With just over 3 weeks left before the International Olympic Committee names a host for the 2016 Summer Olympics, I thought it’d be interesting to check out the proposals from each of the four remaining contenders — Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro. Today: Chicago.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
The image above shows VSA Partners first two attempts at a logo for Chicago’s Olympic bid, as well as a secondary application of the graphic language (image on the far right). The middle logo is the most recent version after the original design (on the far left) had to be ditched following a rule change that prohibits the use of the Olympic torch in a proposal. Despite the headache this probably caused for VSA, who is apparently working pro-bono on the project, the newest iteration isn’t half bad. Check out some of the posters that have been popping up around town:
More images here, here, and here.
From VSA’s website in June:
The identity is a tribute to Chicago’s unique physical attributes—a world-class location united by water, green space and architecture. The Chicago 2016 logo blends the colors of the five Olympic rings surrounding the city’s six-pointed star, evoking serene blue lakefront, vibrant green landscape and fiery skyline.
While I’m usually not a huge fan of gradients, I’d love to get my hands on one of those posters with the city in the background. Overall, logo v2.0 provides a very strong graphic language for a city looking to host its first Olympic games in FOREVA. It’s simple, unique, flexible, and actually ties into the city quite nicely. However…
ARCHITECTURE
I know this is just in the proposal stages, but seriously, those are the best rendering that the city of Chicago could come up with? If the logo is a 90/100, I’d give these renderings a 15 (baseline 50 for trying; +5 for not using MS Paint; +5 for interesting points of view; -40 for using SketchUp screen shots and poor Photoshopping; +15 for boats underwater; +15 for trying to make Chicago look like Miami in the 80’s; -35 for not even trying to incorporate the various aspects of the kick ass VSA logo into the visual language). On the other hand…
Ok I guess those renderings are a bit better, although the design seems a bit derivative. It seems like they put everything they had into a couple legit renderings and then slapped the rest together in the 11th hour, which ok, we’ve all been there. However, after Beijing, who completely pulled out all the stops with the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest in 2008, Chicago is going to have to come up with something a little more intriguing if they do indeed win the bid. I’ll reserve judgement on the architecture and siting of the various venues until such time, but until then, it definitely appears as if the graphics put together by VSA are pulling most of the weight in this proposal (which makes sense considering they haven’t even won anything yet).
ETC. Brand New on the bid; more renderings from the Chicago Tribune; PDF of the full bid proposal; official Chicago 2016 website.
Up Next: Madrid.
