Who Wants to Design The London 2012 Mascots?

The Guardian are running a story about London 2012 putting a call out for a design agency to create the mascots for the 2012 Olypmpic Games in London:

London 2012 has put out a brief to find a creative agency for the important task of creating mascots to represent the capital's Olympic Games, including issuing guidance that it must "reflect the best of British".

Pressure on the Olympic Mascot Designers

Whoever takes up the challenge will be under a lot of scrutiny, especially since the criticism of the 2012 Olympic Logo. It has to envoke both the spirit of the Olympics and a sense of Britishness. Whatever they create will be everywhere in the lead up to the 2012 London Games, on signs, pens, tshirts, coffee mugs, tv commercials, etc.

Placing additional pressure on the creators is Chris Townsend, the London 2012 commercial director, who's saying that the revenue raised via the mascot is a crucial part of the plan to raise the £2bn needed for the games.

But no pressure guys...

History of Olympic Mascots

Some history of the mascots from previous Olympics is also presented in the article:

The Beijing Olympics used a series of five mascots called Fuwa, while the Athens games in 2004 used a brother and sister called Athena and Phevos, named after two Greek gods.

In 2000 the Australians used Ollie the kookaburra, Syd the platypus and Millie the echidna; a strange creature called Izzy represented Atlanta in 1996; while Barcelona used Cobi the Catalan sheepdog in 1992.

1988's Olympic games in Seoul featured Hodori the tiger; the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Sam the eagle; and the Russian games in Moscow in 1980 used Misha the bear.

I hope they come up with something creative for London 2012, not just a British Bulldog!

What Do You Think?

Do you think that the mascot for the London 2012 Olympic Games will be great, or not so great?

If you were a design agency, would you apply to create the logo and go for the glory, or is there just too much pressure for it to be worth the risk?

Wraparound Video Screen Proposed For London Stadium

The Guardian recently reported that the London Olympic stadium could be wrapped in a kilometre-long video screen.

This move seems to be an attempt to rival the defining visual image presented by Beijing’s Olympic Precinct. In light of the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium and Watercube, London is now trying to define “the look” of the London Olympics.

The Guardian reports that:

The stadium's architect, Rod Sheard, is advocating a kilometre-long screen that would establish the London games as the first digital Olympics. Everything from images of main events to Olympic-inspired art could be projected on to the screen and Olympic officials confirmed the idea was to be developed in the coming year.

Sheard has considerable expertise, having designed the Sydney Olympic stadium and Wembley stadium. He also said:

"The London Olympic stadium will be the beginning of digital technology. We see the stadium as the ultimate communication device."

It seems that the screen would be wrapped around the scaffolding supporting the seating. Originally this ‘wrap’ was to supposed to have static images of the Olympics, but they are now considering the kilometre long digital video screen.

I’m less than convinced about this idea. It has potential, but this move smacks of desperation and the need to try to match Beijing. There have already been several statements from various involved parties stating that there will be no increase in budget and there is no doubt that a kilometre-long screen would considerably blow out the budget.

I think London would be better off forgetting Beijing and trying to do their own thing, in their own way, within the budget available to them.

Boris Johnson confident that Beijing won't beat London

The Guardian recently reported that the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said that Beijing won't beat London. Boris made his comments during his recent trip to Beijing to take possession of the Olympic flag, on behalf of London, at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Boris said:

"We have been dazzled, we have been impressed, we have been blown away by these Beijing games, but we have not been intimidated. I am convinced we can do just as well in 2012

There have been many questions within the media about whether London can match the spectacular Opening and Closing Ceremonies staged by the Chinese and the superb facilities present in Beijing, particularly in light of the huge budget spent by the Chinese Government.

The Guardian reports that:

The London 2012 budget is just over half the £20bn that Beijing has spent, but Johnson insisted that the capital would not see a "mean, penny-pinching austerity show".

Boris also said that the tremendous success of the British team at the Beijing Olympics had converted the skeptics and fostered a state of excitement about the Olypmics in London.