Second City Does a Second Logo

Posted on June 11th, 2008 by Christine Babick

Last week, Chicago mayor Richard Daley unveiled the city’s new logo to go with its exciting new status as “Candidate City,” moving up the bidding ladder from “Applicant City” for the 2016 Olympics.

VSA Partners created this logo, which is actually the second one. The first one was a skyline torch unveiled last year. The story goes like this:

In the beginning was the torch. It was created in the image of the gods of the Olympics, in the spirit of the everlasting flame. It represented the blue of Lake Michigan, the green of Chicago parks, and the sun over the city in the shape of the Sears Tower. VSA Partners worked on this symbol for many days and many nights in the seventh year after the start of the second millennium. And the designer community looked upon the symbol and saw that it was good.

But it made the International Olympic Committee gods angry. They said, “Thou shalt not create a torch in Our image. Thou shalt not contain the Olympic symbol, the Olympic motto, the Olympic flag, any other Olympic-related imagery [such as] flame, torch, or medal.”

And Chicago said, “Let us commission the design firm to create another symbol like this.” And the design firm begat a symbol that contained the colors of the first one. And the designer community looked upon the second symbol and saw that it was….

What did the designers think about the new one?

One design discussion I “listened in on” brought up issues that could interest those marketers who sit around the design table.

What do you go for in terms of choosing the symbol? Something very established or very individualistic? It seems the answer is both, but how much of one and how much of the other? How do you know when you’ve gone too far in one direction? Which side to err on?

To be examined in my next entry…