Chariots of Color 2012 Typographic Mosaics

A series of typographic experiments inspired by the London 2012 Olympiad.

Chariots of color 2012

A typographic experiment inspired by the London 2012 Olympiad.

2012 belongs to London. The capital of England will host the XXX Olympiad. There is a lot of criticism around the London 2012 visual identity. I'm not a real fan of the logo, but I really think the rest of the visual identity is interesting and fresh. I think it suits a city that has never played safe on the design front.

London-based designers have broken the rules many times in the history of visual communication and have expressed new and revolutionary messages. There are three movements born in London that I am particularly attached to: the Arts & Crafts movement at the end of the 19th century, the Punk-New Wave movement, and the Techno-Rave culture at the end of the 20th century. All of them have influenced my work in so many ways. The Arts & Crafts pattern masters are a constant reference for all my pattern- and mosaic-related work.
Punk and New Wave design was the first movement I followed in college.
And Rave culture has been the first internet-centric mass culture and the one that helped digital artists communicate with the masses.

So this is the result of some experimentation on the London 2012 subject during the last 3 months. From the official identity, I have kept only the color palette. I found that the fluorescent colors were the natural continuation of punk rock cover art by Jamie Reid, as well as the main hues of rave culture.
Unlike the punk or rave tradition, I have experimented with only one typeface. I used the PF DIN typeface, which is more commonly associated with Germany than with England. This isn't some humor on the Germanization of Europe. :-) I really think that it suits the industrial spirit I wanted to give to these experiments.

This is the first illustration I created. I used only 2 of the visual identity's main colors: magenta and light blue. I wanted to convey the happy, celebratory feeling of the opening ceremony.

“Let the party begin!”
Gymnastics and the opening ceremony!

The second illustration created was about soccer. The very early origins of football can be found in China, as with almost any other invention on the planet. But the current form of the game is surely from England.
For this illustration, I have used more aggressive, punk-rock forms.

“Back to where it all started!”
Soccer returns to its birthplace.

The third illustration is about Basketball. When talking about Basketball and the Olympics, we cannot help but think of the original USA Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. This is why I have chosen an African American athlete for this illustration as a reminder of that time. Red, white, and blue colors have been chosen for obvious reasons.

Soccer or Basketball are great, but Athletics is the king of any Olympiad. These sports are closer to the noble spirit of the original Olympic Games, as they have been introduced to the world by the Greeks and later by the Romans. I have chosen two of the most popular sports for my experiments. Long jump was one of them.

“Reaching new heights!”
Athletics is the king of any Olympiad

Do you remember the movie Chariots of Fire? The two Brit athletes running for gold, honor, and against discrimination, while the wonderful music of my compatriot Vangelis was playing? Creating graphics for the Olympics cannot be complete without a runner. This is my version of the chariots of colors... I have chosen the Cuban-born Italian athlete Libania Grenot to tell a modern story about gold, honor, and discrimination.
Hope you like it.