Pictograms, dressing of sites and cities, Paris 2024 has revisited and energized the look of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A new stage on the road to the Games
After the logo (a woman’s face) unveiled in October 2019, the emblem of a single French team (with a “ coq de combat looking victory in the face) presented in March 2020, the announcement of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in the city announced in October 2022 and the mascots (the phryges) unveiled in November 2022, the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11 ) and Paralympics (August 28-September 8) of Paris 2024 continue to shake up the lines with the presentation, this Wednesday, of the pictograms and the visual dressing of the events, elements of a vast graphic and aesthetic environment at the service of a flourishing creative ambition capable of transmitting emotions. By highlighting the French spirit made of audacity and aesthetics. Pictograms first appeared in the Olympic universe in Tokyo in 1964.
The pictograms of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 and Mexico City in 1968. Paris 2024
“It is a visual sign, a symbol which represents a sporting discipline, a universal language which allows, whatever the nationality or the alphabet, to understand where we are and what we are talking about. In 1992 the Barcelona Olympics decided to draw the pictograms using the same “brush stroke” as their emblem. With this break, the pictograms have become an integral part of the design of the Games. They are no longer just a technical drawing but they bring something in terms of design. We are always in the expression of a sporting gesture, of an athlete practicing to make people understand what discipline it is. A catalog that was found on entrance tickets or on signage in the city”summarizes Julie Matikhine, director of the Paris 2024 brand.
The pictograms of the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992, Lillehammer in 1994 and Athens in 2004. Paris 2024
Lillehammer in 1994 declined the disciplines through an engraving of more than 4,000 years. Sydney in 2000 (around the boomerang) and Athens in 2004 (reference to the Ancient Games) and Tokyo in 2021 (animated version celebrating the digital age) then followed suit. Paris 2024 is now adding its touch to it.
The pictograms for the Paris 2024 Games. Paris 2024
Julie Matikhine adds: “ The IOC had not imagined that we would work on the subject of pictograms in this way, but when we went to see them with the desire to renew the exercise, they were delighted and aware of the challenge of reconnecting with a new generation of consumers of the Games. »
Pictograms, the innovative touch of Paris 2024
« We are setting up a conceptual revolution. Beyond the challenge of technical signage, our desire is to make sport coincide as we consume and practice it, with the graphic ingredients to accompany it. », Details Julie Matikhine. The visual novelty is that there is not the slightest athlete on the pictograms. The visual privileges, for each sport, the axis of symmetry and two elements are added: an element of the field (for example the target for archery) and an essential element for the practice (the arrow in the case the archery).
The archery pictogram for the Paris 2024 Games. Paris 2024
For the Paralympic disciplines, the wheelchair becomes a central element of the pictogram. 62 pictograms were produced (8 are common to the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines).
The armchair fencing pictogram for the Paris 2024 Games. Paris 2024
Blind football pictogram for the 2024 Games. Paris 2024
Rowing pictogram for the Paris 2024 Games. Paris 2024
Pictograms which, before and after the Games, could be declined and accompany sports practice to land, for example on a board or a surf suit, dress up an urban football field, through lines of clothing, products … With their particularly stylized, colorful design, these coats of arms will also contribute to bringing the world of sport and culture closer together, in the public space, by being visible to as many people as possible. “With coats of arms, art, the French spirit and sport come together to create a new kind of pictograms”sums up Tony Estanguet, the president of the Organizing Committee for the 2024 Paris Games, who adds: “ The look is the identity of the Games. It’s the skin that adorns competition venues, cities and celebration areas for weeks to come. It is what is seen on television by billions of viewers, what is perceived by the millions of spectators in the stands and celebration areas, it is what the media reports. The look is what should most simply and intuitively embody the spirit of an edition. It is therefore an essential element of the Games. »
The frescoes to take care of the image of the Olympic Games
How to summarize in a visual the style ” games. A figure of speech for designers and graphic designers. A patchwork that will be displayed on banners, posters, banners. “ This is how the cities, the celebration sites and the enclosures, the sidelines, the tickets, the communications will be dressed… We wanted it to be colorful and festive because since 2016 and Rio de Janeiro we no longer had a Summer Games in the presence of spectators in the stadiums, supporters or visitors in the streets. So there will be color but not just anyhow. Paris is, in the world, the city of art, research is aesthetic. We want to offer an experience that resembles our art of living, our culture with an art deco style », pose Julie Matikhine.
Sketch of what Beaubourg could give during the Games in 2024. Pompidou, key player in the Cultural Olympiad – Charles Leonard/Shutterstock.com
The dressing of the various host cities (Marseille, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, etc.) and of the Olympic and Paralympic sites will be the same, and will be available in the same range. And the look will be customizable for communities with architectural, heritage, cultural, sporting and lifestyle symbols specific to each of them. In the minds of the creators, cobblestones will pile up, combine to compose a fresco which, when assembled, will adorn the streets, stadiums and enclosures, even monuments and places of passage (town hall, airports, Beaubourg, etc.).
Study of the image that the Champs-Élysées could convey during the Games in 2024. Paris 2024
« For Paris, this unites the chimneys of Beaubourg, the Musée d’Orsay, bridges, the Eiffel Tower, a balloon, the Arc de Triomphe, a heart… whether you see it or not, it’s a graphic story that allows you to appreciate the composition or take time to try to read and interpret it sums up Julie Matikhine.
The quays of the Seine imagined in 2024. Jean-Baptiste Gurliat/City of Paris
The concept will be broken down into eight modules (vertical, horizontal, small, etc.) and in four colors (pastel shades of red, green, purple, blue, supplemented with the gold of the sign and white, the common point between these families of colors being pink; red being, for television reasons, excluded from the sites) following a graphic bible which will be used by the communities, the host cities, the partners and the broadcasters.
Colors on sites, kits in schools
The dressing and colors device has been tested and approved by the athletes (via the Athletes’ Commission), schoolchildren will quickly be able to get hold of it. Kits will soon be available. So if the time is still in the hope of obtaining tickets for the events, the organizers are already plunging their hands into the color box. Julie Matikhine describes: “ At the edge of the field, for example during the archery events at the Invalides, the color intensity will be reduced a little. The hero is the sport, the athlete. The look of the Games comes to magnify the performance, is the ground of all the exploits, of all the emotions but is not the star. The Stade de France will offer a renewed visual and television experience with a purple track. The Porte de La Chapelle Arena will be equipped with LEDs displaying the appearance of the Games. On the Champs de Mars stadium, during beach volleyball, the intensity of the panels will be less on the first rows so that the cameras are not disturbed by too many colors. At the aquatic center, the tones will be blue, the dressing having to be reflected in the water, otherwise it harms the capture of the image and it harms the athlete… »
Study on the aquatic center for the 2024 Games. Paris 2024 / A 2/3/4 et Venhoeven CS.