Olympic Pictograms
The Pictograms of Tokyo 1964
Since Japanese is not a world language and can hardly be spoken or read outside the island state, other ways had to be found to present a simple orientation system to the many athletes, journalists, functionaries and tourists from almost 100 countries. In retrospect, information at and about the Olympics Games was usually translated into several languages, which often resulted und a jungle of words and sentences. As a consequence, pictograms were designed to create a universal and easily understandable language.
Munich 1972: Sports pictograms pinnacled
For Otl Aicher, the strongly formalised sports pictograms of Tokyo 1964, designed by Katzumi Masaru, were the starting point for the Munich pictograms. Aicher's sports symbols were to be designed from a characteristic pose for each type of sport. The first task was to find out the culmination moment of each individual sport in order to reduce it as simply as possible to a single symbol.
History seeps through in Lilliehammer 1994
Two main types of pictograms were used at the Games: sports pictograms and information pictograms. The aim of the unusual sports pictograms was to underline the connection of the Winter Games with nature and Norway's historical roots. The inspiration came from Norwegian rock paintings that are several thousand years old, such as the oldest depiction of a skier known to mankind: a rock painting discovered on the island of Rodoyin the municipality of Alstahaug in northern Norway. Its age is estimated at 4,000 years.