Branding the Olympics—“worst practices” in design

While the Olympic games themselves are steeped in excellence and “best practices” in athletics—the design of the 2020 Olympic logo has spiraled into an example “worst practices” in graphic design.This past September the 2020 Tokyo Olympic logo that was designed by Kenjiro Sano was scrapped when he was accused of design plagiarism. Sano’s design has characteristics of a logo designed by Belgian designer Olivier Debie for the Theatre de Liege.Initially, organizers defended Sano, but then changed their minds, asserting that using a logo that is not supported by the public is not in their best interests and the success of the Olympics. Instead, they decided to crowdsource the logo design, opening it up to anyone. The organizers received nearly 15,000 entries from people competing for $8,250 and tickets to the opening ceremonies.This week AIGA firmly stated their position with an open letter to the Tokyo Olympic committee. Executive Director Ric Grefé discussed several reasons why crowdsourcing logos is damaging to designers, the highlights follow:

• Crowdsourcing takes advantage of designers, asking them to work countless hours without a guarantee of any compensation. Furthermore, the amount of the proposed award, is much lower than what the appropriate compensation would be for a brand identity that will have global value, being reproduced millions of times.
• By opening the contest to the general public, the committee demonstrates a complete lack of respect for trained and experienced professionals.
• The valuable collaboration with the client when creating a brand identity is completely ignored with crowdsourcing , compromising the ethics and global standards for professional designers.

U.S. designer Michael Raisch’s response to the controversy echoes AIGA’s stance. With over a decade of experience in sports branding, Raisch thinks that crowdsourcing brand identity devalues creative professional careers and thei contributions to the world. He decided to point to the absurdity of the committee’s decision to crowdsource the logo by opening the contest up to three-year-olds, emphasizing the point that crowdsourcing results in amateur work. Raisch created an endearing video about the experience entitled, “A 3 Year Old Explains the Olympic Logo.”The contest just closed this past week—stay tuned for the results—no doubt more controversy is in store.http://eyeondesign.aiga.org/against-crowdsourcing-logo-design-an-open-letter-from-aiga-to-the-tokyo-olympic-committee/http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/02/sport/tokyo-olympic-logo-scrapped/index.htmlhttp://www.designweek.co.uk/a-three-year-old-could-have-designed-that-the-olympic-logo-made-by-a-toddler/