As a graphic designer - the Opening Ceremonies at the Tokyo Olympics had one segment that
definitively blew my socks off: the tribute to pictograms. Not only was it was masterful TV, it
also showcased the utility and undeniable charm of the humble pictogram. So in this video we'll dive
deep on these mini masterpieces - I'll explain how pictograms became integral to the Olympics,
where they came from, the design challenges involved and i'll try my hand at designing one
myself for a sport you probably won't expect. So make like a figure, and stick around.
A pictogram is a graphic symbol that represents a concept or item. Much like the icons we use in
apps every day, pictograms are usually part of a larger set or library which share a common visual
style. While there were a handful of earlier instances of pictograms, the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
was the first major international event to use pictograms to help non Japanese speakers navigate
not only the sports, but also facilities and venues around the city. This was the first
time this form of visual communication had been formalised, deployed and tested at such scale.
Beyond the 20 pictograms for each of the sports represented at the games,
and additional 39 service pictograms were developed to communicate everything from
bus stations, to laundry to saunas. Including the first time these symbols became the standard for
toilets. The symbols we encounter on a daily basis in public spaces owe a debt to this first testing
bed for the concept. A picture is worth a thousand words, or at least a dozen languages. Particularly
when it comes to events and spaces where visitors may not be literate in the local language.
Looking at this set of twenty, designed by Yoshiro Yamashita,
they still hold up strikingly well. Assuming you're familiar with them,
each sport is quickly identifiable. With very little ambiguity between any two pictograms.
Yet the whole set fits together well. If I had to nit pick, I would say that judo and
weightlifting stick out for being the only 2 with figures front-on instead of in profile,
as well as sailing for having no human figure in it. But overall, it's very successful and to
the point. So successful that they've become an integral part of the Olympics ever since.
The following summer games in Mexico 1968, were a complete stylistic departure. And while overall,
the visual identity of those games was very iconic, the pictograms were less so. Rather
than focusing on the human figure, they went more abstract, with sporting equipment or a
single limb standing in to represent the athlete. From a cohesiveness perspective,
this set is much less even than the previous. Some icons are very simplified, with geometric,
inorganic shapes, yet others seem like someone traced a photograph. I love these interlinked
arms for wrestling. But side by side with this arm for swimming - I can't tell if these fingers
are outstretched or in a fist. How would this hand go inside this rounded-square boxing glove?
It certainly feels like they were designed by separate people without a common vision.
The next Olympics at Munich 1972 went to the other extreme. In behaviour that could be
borderline-offensively stereotypical for Germans, this set of pictograms designed by Gerhard Joksch
was rationalised into a rigid grid system of exclusively 90 and 45 degree angles. It
goes even further in abstracting the human form than the Tokyo team. Because of that,
and the exacting control over every visual aspect of the games by lead designer Otl Aicher,
it definitely feels consistent, but I think there are cases where the rigidity of that system
actually makes it hard to quickly grasp the meaning. This symbol made me think of a baseball
player skidding into home base, not sailing, the forms of the sail being so recessive. This
gymnast too, looks more like a ballerina, with a possible deformity of the rib cage.
In fact, this ultra rational system ends up giving the athletes across the set extreme differences in
neck length, which is somewhat disturbing. Having said that, the football and boxing pictograms are
fantastic and remain iconic to this day, and the legacy of this system was felt for decades after.
In fact they were so successful that they used the same system with a few modifications
for the following Olympics in Montreal 1976.
Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 84 and Seoul 88 all feel like variations on a theme.
In 1992 however, we get the first break away from that formalism. Instead we get these expressive
brush strokes in a much looser design by Josep Maria Trias and his team. I believe there are
two reasons this happens in 1992. Firstly, by this point, it's been almost 30 years since
the public first encountered modern pictograms in 64. People are used to seeing them - in airports,
hospitals and in sports. It feels safer to break with convention now that it's become established.
Secondly, we see the introduction of digital design tools around this time. I'm going to
take an educated guess here, and assume to make these pictograms, Trias was creating many hundreds
of different brush strokes using analogue media, like markers, scanning that into a computer then
cleaning up, manipulating and arranging those elements digitally. That would have been much
harder to pull off using film transfers and traditional tools of the pre-digital era.
The next evolution in the pictogram came two years later at the Lillehammer winter games in Norway.
While I won't go into the Winter Olympics in this video, this one had a major impact across
both games. Sarah Rosenbaum and the Designgruppen team really integrated the local history in a way
never seen before. Taking inspiration from a 4000 year old rock painting in Northern Norway,
believed to be the first known image of a person on skis. This lead to a movement
away from the classical forms of pictograms for the next decade.
Atlanta 1996 being an outlier in the group for going for something more akin
to classic illustration, in homage to the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympics.
It also takes 1st prize for the most bumtastic pictogram concept.
But in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008
we clearly see the pattern established in Lillehammer. We see a local cultural motif
used in all three, the boomerang, antique vases and ancient seals all serving as the
visual concept that moves the role of the pictogram to more of a cultural signpost.
For London 2012 and Rio 2016 we pivot slightly from cultural motif,
to seeing the pictogram as more of an extension of the branding of the games. With more emphasis on
harmonising the concept with the Emblem for the games than any cultural artifact. London 2012
actually tried to have it both ways, by having two versions of the pictograms, a silhouette
version for wayfinding and more functional use, and a "dynamic" version used for advertising and
more illustrative usage, with it's crisscrossing lines said to be a nod to the London Underground.
Like most of the identity for 2012, it ended up pretty Marmite. You either love it or hate it.
