Olympic pictograms

The pictogram design of the Beijing Olympics are done in curved singular lines which are based on the idea of "Beauty of Seal Characters". Seal script is an ancient form of Chinese calligraphy that lends itself to the pictogram design. By incorporating the aspect of Chinese calligraphy within their design, the pictograms become more identifiable with the Chinese games and also carries a sense of pride.

The pictogram designs for the 1972 Summer Olympics are based on Otl Aicher's grid which produces a minimalist and rigid design for the events. The angled, non curved lines of the design do not capture the same passionate and dynamic movement involved in an Olympic game. These designs emphasise on the function over the form and remain static on display.

The pictograms of the Rio 2016 games are much similar to the Beijing Olympic designs. The curved lines convey dynamism and are reflective of the vibrant, emotive people that live in Rio. Also through the use of colours, the pictograms reflect the Festival atmosphere that is famous in Brazil annually. 

The pictograms of London 2012 keep in with the official logo design with its angled edges. There's more imagery included within these unlike the others where simplicity was key. The pictograms show more of the human form and include more accurate pictures of the equipment within the sport.

The common design aspect throughout these pictograms are the decisions to leave the head of the body disconnected and to leave the arms and legs simply drawn. The main focus of these pictograms is to capture the movement of the human body and to make the sport identifiable. Another design aspect of the pictograms is that they keep in line with the design of the official logo. This is to create a form of consistency throughout a forms of signage used in the Games.

Using Otl Aicher's grid as a design template, I created my own pictogram for fencing.

In my first sketch there were a few problematic areas that failed to convey my aims of movement and athleticism. Firstly is that the extended was too short against the length of the body. This made it look disproportionate as compared to the length of the other limbs. The gap in between the mask and the body was too big and made it look like the character's head was floating. The thinness of the fencing sword was also an issue for scaling.

The improvements made in the second sketch were mainly muscle definition and the length of the arm. The arm was extended to keep in balance with the figure profile. Muscle definition such as the slight curve along the front thigh and the notch along the leg, was added to emphasise the athleticism of the Olympic athletes. The previous sketch look static in composure and the muscles help add dynamism in an otherwise motionless pose. The muscle definition along with the slight bend in the limbs help give the pictogram more of a realistic image. The addition of angle to the end of the limbs also add to the realistic theme by implying that the character has hands/feet. The gap in between the mask and body was reduced and shifted slightly forward to mimic that of a real fencer. The thickness of the fencing sword was increased as well to tackle scaling issues.