The London 2012 Olympic mascots have been revealed. Now, I don't really give a shit about the Olympics in any way, but I appreciate good design, and it's been all over the news, so why not pay attention to it? I wonder if the mascots are any good. I mean we could do with something to offset this...thing...
D: GET IT AWAY!
So yeah, I wonder what we've got in store. Let's see....
Oh good god what are THOSE THINGS?! D:
Yes, it seems that the Olympic committee's mountain of crack they'd been smoking when they designed the logo still has some surplus supplies because, seriously, what the hell?
The last few Olympic games (apparently) have had mascots related to the country it's been held in. So Beijing had, amongst others, a panda. Makes sense. Sydney had, amongst others, an echidna.
No, not him.
So naturally, everyone was expecting something, you know, British. A bulldog, perhaps. A kingfisher was proposed. Or the good old lion idea (even though lions were never British, but they're associated with us anyway, so let's run with it).
But no, we get what are two cycloptic blobs which seem to be the creation of some mental patient suffering terrible fever dreams. The official "story" behind them doesn't help this image.
Quoted from the BBC website, and not edited in the slightest:
"In author Morpurgo's vision, the pair begin life as two drops of steel from a factory in Bolton, taken home by a retiring worker who fashions characters out of the metal for his grandchildren.
They appear to have a single central eye, explained as a camera lens, through which they'll see the world, and respond to it."
WHAT?!
Great, in times of recession with a major sporting event that many people are concerned will financially cripple the country even more, let's remind people of the ailing steel industry up north that many people USED to have jobs in but don't anymore! Let's make something "cute" out of that! HURRAY! Also, just WHAT? So they're weird steel blobs turned into...something by some former steelworker looking to fill his time? OK...right...
I'm so glad I won't be following the event anyway, but as a former media/arts student, I have a tendency to warm to good graphic design, especially when it comes to characters. This just isn't it. I fail to see how this will appeal to children, it makes no sense in terms of national identity (sticking taxi lights on their head hardly counts) and they just generally don't catch the eye in any way, except maybe to go "what the hell are they?" I'm also mildly offended that for the duration of the contest, the rest of the world will be looking at those things as a representation of us as a country. I mean, what are they? Aliens? Robots? What?
I don't know, maybe I'm just a massive cynic. Maybe it's because some other people's suggestions of artists who could have done the job are artists I greatly admire and would actually like to see designs from (such as Nick Park, who would do a phenomenal job, and who's already proven he can create characters people of all ages love). But this? This is just...weird. I know we have a reputation for being eccentric, but this is just plain awful.Next up - the stadium designs. A giant donut with electrified effigies of Jimmy Saville sticking out the side. I can see it now...
