Olympic games

Design at the Beijing Olympic games

I have no specific interest in the major sport event that is the Olympic Games. It is way too politicized for me, and the money involved makes the whole thing look more like a big marketing opportunity than a sport reunion.

However, it is still interesting to see how designers are participating in such an event, which I’ll try to do in this article by categories.

Architecture

For the current games, an amazing work has been made to create the necessary infrastructure for the games to take place. World’s most famous architects have been hired to design those stadium, the most famous probably being the National Stadium and its amazing roof, created by Herzog & De Meuron.

Fashion design

Fashion design at the Olympic Games doesn’t have much to do with glamorous magazines covers, but is more a matter of engineers looking for the best material to improve performances. One of the examples of this is probably the LZR Racer high-tech swimsuits.

Graphic design

A lot of graphic design elements are needed to promote such an event, the most viewed probably being the logo, mascots and pictograms.

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