Melbourne Sports Museum Critiques

Athens Olympics logo 2004:
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad was held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto "Welcome Home". The Athens Olympics logo is a wreath made out of an olive tree branch or kotinos, in the natural blue and white colours of Greece itself, it was a watercolor background representing the oceans of this nation, in the exact same color blue used in the Greek flag. The emblem is in reference to an ancient Olympic Games where kotinos was the official award for the champions, while the olive itself was the sacred tree of Athens; linking back to old Greek mythology. I think the logo itself is very simple, yet effective! The design has a strong contrast between the colours, the texture of the background is quite rough and organic while the piece mainly consists of line; the soft strokes are so basic and the overall appeal of the design is authentic and original. In addition, the varying tonal ranges within the background adds interest to the design. This particular Olympic emblem would be classified as Digital Art because of the visual appearance of the design, it has obviously been enhanced using digital technology, the advanced conceptual designing and the underlying symbolic meanings. Athens Olympics logo below:
http://www.sportslogos.net/logo.php?id=6949


Olympic Logo on a flag:
The logo itself consists of five interlaced rings: blue, yellow, black, green and red. The design itself is symbolic and it represents the five inhabited continents of the world united by Olympism, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912. The Olympic flag always has a white background with the rings in the direct center of the flag, it was designed and created specifically for each games which are flown over the host stadium and then retired. Because there is no specific flag for this purpose, the flags flown over the stadiums generally have subtle differences, including minor color variations and more noticeably, the presence (or lack) of white outlines surrounding each ring. The design of the flag itself is also very simple with the use of negative space and obvious hierarchical structure; I believe it is an effective application of a logo, however i think the logo application on the flag would be improved dramatically and should be accompanied with at least some sort of rhythmic, balanced and harmonious background; specific to the host. Olympic logo on the flag example below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Olympic-flag-Victoria.jpg


Bibliography: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Olympic_Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Summer_Olympics
http://www.olympic.org/athens-2004-summer-olympics
http://www.logodesignworks.com/blog/top-10-olympics-logos