on traditional Chinese seal engraving, each of the pictograms depicts its respective event with unique strokes – like those carved with a knife on Chinese seals dating back to the Qin and Han dynasties. The pictograms embody both the motion of winter sports and China’s rich culture in modern graphics.
The sharp contrast between the red background and white strokes highlights the grace and dynamism of winter sports, and adds a festive vibe to the Games, which will echo the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2022.
“The release of the sports pictograms marks the progress in our preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 over the past year in a visually strong fashion,” said Gao Tian, deputy director of the Culture and Ceremonies Department of Beijing 2022.
“It’s another example of presenting time-honored Chinese art in a modern way and integrating the quintessence of Chinese culture into sports presentation on the Olympic and Paralympic stage.”
As one of the main graphic elements of the Games, pictograms are widely used in areas such as event signposting, advertising, communications, TV broadcasting and souvenir design. In addition to their traditional context, the sports pictograms must primarily function flawlessly as a simple, internationally understandable representation of the respective sport.
The newly released pictograms were developed in line with the style of the Games’ emblems, with both graphic elements designed by the same group led by Lin Cunzhen, an associate professor at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts. Drawing on inspiration from the Beijing 2008 pictograms, the 2022 version also incorporates the art of calligraphy.
“We designed these pictograms based on two principles – to stay consistent with the Games’ entire visual appearance and to echo the design used at the 2008 Summer Games to highlight Beijing’s unique status as the world’s only city so far to host both Summer and Winter Games,” said Lin, who is also an art director of the Culture and Ceremonies Department of the Beijing 2022.
The craft of engraving is better suited to portray the power and speed of winter sports than the smooth style of calligraphy used in 2008. It took the design team half a year to handle the challenge of depicting every sport distinctively, with hundreds of sketches drawn and countless modifications made, according to Lin.
Brainstorming with sports managers and international consultants from Beijing 2022’s Sports Department also contributed to the design with invaluable insights.
For example, the visual angle of the logo for speed skating was adjusted from the conventional sideline to the head-on angle, as per suggestions from the sports department to differentiate it from short-track speed skating and better capture the movement of athletes, explained Lin.
The design of the sports pictograms has earned a resounding thumbs-up from all the relevant International Federations (IFs), said Tong Lixin, head of Beijing 2022’s Sports Department.
“We followed their suggestions to make some adjustments to certain details, which put the icing on the cake,” Tong said of the feedback from the IFs.
“Eventually, all IFs approved the design with high praise for its innovation and unique Chinese style.”
The Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 are scheduled to take place from Feb 4 to 20 in three venue zones – downtown Beijing, its northwest Yanqing district and Zhangjiakou, followed by the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games from March 4 to 13.
For the first time in Games history, #Tokyo2020 has created kinetic sport pictograms! #Tokyo2020 has created the first animated pictograms to highlight just how dynamic, innovative, and special this Games will be! ✨#UnitedByEmotion @Olympics @Paralympics pic.twitter.com/NFw8uhFaU2
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) February 26, 2020
5️⃣ Minutes 5️⃣5️⃣Kinetic Sport Pictograms#RT and let us know which one is your favourite in the comments below! 👇
Another historic first for #Tokyo2020 and the @Olympics and @Paralympics Games. ✨#UnitedByEmotion 5 Minutes Well Spent pic.twitter.com/hirDqAsGCz
— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) February 26, 2020
Press release by Tokyo 2020;
Tokyo, 26 February 2020 – The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) today unveiled official Olympic and Paralympic kinetic sport pictograms, the first time in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games that these have been created. There are a total of 50 pictograms covering 33 Olympic sports and 23 covering 22 Paralympic sports. Their innovative designs aim to reflect the modern era symbolised by the year 2020 and enhance spectator enjoyment of events, both at venues and via TV broadcasting to national and global audiences.
Static sport pictograms were first introduced at the Tokyo 1964 Games, and arose from a need to communicate visually with an increasingly international group of athletes and spectators. The Tokyo 2020 sport pictograms, unveiled in 2019, are designed to subtly communicate the characteristics and athleticism of each sport, as well as artistically highlight the dynamism of the athletes. The new kinetic sport equivalents honour the legacy of past Olympic and Paralympic Games, while emphasising that the Tokyo 2020 Games will be the most innovative Games ever.
In order to reproduce the original pictograms dynamically, the Tokyo 2020 kinetic sport pictograms appear as a series of three movements: appear, static, and disappear. These recreate the three-dimensional movement of athletes in two dimensions, and are able to express more dynamic movements such as twists. Japanese motion designer Kota Iguchi oversaw the development of the kinetic sport pictograms.
He commented, “For the first time in the history of Olympic and Paralympic Games, we have taken on the challenge of animating the sports pictograms. It took more than a year to create them, with input from so many people helping us add movement to the static pictograms, which were developed by a team led by graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura. The new kinetic sport pictograms will broaden the appeal of each sport by means of their beautiful and more easily conveyed expressions. I hope that they will brighten up each of the events and, while a creation of the Tokyo 2020 Games, I hope they will be passed on to future Games as a legacy for the future, as well as inspiring video designers in other countries.”
The kinetic sport pictograms will be used to depict individual sports at competition venues and during the broadcast of events. They will also be used on the Tokyo 2020 website and social media channels as well as featuring in digital signage, aiming to showcase some of Japan’s more innovative technologies to the world.
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has unveiled the design of the pictograms for the next Paralympic Games.
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Press release by Lausanne 2020:
ERACOM, whose apprentices have already created Lausanne 2020’s mascot “Yodli”, which was introduced to the public early this year, gathered three classes from its graphics department for this new project. A total of 36 apprentices worked together to produce the 16 pictograms, which represent each of the winter sports included in the Lausanne 2020 programme.
Upon the unveiling of the pictograms, Adrien Jenni, Director of ERACOM, said: “We are very proud of these young first-year apprentices, who showed a lot of ambition and hard work towards this one-year project. From around thirty initial proposals, three were shortlisted, with the winner named by a jury including representatives of ERACOM, Lausanne 2020 and the IOC. Just like the mascot, we are delighted to see these pictograms come to life and contribute to the identity of the 2020 Youth Games.”
Once the final pictograms were chosen, a class of fourth year students from the interactive media design programme worked on their animation. These animated pictograms are visible today and will be used on all Lausanne 2020 digital platforms, before and during the Games.
Reflecting on the project, Viviane Morey, coordinator of the Lausanne 2020 projects at ERACOM, said: “To draw inspiration, we mainly focused on the athletes’ movements while practicing the different disciplines. From painting to drawing, and even some experiments using water in the schoolyard to practice Chinese calligraphy, various creative techniques were used! And we are very happy with the result. For us, it is a great source of pride to be able to contribute to the development of an Olympic event.”
Ian Logan, Director General of Lausanne 2020 also expressed his gratitude towards the project, adding: “The success of Lausanne 2020 will partly be measured by its impact within schools. Today, hundreds of young people are involved in the preparation of Lausanne 2020, developing new skills and knowledge in a variety of areas. The commitment of the youth is part of our project’s DNA and I would like to thank ERACOM for this high-quality work and fruitful collaboration. We look forward to working on more projects together.”
The Medal Design Competition for Lausanne 2020 is now open. Visit medal-design-competition.com for the rules and guidelines.
The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has unveiled the design of the pictograms for the next Olympic Games.
Facts & Figures
Concept video
Introduction video
Pictograms Frame type
Pictograms Free type
Emblem
Pictograms
Poster
Mascot
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