Rio's pictograms by comparison were much simpler, with fluid lines reflecting the
identity for the games, taking the stroke thickness from the typography of the emblem,
and the unique pebble holding shape being part of the larger brand system. Rio was also notable for
being the first time that each of the Paralympic events received their own individual pictograms.
The first set of sports pictograms at Tokyo 1964 totaled 20. This year's pictograms total
73 - 50 Olympic and 23 Paralympic events. So let's compare the pictograms of this Olympics to
the original set from 64. I'd argue the level of challenge for Masaaki Hiromura and the design team
is much higher than for their counterparts a half century ago. Remember our original criteria. Make
them understandable at a glance, stylistically consistent but also visually distinct from each
other. That last point becomes exponentially harder the more pictograms are added to the set.
Here are a selection of the current pictograms, which we can divide into a few groups.
We have cycling, which is self contained, but then we have water sports, equestrian and ball sports
which all slightly intersect. We have subgroups like racket and paddle sports, and ball sports
pictograms where only the top half of the torso is depicted. Each group brings potential for
visual similarities. After all, they all use the same visual elements. The designers have
very cleverly tried to vary the orientation of the figure or the level of crop among groups of icons
which could be easily confused. Golf and hockey, baseball and softball for example,
are deliberate to use top torso versus a full body framing to keep them distinct from each other.
Handball and basketball have similar poses, but are mirrored from each other for clarity.
If that wasn't enough, add in the fact that in recent years, each international
sporting federation has had to sign off on their respective individual pictograms,
and for Tokyo 2020, they've added the extra challenge of adding motion design on top,
and you quickly sense how this is no small undertaking.
Now it's time to put my money where my mouth is and have a go. The next summer games in Paris 2024
are adding a few new sports to the roster - so I decided to take a stab at making at a
pictogram in the Tokyo style for breaking aka breakdancing, ahead of its official debut,
before I show you that, I'm going to ask you to give a like below if you've enjoyed this so far
to appease my algorithmic overlords. Then, I wanted to touch on that amazing live segment
from the opening ceremony. So I hit up my mate Fernand on twitter - he's a fellow
designer with an unrivaled passion for all things live TV. Over to you Fernand.
That's probably the 50th time I've seen this. Thanks Linus! And yes, this is particularly
exciting and geek worthy to me as it combines two of our passions: big huge live shiny events
and graphic design. Bringing it kicking and screaming to 2021, what I particularly enjoyed
is the animation of these. Bringing a 3D dimension to otherwise flat shapes. Dubbed "kinetic sports
pictograms", launched for the first time (which... about time too!) add satisfyingly eased motion,
smooth flowy lines, the motion blur of sorts and a kind of solid animation in step with the
design vernacular that animates in and out to little dots or circles, where it all begins.
And it's all about the little interesting bits of detail which I like. Especially this one
here for the weightlifter. The little tremble as it gets... in.... to... place is amazing.
And what a way to pay homage to them 2021 style, than by making these human figures...
human! Four minutes and 30 seconds of live action, bringing these shapes to life.
Its fast transitions from one form to the other infusing skill and a little bit of humour is
unmistakably Japanese. It's a page taken from one of Japan's long-running entertainment shows
called Masquerade or Kasou Taishou (I'm probably saying that terribly wrong. Apologies to any
Japanese viewers!) This show where its actors and its stage hand actors, being smartly camouflaged,
displayed creative genius in storytelling and action. With well-timed movements to simulate
immersive three-dimensional action. You guys remember the viral matrix ping-pong stage
act which used cleverly hidden stage hands to manipulate the action? This style of performance,
you could say was paid tribute to, in this pictogram display. The clever combination
of camera whip pans and seamless transitions makes this entire sequence an absolute joy to
watch. Points in particular go to: the easiest segway of basketball to its 3x3 counterpart,
the cameo of the stagehand representing the sailing, the hand puppets (we love a good hand
puppet, we do) and the seven hit combo from water polo to artistic swimming. And apart from the very
minor fumble, he held this position, he nailed the landing. I'd say it was a flawless victory!
And with olympic ceremonies typically being absolutely jaw-dropping,
this little segment will definitely go down as one to remember from this is Olympic games.
I'm gonna go watch it again. It's just that good! This is a still image. I'll watch on my phone.
Check out his fantastic channel, Fernand's Live Show Show, for more brilliant telly trivia.
So, to begin designing my own pictogram, I started by investigating poses. I soon
settled on a one handed freeze - it feels quite iconic and distinct to breakdancing.
It also helped for distinctiveness that there aren't too many pictograms already with a figure
upside down. Feeling confident, I found a few reference images, and immediately ruled
some out for being too asymmetrical, the final pictogram has to sit nicely within a circle.
Then I took some references from the existing pictograms to get proportions for the limbs,
head and trunk, and simply lined them up over the reference images
and... no. That looks completely rubbish. Nope, they were somehow
getting even worse!t least I was proving my point, it was not as simple as it might look.
So I changed my approach and looked for something in the original set to base the design off. Aka,
I stole. I found the surfing pictogram had the figure holding the board with a posture
much closer to the pose I wanted than the references I used earlier. From here, I
tweaked and tweaked, trying to find the balance between a realistic pose and visual clarity.
Of course, in real life I would need to come up with a few options, at least two, maybe up to five
to present to the relevant international sporting federation - in this case, the World Dance Sport
Federation - for feedback, and this would only be the first step in the design process.
But this is YouTube and it's purely for entertainment, so I'm going to leave it here.
Good luck to the designers working on the pictograms for Paris 2024.
My only advice is, I wouldn't lean too hard into the emblem thematically, as it looks like the
logo for a hair salon, and nothing good can come from running with scissors. My name is Linus and
I've said pictogram enough to last me the next 4 years. Thanks for watching, see you next time.