Our second project of the semester is a group presentation on the design systems of the Olympic games.
As a group, we decided to choose to speak about a design system from each decade. I chose the Athens games of 2004. I also volunteered to speak about what a design system is.
A design system is a set of guidelines, components, and assets that ensure consistency, reusability, and alignment across a project or brand. It helps maintain a cohesive visual identity and user experience by providing standards for design elements, typography, colours, layouts, and more. Design systems are essential for creating a unified and coherent brand image and improving efficiency in design and development processes.
Design systems ensure alignment, reusability, and consistency across a project or brand
Taking inspiration from the rich heritage of Olympic graphic design, a new visual system has been created to bolster the brand’s core values, all the while enhancing consistency and recognition through numerous applications. The evolved Olympic brand identity also adds purpose and emotion to a brand whose influence extends beyond the organisation and the Olympic Games to all stakeholders and personnel connected with the Olympic Movement
The Olympic brand design system balances consistency and flexibility. The Olympic design system is focused on branding and identity design, but also provides examples of illustrations and graphic elements.
Beyond just the emblems, there is an expansive visual identity (referred to as the “Look of the Games”) that tells us a larger narrative about the host city and the nation. It becomes a part of the current design landscape and in time, a part of the design history.
The Summer Games in Athens brought the Olympics back to its origins in Ancient Greece. With such a wealth of history to explore and interpret, the look of the Games had to honour that heritage but also bring it into the future.
Imperfect illustrative details throughout the system brought a humanistic character to the design, from the analogue feel of the olive wreath emblem to the coloured bands of varying widths that overlapped and framed applications. Unlike modernist approaches, this look of the Games embraced expressive line over mathematical precision and allows for a flexible system which is warm and inviting rather than authoritative and corporate.
Taking inspiration from ancient Cycladic figures and terracotta vase paintings, the pictogram collection instantly communicates the host city’s culture. Along with the colourful shades of blues and oranges, the system also incorporates neutral stone shades reminiscent of ancient architecture; in this way creating a mosaic of the old and new coming together.
Phevos and Athena
The names of the two mascots are a reference to two gods of Olympus: “Phevos” is another name for Apollo, the god of light and music; Athena is the goddess of wisdom and protector of the city of Athens. The two mascots thus symbolise the link between Ancient Greece and the Olympic Games of the modern era.