Now that the 2014 FIFA World Cup is over, much focus and energy in Brazil is now being poured into preparations for the upcoming 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio. In honor of the official Opening Ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games being only two years away, the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee has unveiled their new ‘Look of the Games’.
An in-house design team of the Olympics Organizing Committee created this new visual identity for Rio 2016. Apparently, the design team worked on this new visual identity for over a year and I have to say that I am quite impressed with the results. The new visual identity accompanied by the Rio 2016 logo is meant to represent Rio’s own cultural diversity and vibrancy. It is a dynamic new look that is supposed to represent the Brazilian people and their energetic culture while also commemorating some of Rio’s most recognizable landscapes. The in-house design team sought to create a look that had an “organic and all-embracing feel, that gives the impression of a hug, inspired by nature’s beauty and human warmth.”
The 2016 Rio logo and new visual identity will be used at all of the Olympic sporting sites throughout Rio as well as on all of the Olympic paraphernalia. As we all watch the games in 2016, we will see this new visual identity on all the event tickets, team uniforms and any of the official Olympic products being sold around the world.
Beth Lula, Rio 2016’s Brand Manager, explains, “We hope that Rio 2016 will be the Games of the people, a memorable celebration of the kind that only we can offer.”
I think that the 2016 Olympic logo and this new visual identity is great. The new visual identity really gives the 2016 Olympic Games a very festive, colorful and light feel which really sets the tone for this joyous celebration. I feel like it is a very special and original visual identity that really highlights Rio’s unique charm and beauty. Of course, there are always nay-sayers out there that will likely make fun of this visual identity. I can just imagine it now, how people will complain that it is just a splotch of ink, a meaningless mesh of lines and colors or even somehow a sexual innuendo, but I just don’t see it and I have to outright disagree. I think that this new visual identity for Rio 2016 is a great piece of design and art and that, instead of being picked on as we tend to do in the design community, this new logo and visual identity should be celebrated and displayed with pride all around Brazil.
Image below: “Football town” icons - Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and Sao Paulo.
The new visual identity meshes really well with the logos for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Here they are:
