Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner...

[jadesfire]

I have mixed feelings about the Olympics coming to London in 2012. On the one hand, we hardly ever win anything, so it makes a nice change. On the other, it's going to be an utter disaster, financially and logistically.

And then there's the logo. Which looks like this. Now, it doesn't take much imagination to conjure up all kinds of interpretations for this image, which is frankly embarrassing, especially since it cost £400,000 to develop. I didn't even notice, until it was pointed out, that it's kind of made up of "2012" and a map of London. Kind of.

The really, really bad thing is that there have been some really good amateur ones posted in the last few hours (this one in particular), that look soooo much better than the real thing.

There are days when it's just too humiliating. I shall be wearing dark glasses for the next week...

Comments

[aoife-8.livejournal.com]

Dear Lord, they spent *£400,000* developing that? Don't get me started on how to waste taxpayers' money... *mumbles in an incensed fashion to herself*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's not just you, don't worry! It's infuriating - just such a mess, and it will be for the next 4.5 years.

*grrrrrr*

Although, apparently they all have very clean minds, because no-one seems to have thought that it could be misinterpreted...

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how dull it is. Now many a logo is wasted on me because I'm not especially visually oriented, but this one baffles me completely. I'm glad you've pointed out what it's supposed to be, even if you had to have it explained too. I'd never have got there on my own, I know that much!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's unrecognisable, which is its main problem - you can't remember what it looks like because it's not clever (like the other one I linked to), it's not distinctive and it doesn't really look like anything.

*sigh* This is no longer a disaster waiting to happen - it's happening right in front of us...

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*blinks*

Oh dear. That really is ... amorphous. And if that's supposed to be a map of London, they really should've used a map of the Underground -- I think it's much more recognizable by non-Brits.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

There are some great amateur ones using the tube map or the London Eye - really clever.

And we get random shapes that look like they were leftovers from a primary school papier mache class. $800,000 well spent? *headdesk*

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

That's um...yeah. Don't you love it when big organisations spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on logos and indents that are rubbish (yes, BBC, I'm looking at you as well as the Olympic committee)?

Did no-one actually, you know, look at it before it was approved? I'm dying to see what Paul Merton has to say about it on HIGNFY next week...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's also that you know, if you tip your head sideways and apply a little imagination, you've got something a little...dodgier...than you'd expect... Apparently it's especially bad when it...wiggles... Oh yes, there's an animated version. :S

Either the people who designed had no sense of humour or no imagination. Or are just winding us up.

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was politely glossing over that lest I be accused of having a dirty mind ;D

And it wiggles? o_O

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Okay, I just looked at the logo again and it looks like parts of it are, uh, how to say this? . . . buggering other parts. Good heavens! What were they thinking? What were they drinking when they thought that up?

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I can commiserate. When Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympics, the Olympic mascot, created at huge expense and unveiled to great fanfare, was a giant blue sperm called Izzy, short for What Is It? I kid you not. All Georgians hid their faces in shame at this monstrosity:

(http://photobucket.com)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief. I suppose the one thing to be grateful for is that they can't turn the logo into a mascot. And you're not wrong about what it looks like.

I think Manchester had a lion mascot when the hosted the commonwealth games. There may be hope for us yet.

[pinkamethyst.livejournal.com]

I don't even get that logo. Just looks like weird shaped blobs to me...

I kind of feel like I should be really excited about the olympics because it's such a huge thing. But, well, I'm not that into sport. *roll eyes* I'll probably end up just having a massive party to celebrate them and then not watch any of it.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*grin* I think you and most Londoners - it's still a long way off. And even though I've had a it pointed out, I still can't really see the 2012 that's supposed to be in the logo, unless I kind of squint and turn my head, at which point it looks like something completely different...

[pinkamethyst.livejournal.com]

Do you think it's supposed to turn into something a little dirtier when you turn your head? Or possibly the people who designed it only had one thing on the brain...

[aeshna_uk]

It's never a good idea when they start referring to something as "our brand". They did a big logo redesign at work a couple of years back - costing an utter fortune and resulting in every member of staff not on the Board of Trustees asking "is that it?" - and that has now become the "brand", which is meant to embody all sorts of wonderfully corporate things that we're meant to be able to recite on command or something. Nobody on the science side was terribly impressed, needless to say. This one is bad, but we all need something to laugh at occasionally! :)

With the Olympics themselves... it's going to be hell getting there, but I suspect it'll come together (albeit wildly over-budget) in the end. And I find it hard to object to London winning the bid because I lived and studied in the Stratford/Leyton area for many years and they REALLY need the financial input!

(and, you know, the "man, those Parisians are BAD losers!" jokes lightened an otherwise rather annoying day back in 2005.... ;))

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I'm from Walthamstow (where my Mum still lives) so I agree that they need the money. And let's hope that with the already nearly doubled budget, they can pull it all together. I think you're right, but it's going to be a long road to get there.

And, of course, the important thing is not that we won. The important thing is that we beat the French ;)

[szm.livejournal.com]

oh dear...

Just... oh dear. It's really kinda dull, you can't even hate it.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It just doesn't look like anything!

It's probably 'dynamic'... *rolleyes*

[(Anonymous)]

Oh God, that is just dire! Why do they insist on wasting our money on stuff like this when they could have just had a competition? That amateur one you linked to is great!

I have to admit I can't see the map of London at all. And it would have looked so much better without that...blob...in the middle which makes it look indecent.

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

I have this sudden urge to do a macro. I won't quote the text in the interests of keeping decency intact in your journal, but it would include the word "surprise" in it.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I appreciate your concern for the decency of my journal :D Although quite frankly, if I'd linked to the animated version of the icon, you needn't have worried...

[travels-in-time.livejournal.com]

So...you're gonna link, right?

Go stick it over in my journal if you're worried about yours. :D

[unfeathered]

Just seen another comment on this from janedavitt who says there was "a comment on another part of The Guardian's website where someone asked if it was just them or does it look like Lisa Simpson going down on her brother."

Which is the best description of it I've seen yet!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Worryingly, it's also one of the cleanest... ;) Oh dear - 5 years of this? Remind me how I emigrate...

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

*groan* Don't get me started on the London Olympics. It's the worst thing to happen to the economy in ages. I happen to live in one of the areas where a shiny new public transport system was scrapped to fund the games.

Er. Anyway. I must have a very dirty mind, because when I saw it, I went 'Oh dear.' That amateur one was so much better than the real one.