The two men behind the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games logo finally broke their silence in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, saying they were proud of the design and even pleased about some of the criticism of the logo.
Brian Boylan, chairman of Wolff Olins, the consultancy responsible for the 400,000 pound design said, “let’s be clear – we won’t change the design at all. We are proud of it. It will go down in history. We have created something original in a world where it is increasingly difficult to make something different”.
Patrick Cox, leader of the design team that created the logo said, “it wasn’t created to be warm and fuzzy. Its design is intentionally raw which means it doesn’t immediately sit there and ask to be liked very much. It was meant to be something that did provoke a response, like the little thorn in the chair that gets you to breathe in, sit up and take notice”.
Boylan, who was in charge of the project said, “I don’t think brands need only to be lived any more. They need to be useful, in terms of providing participation and a platform for people to do things with them. I think that is what this is going to be remembered for “.
The Telegraph reports that Boylan admitted he had been surprised by the intensity of the criticism, but said that his travels to Switzerland and Denmark in the last two weeks had convinced him that opinion was getting behind the design.
When asked if most Britons would ever love it he said, “we are not confident or unconfident. The public will judge”.
Chris Townsend, the commercial director of London 2012, said he had been enthusiastic when shown the first drafts of the logo just before Christmas. He said, “the senior management team was unanimous. We saw other designs, but this was the one. The more the brand is understood, the more it will be loved”, adding, “we were creating something we hope reflects the spirit of our times, party youthfulness, and also the sense of participation”.
He said the logo is intended to be a “blank canvas”, a set of blocks in which people can place images of their choice. It is hoped that a “non-commercial” version will be available next year for use by bodies such as amateur sports clubs.
Cox said, “when people are saying that a child could have done it, or are coming up with their own designs, that’s what we want. We want everyone to be able to do something with it”.
