This is a guest post by Dan Rhatigan, Type Director UK and Allan Haley, Director of Words and Letters, Monotype Imaging

Since the introduction of the modern Olympics in 1896, graphics have been used to capture the spirit of sport as well as the time, place, and culture of the host city.

All along, typography has played a huge part in setting the tone and binding other graphic elements together. With technological advancements in typography as the world moves digital, these visual representations have evolved, and their role has become a hybrid solution of facilitating seamless communication between the games and its audience (much like a brand would communicate with customers) and creating a lasting legacy for the tournament.


At first, hand-lettering echoed the illustrations of the promotional artwork, from the inscribed Greek of the first games in Athens to Olle Hjortsberg's exuberant Art Nouveau lettering for Stockholm in 1912 to Walter Herz's more subdued lettering for London in 1948, reminiscent of the iconic London Underground alphabet. The letters and the pictures were treated as a unified visual expression.

By the 60s, the visual aspect of the games embraced contemporary graphic design principles, with the "total design" of the Tokyo 1964 games introducing abstract pictograms and comprehensive sans serif typography to communicate Japan's modernity. The simple red Japanese sun, five Olympic rings and sans serif typeface of the 1964 logo still resonates as an icon of contemporary design. The iconic graphics of the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City used custom type that mirrored Lance Wyman's dazzling op-art graphics to "transform the games into a Mexican fiesta."

Read next The engineering tricks hoping to take Team GB's Paralympians to victory The engineering tricks hoping to take Team GB's Paralympians to victory

The 1972 Munich and the 1976 Montreal games both used the Univers family with a clean, typographic idealism that echoed, in design's language, the same ideals of cooperation as the games themselves -- typography freed from the messy realities of everyday life.

This "international style" of typography continued for years afterwards, a fitting solution for the increasing complexity of the Olympics' graphic needs, but also in keeping with the rise of the sans serif in commercial design and branding. Now and then, such as with the use of Georgia in Atlanta in 1996, a serif typeface took the main stage to convey a more stately, ceremonial atmosphere.


In recent years, a more playful, expressive approach to type has become common. While sans serifs are still used extensively, the key visuals such as those for Sydney in 2000,

Beijing in 2008, and the upcoming 2016 games in Rio use soft-edged scripts for a spirit of movement, friendliness and warmth.

Delving deeper into London's Olympic Games logo, we can see how technology is having an impact on the style of logos. Based on the numbers "2012" and a custom typeface design, the logo for the 2012 London Olympic Games is, perhaps, the most controversial design in the 116-year history of the modern games. Developed by the branding firm Wolff Olins, the logo has been reviled by graphic designers, bloggers, design critics -- and the general public.

In the New York Times, Alice Rawsthorn observed that "it looks like the graphic equivalent of what we Brits scathingly call 'dad dancing' namely a middle-aged man who tries so hard to be cool on the dance floor that he fails".

The custom typeface, named "2012 Headline", is an odd combination of characters vaguely looking like a melding of Greek stone carving and graffiti lettering. All letters are angular and slanted -- with no curved strokes, save the cap and lowercase "O" -- which are also upright in design. Perhaps these are intended to pay homage to the Olympic rings.


In fairness to the design, however, it is not intended for informational elements. It is meant to create awareness, impact and memorability as a headline typeface. 2012 Headline is combined with Futura (a much more legible typeface design) for textual content. The edgy type is meant to capture the sense of vitality, if not quite a sense of warmth.

In addition to triggering controversy, the custom typeface for the 2012 London Games certainly carries on the tradition of designs that are striking and powerful. It remains to be seen if it will also be iconic.

UPDATE: The previous version of the London 1948 Olympic logo appeared to have been incorrect. We have replaced it with a correct verison.