Only in London
Jun 7th, 2007 by Eats Wombats
London awoke yesterday to news that the new Olympic logo would be unveiled “later today.” And what a dud it turned out to be. You have to wonder what kind of focus groups the agency responsible used (moron groups?) — the only remotely credible excuse I’ve seen for this work of imbecility and inelegance. It has been pointed out that past olympic logos were initially reviled and later loved. I think this one this is different; time will tell. But there is no cloud without a silver lining. The Independent today had a small story on this logo, which I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise:
It belonged to the Oriental Studies Institute at a Brazilian university.
When designing a logo, you must always ask yourself whether someone else who looks at it will see a hidden image that was never intended to be there. This particular logo became very popular on the Internet. The Institute hurriedly replaced the original.
This, friends, is a piece of concentrated wombat intestines, or perhaps a terminal view of a wombat’s… never mind! Wombat guts, for the uniniated who have stumbled on this, are brainphrodisiacs. Things that make you laugh aloud or experience feelings of wellbeing… such as when your brain is stimulated by oriental architecture.
Presumably, many people in the Institute looked at the design and saw the sun behind a pagoda. Heaven knows what the chaps in the Wolff Olins agency thought about their new olympic logo. Since they intended it to be “edgy” and “appeal to the young” they probably engaged in some collective suppression of doubts. Nice outfit Mr.Emperor! Today they face international condemnation, mockery, and even an Internet petition calling for the new logo to be scrapped. Well done chaps.
It is a mystery how the suns and pagodas line up.
Last night I had the good fortune to watch a mostly live BBC wildlife program on the goggle box: Spring Watch.. It included a lot of footage of barn owls doing what barn owls do, which is only marginally more exciting than watching paint dry, and … the frolics of some badger cubs. The badgers were delightful to watch.
I couldn’t agree more. The BBC website has a selection of efforts produced by its readers. Of the 20 or so examples figured, at least 19 are better than the official version.
And none of those have so far caused onlookers to suffer epileptic fits, unlike the official logo introduction video …