Olympic Bid Logo Design
Project 2: Olympic Bid
Miami, Florida | Summer Olympics 2044
Miami, officially the City of Miami, is a metropolis located in southeastern Florida in the United States. It is the third most populous metropolis on the East coast of the United States, and it is the seventh largest in the country. The city has the third tallest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 55 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m).
The Tequesta tribe occupied the Miami area for around 2,000 years before contact with Europeans. A village of hundreds of people, dating to 500–600 B.C., was located at the mouth of the Miami River. It is believed that the entire tribe migrated to Cuba by the mid-1700s.
Miami is noted as the only major city in the United States founded by a woman. Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower and a wealthy Cleveland native, was the original owner of the land upon which the city was built. In the late 19th century, the area was known as “Biscayne Bay Country”, and reports described it as a promising wilderness and “one of the finest building sites in Florida”. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miami’s growth, as the crops there were the only ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced railroad tycoon Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the region, for which she became known as “the mother of Miami”. Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300. It was named for the Miami River, derived from Mayaimi, the historic name of Lake Okeechobee and the Native Americans that lived around it.
Olympic Inspiration:
I have a few ideas for where I want to go with my design, but I feel that looking at some former olympic logo and poster designs will give me a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. What has stayed timeless and what has fallen to the wayside design wise.
Moodboards & Thoughts:
I feel that Miami has two very different, but still equally impactful moments happening for it. One being the Beach Deco, pastel, Golden Girls, Miami Vice fansty of the 1980’s. And the other being this gorgeous, futuristic, organic, Georgia O’Keeffe, architectural aesthetic that can be found in Miami’s modern day. I feel very inspired by both, however I would love to get some opinions on which one everyone else feels would lend itself best to this project.
In researching Miami, I was somewhat shocked to find that it had always been a hub for ambitious architectural feats. They have always been on the cutting edge of whatever architectural trend is happening at the time, as well as being the catalyst for some monumental design movements. This was true in the 80’s and it's true now. The design of this city is forever new and changing, and I feel that based on the trends we’re seeing with some of their current structures, we can pretty well predict what the city is going to look like in 20 plus years.
50 Thumbnail Sketches:
First Digital Designs
Digital Revisions with Type
Revisions, Colors, and Type Options
Final Logo Design:
Alternative Designs:
Rationale:
Not gonna lie, the beginning steps of this project were a bit of a struggle for me. Creatively I was in somewhat of a slump, and couldn’t very well pinpoint what direction I wanted to take this logo. However, thanks to some very helpful comments and critiques I feel that I was able to finish with something successful. Originally, I had two main thoughts for what I wanted to do in regards to the design of this logo. One was inspired by the 1980’s Beach Deco style of Miami and all the amazing architectural patterns happening at that time. The next was more so focused on current day architecture and the organic shapes many buildings in Miami, specifically the One Thousand Museum Building, create across the city. I eventually landed on attempting to use the internal shapes of the One Thousand Museum Building to create an icon, meant to allude to the highrises organic design as well as mimic the shape of the olympic torch. My first drafts of this design, I feel, were largely unsuccessful in capturing the fun and whimsy this structure provokes. My initial design being very static and straight forward, leaving little room for much of anything, including visual interest. Thankfully, on my second draft something clicked. I was able to better illustrate the organic curves and shapes of the building once I minimized the components used to create the structure and focused on the movement being made through the image. Type wise, I knew I wanted something sleek and modern so I ended up going with a thin sans serif called Poiret One Regular. It’s elegant without being overpowering, perfect to get the point across, but still fulfill the purpose of enhancing the overall design. I worked with a lot of colors, but eventually decided on two potential palette options. One inspired by Americana, taking the colors of the American flag and dulling them slightly to create a subtle nod in a more patriotic direction. And the other, directly relating back to Miami in the 1980’s, very much reminiscent of the Miami Vice Aesthetic. I feel that, although this design started out pretty rocky, I was able to pull it together into something that I find largely successful.
