It was announced yesterday lunch time that London had won the bid for the Olympic Games in 2012 and the whole country went mental over it. I personally wasn’t that excited about it to be honest - I’ve never really been a huge fan of the Olympics and I doubt much will change over the next 7 years but at the same time, I’m happy for all those involved in the project and for all those Londoners that will be a part of it. (It was also nice to get one up on France but I won’t go there - it could cause too much trouble!)

One thing I did want to touch upon though was the branding for London 2012. I read an article in Computer Arts last month (CA111) about the thinking behind it.

Let’s get the formalities out the way. The logo and branding was developed by London design agency Kino Design. They were up against 1,100 other responses in an open competition which were then shortlisted to seven. From there, a committee of London 2012 members, design experts and stakeholders decided on the Kino effort.

For me, it was the ideas behind the design that grabbed me. Andy Stanfield (of Kindo Design) told Computer Arts:

They wanted an identity that reflected London and the Olympic Bid. We chose the Thames to represent London. It’s timeless, not transient, like man-made landmarks, and it flows through the heart of London. Every Londoner has had some connection with it. Representing the Thames as a flowing Olympic ribbon seemed a natural progression. We used the five Olympic colours in the design to emphasise London’s link with the Games and to represent the diverse culture of London.

They really seemed to think about what the London bid was all about, what represents London, what represents the Olympics, what the Olympics means. The other beauty of the design is that it works across virtually any media. If you visited London, you will probably see adverts for the London 2012 on taxis, buses, posters on the Tube - everywhere. Kino also mocked up an idea of how it would look to have the ribbon wrapped around The Gherkin to show how the brand could be applied to any object, even if it was just a small part of the brand.

By the way, have a look at the official website. While it’s built to Web Standards, I’m not that impressed by the design. It seems very bland and boring for such a big, vibrant event. Hopefully the design team will spend some time on it over the next 7 years.