£400,000 well spent - London 2012 logo.

Knee-jerk

Like many others my initial reaction to the design unveiled for the London 2012 Olympics was negative to say the least. The logo, created by Wolff Ollins, is meant to reach out to the 'youth of today' and capture their imagination, but at first glance seemed about as effective as a father pulling on a Hawaiian shirt in an attempt to blend in with his kids.

This was not an uncommon reaction as several articles followed in leading Newspapers, designers blogs (such as David Airey's) and even the BBC invited their readers to submit their own articles, providing some fantastic results.

In fact, considering the cost of the logo, I first thought a much simpler idea have been to open the design up to the public with a simple design brief. Every Graphic designer in the country would have jumped at the chance to have this logo in their portfolio, regardless of any reward offered and, looking at some of the 270 plus designs here, would have left us with something we could all identify with and be proud of.

The Brand

At first glance the 127,000 Google hits for "London 2012 logo" suggest that the logo has caused outrage amongst the general public and media community, however are we missing the point on this one?

Whenever we talk about brands, we hear the words 'awareness' and 'exposure' being banded around as measurements of success, yet here we are with a perfect example of gaining media attention at a relatively low cost and we label it a huge faux pas. Indeed, the logo may not have won the support of the British community, but I doubt it will have any impact on the country's enthusiasm for the games.

What I wonder now is, was this a master stroke by Wolff Ollins who realised, that in modern society, sometimes the only thing that will truly reach the youth market is controversy. By provoking a reaction from their target segment, they have already managed to generate more interest than any multi-million pound endorsement or media campaign could hope to achieve.

Take the bid logo for example, would you have read about it, known who designed it, or perhaps even seen it before London emerged as the winning candidate?

No matter your personal opinion, it is hard to deny that the new Logo seems to have awakened a pride amongst the public, showing that people do care about this country's reputation and specifically now, the Olympics in 2012.