What do the 2016 Olympic Games and the Telluride Foundation have in common? Nothing, really, apart early their similar logos. According to Internet sources, the logo bore striking similarities to the logo of Telluride Foundation, a charitable establishment based in Colorado, USA. The Brazilian media, in fastidious, was quick to annotation the similarity.
The Brazilian organizers of the 2016 Olympic Games exposed the new logo to an audience of about 1 million people in an elaborate New Year’s Eve have fun in Copacabana Beach. Within a few hours with the logo was launched publicly, the Web was already abuzz with comparisons and speculations of the real and original source of the logo.
Similar Colors, Similar Elements
The new 2016 Olympic Games logo shows 3 human-be fond of figures, with their hands tied as in a circle dance. The Telluride Foundation logo also shows something similar but has 4 human-be fond of figures complete with two legs each.
The colors of the Olympic logo also are similar to Telluride’s, apart early that the end’s had a red figure not found in the Olympic’s. It takes a trained eye to admit that the Olympic logo spells the word “Rio,” but it is beyond doubt here. The Telluride logo, on the other hand, doesn’t spell anything but is shaped be fond of a heart.
Some observers have noted that the Rio logo merely removed some elements of the Telluride logo (i.e., the legs of the neutered sprites) and modified the design a bit. Reception of the Rio logo different early appreciation to mockery to disappointment and to humorous associations with baby pacifiers, thong backs, or even phalluses. The shape of the logo can even be associated with the shape of Brazil’s well-known Sugarloaf Mountain.
By no means Stealing
Even Fred Gelli, the director of Tatil, admitted the similarity but denied the allegations of stealing. Tatil is the Brazilian agency that designed the controversial logo.
Gelli clarified that the Olympic emblem designed by his agency underwent rigorous analysis and was researched extensively just to promise its uniqueness. But, he also admitted that he has by no means seen Telluride’s logo before and that the agency rumor has it that “missed that one” (the foundation’s logo).
A select assemble of 15 internationally greatly-admired professionals twisted the multidisciplinary commission that took charge of the emblem evaluation and selection process for the upcoming Olympic Games.
The Telluride and Carnaval Equivalence
Incidentally, the buck doesn’t bring to a standstill just here. The Telluride Foundation’s logo itself was found to resemble French artist Henri Matisse’s 1909 painting, “La Danse” (The Dance).
Worse, the Telluride logo is exactly the same as the logo used in Salvador Carnaval 2004, the carnival held in Salvador, Brazil in 2004. No one has ascertained yet which one came before the other, or who stole early whom. See no alteration:
Perhaps, Inspiration
Here is small claim to the allegation of stealing in the Rio logo. Similarity does not constitute stealing. Inspiration is not stealing. But, both similarity and inspiration can principal to a design lacking in inventiveness.
The case between Carnaval 2004 and Telluride, but, is stealing because the two logos are exactly alike.
For sure, the Brazilian organizers for the 2016 Olympic Games didn’t steal early Telluride or early Matisse. At the most, they probably found inspiration early the neutered sprites of Telluride, or early the universal perception of people ground hands in a circle as reflected in Matisse’s artwork.
Above and beyond, if the evaluation commission found any potential rip-off early the designs it reviewed, it would have discarded them straight away.
Neutered sprites (persons human-be fond of figures that often have arms stretched out) are common in logos, and, as a topic of detail, are overused. Some designers, though, get away with only one of its kind and fresh traditions of designing logos with neutered sprites in a manner that is original and by no means trite.
The colors green, golden-haired or gold, and blue are common colors, too—all of these are Brazilian inhabitant colors, which do not include red. Yet, if the artist that crafted the Rio logo is guilty of being a copycat, then the designer would not have select to position the colors in a similar way, and if such is the case, the similarity of affect positioning is pure coincidence. It is also doable, though, that Tatil artists did base the Rio logo on the Telluride logo. But, then, it’s just speculation.
How the Rio Logo Ran on Damp Fuel
What lessons, then, can we learn early the latest ruckus about the 2016 Olympic Games logo?
One, inventiveness is beyond price in logo design. Often, a logo artist will seek inspiration early an existing logo, but this doesn’t mean the artist has to start a spin-off. Inspiration is not about copying. Rather, it is about having some perception to start with and to shape into something original and original.
Two, neutered sprites have become passe and somewhat overly used. It may be wise to dodge them. Here was a time in the past when they were rage, but designers all over the world used them to the point of collapse. Or, if you have the talent, you can get away with a well-designed logo with neutered sprites, but the design will have to be original, original, and by no means rehashed.
Three, here’s no such thing as perfect inventiveness. Every logo design will always have some similarity with some other logo out here. In many cases, the other “doppelganger” ruins undiscovered (especially if the logo is for some remote company with not greatly contact with the online world), making the illusion of perfect inventiveness. Otherwise, if the logo is for a well-known company, then many observers can easily report similarities. Take, for example, the oval shape of both manner of language benefit and Ford logos:
What then is the 2016 Olympic Games logo guilty of? Stealing? Hardly so. Lack of creativity? Not even. Lack of inventiveness? Beyond doubt.