I’d like to call attention to Ian Lynam’s thoughtful essay about Olympics branding; Mr. Lynam gives a selected history of the foundations of recent Olympic design then points to a dangerous management turn being taken for the development of the 2020 Tokyo games. To summarize the important point Ian is trying to articulate: Creating world class graphics for anything—sporting event, corporation, government, charitable enterprise—requires close collaboration between an enlightened project team and an experienced design team. The “cattle call” approach that Tokyo appears to be taking seems on the face of it to be democratic—let everybody have a shot. But opening the project up to a competition is lazy and foolish. It eliminates the possibility for strategic collaboration—good design for large scale projects always grows out of an essential partnership between management and design. Here’s a link to Ian’s essay.
David Laufer is Managing Partner of BrandBook LLC, an Atlanta based design firm specializing in branding for expertise-based enterprises. He is the author of Dialogues with Creative Legends, Aha Moments in a Designer’s Career (New Riders, 2012). He is a founding trustee of the Atlanta Chapter of AIGA, the professional association for Design, and is active in Little Free Libraries, a global literacy action movement. @Dav1dLaufer – www.brandbook.us
