The Beijing 2008 Olympic pictograms were designed
to capture the dynamics of modern sports in pictograms inspired by
early written Chinese.
Starting in March 2005, a group of experts from China Central
Academy of Fine Arts and Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua
University dedicated their creative powers to their design, which
displays distinct motion, graceful aesthetic perception of movement
and rich cultural connotations.
Such qualities made the pictogram set the final choice of the
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
(BOCOG).
Called "The Beauty of Seal Characters" and containing strokes
resembling ancient Chinese seal characters, the Beijing 2008
pictograms combine the charm of inscriptions on bone and bronze
objects from ancient China with modern athletic movement.
Chinese culture and sports
"The main distinguishing feature of the ancient Chinese
characters is their pictography description using figures, which is
what the Olympic pictograms do," said Hang Hai, assistant professor
of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, one of the leaders of the
design group.
"We decided to use the Chinese seal characters as the basic form
of all the figures and what we had to do next is make them
accurately reflect the movements in each sport."
"For each pictogram, we collected suggestions from many experts
familiar with certain sports," said Qian Zhe, assistant professor
at the Academy of Arts and Design School of Tsinghua University,
another leader of the design group. "After rounds of improvement,
we chose the most representative movement from each sport.
"In basketball, for example, we considered two main movements,
shooting the ball and dunking, at the very beginning. Since
shooting has rarely been used in Olympic icons before and is more
appropriate with other sports, we decided on dunking."
According to Qian, like basketball, over 10 icons among the
total 35 experienced multiple revisions.
"Because we had to use the most accurate movement to describe
all the sports, as well as give consideration to the entirety, many
icons were revised time and time again, such as the trampoline and
gymnastics," Qian said. "We had to pay attention to all the details
of a certain movement."
Within the 2008 Olympic pictograms, there are 35 different
icons, which cover 37 disciplines from all of the 28 Olympic summer
sports. The icons represent athletics, rowing, badminton, baseball,
basketball, boxing, canoe / kayak flatwater, canoe / kayak slalom,
cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, artistic gymnastics,
rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, handball, hockey,
judo, wrestling, swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water
polo, modern pentathlon, softball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis,
shooting, archery, triathlon, sailing, volleyball and beach
volleyball.
The three disciplines of cycling are embodied in one icon.
The images, which have been approved by the 28 International
Federations and by the International Olympic Committee, will be
widely used during the Games, appearing on signage, adverts,
souvenirs, official publications, TV images and many other forms of
visual communication.
Distinguishing characteristics
"There are two distinguishing features concerning the
pictograms, the first one is that they strongly display traditional
Chinese culture," said Zhang Ming, vice director of the Culture and
Ceremonies Department of BOCOG.
"The other one is that they are much different from those in the
previous Games."
According to Zhang, seal characters were used by several other
candidates.
"Since we invited several professional organizations to hand in
original designs, all the proposals were of high level," said
Zhang. "Some of them were based on paper-cuttings, woodcarving and
inscriptions on bronze, all of which carried the idea of
traditional Chinese culture.
"Seal characters won unanimous approval at last because they not
only feature the particular movement and dynamism of each sport,
but are also easy to recognize, remember and use."
Next: Overall Olympic image
Together with the Beijing 2008 Olympic emblems -- Chinese Seal,
Dancing Beijing, and the Olympic mascots -- Five Friendlies -- the
Olympic pictograms are also an important component of the Olympic
image and look.
As revealed by Zhang, the creation of the collective Olympic
image and look will start from next year.
"An image system will combine all these single components
together to display an overall Olympic look during the 2008 Games,"
said Zhang. "After all the key components are worked out, we will
gradually start to decorate all the venues, including all the
competition venues, training venues, airport, hotels and the media
centre, from the beginning of next year."
According to Zhang, design for all the other important
components, such as the torch, uniforms, tickets and accreditation
cards, are undergoing now.
"We will also use them to decorate the whole city before the
2008 Games," Zhang added.
(China Daily September 1, 2006)