News: Snøhetta has designed a visual identity for Oslo's bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Snøhetta, an architecture and design firm in Oslo and New York, developed a design that combines geometric shapes taken from the letter O and the number zero, as well as forms that recur in the number two and the letter S.

The rings of the Olympic logo informed the repetition of circles and the choice of colour palette used to render the simple forms.

"The identity of Oslo 2022's visual language honours the inherent simplicity and openness in Nordic culture," said the designers in a statement.

"By balancing playful graphics and strict geometry, the identity represents both the celebration of the Games and the solid planning of the Norwegian bid."

As part of the development process, Snøhetta worked with the bid team to create an initial identity without a logo for the funding application to the Norwegian government. The designers then created the logo and typography, which also included creating architectural elements and signage for a presentation during the recent Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The identity was finally applied to an application document submitted to the International Olympic Committee in March.

Some of the material created by the designers for the bid, including maps of the potential venues, was required to include content and colour coding determined by the IOC.

Branded material produced to demonstrate the application of the identity includes brochures, business cards, a website and a CD ROM, onto which the designers silkscreened the logo's negative space in white, allowing the iridescent surface of the CDs to recreate the colours of the logo.

Oslo is competing with Kraków in Poland, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Lviv in Ukraine and the Chinese capital Beijing for the right to host the Games, with the winner due to be announced on 31 July 2015.

The sinuous Holmenkollen ski jump by JDS Architects would be one of the key venues for the Games should Oslo's bid be successful.

Photography is by Erik Five Gunnerud.