The brief
London Sport needed to upgrade and visually update both its digital and non-digital presence. A distinct, versatile and practical logo suite, font set and colour palette are required, along with a well–defined brand manual
London Sport inherits a positive legacy from Pro active London Partnerships but also from the 2014 Olympics. A graphic solution should make use of the rich visual iconography of both London itself but also of participative sport.
Some of the initial thinking behind the pitch is shown below the logo and web concepts:
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Logo Concepts
Street sign styles:
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Sporting achievement, celebration:
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Heraldic Figures:
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Transport motif, Dome, London Eye:
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Speed:
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Stopwatch & javelin concepts:
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Racetrack and river motifs:+
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Athletic figure variants:
Web Concepts
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Themes: Sport and Active Communities
Sporting emblems and iconography
- Runners, athletes
- Multiple sporting figure groups
- Javelin (combined with heraldic sword?)
- Medal
- Hurdler (Leaping figure) This seems to be a common theme in many County Sports logos, but there’s a good reason for that as it’s a positive dynamic visual summary of sporty, active behaviour without reference to a specific sport
- Race finish ribbon
- Laurel wreath
Motion, speed, athleticism – Typography & graphic abstractions
- Stopwatch
- Sports timing & event display: LCD font, digital fonts
- Flags (bunting, arenas, corner flags, marker flags – common theme in sport)
- Combination of regular and italicised test to denote speed
- Racetrack font or graphic device – Eg Mexico Olympics, Question of Sport. A bit dated maybe, but still in play (look at County Durham CSP logo)
- Arrows, vectors
- Speed blurs, “go faster” stripes, grunge ‘swooshes’ – visual indicators of speed or motion
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Themes: London
The thinking behind the work:
National Colour:
- Red white & blue, red and black: The UK and England are, from a tourists point of view, London. The Union Jack and St. George’s cross are tied in with images of London life. A cliché, but even so, an abstraction might work as a represention of the capital city? Cliches have currency.
- Red & Black – (guardsmen, buses, phone boxes, street signs)
- Multiple colours and multicultural associations might be explored as an alternative to some of these more well-worn themes. Difficult again but how about the tube map as one starting point? How about something less obvious like street-art typefaces, spray can lettering.
Transport
- London street sign typography
- London Underground typography (”Johnston”)
- The map itself – interlocking paths. Maybe combine this with a racetrack device?
City of London Heraldry
- Greater London has no flag, but there is an heraldic past, tied in to the City of London, and if we allow it to be representative, it has some mileage:
- The dragon. Not only useful as a dramatic and distinct brand visual, it could perhaps also operate as an emblem or mascot of London sport in the same way that the lion becomes an emblem for GB Sport and British Paralympics
- Shield (with or without St. George’s cross?)
- The sword – perhaps combining that with other sporting devices?
London fixtures & fitting
- Neo Classicism – columns pillars etc. (classical typography?)
- Specific buildings: EG: The Eye, Nelson’s Column, St Paul’s, The Tower, Houses of Parliament, Tower bridge
- Streetlamps by the Thames
- Bowler hat & umbrella
- As above – Guardsmen, buses, phone boxes street signs.
- ‘Jubilee’ bunting!
- The River Thames: A birds-eye view abstraction or part of a simplified skyline – possibly combine this with the idea of the finishing line ribbon
- The skyline itself, simplified
- Pushing the ‘nation’ idea a bit further- how about the crown?
Lions !
- Trafalgar square etc – This is a very common signifier of Britishness (and London) in sport, used across a range of sports, football, athletics, Paralympics, cricket. It’s another cliché maybe but it has currency
Olympic legacy
- Direct or abstracted refence to the London Olympic torch or derivative of a relay baton perhaps
- Olympic rings – why not make use of the legacy and pinch a couple of Olympic rings – interlocking rings perhaps working with the letter O in the name ?
This isn’t exhaustive and perhaps should explore more modern representation of London but it shows a massive wealth of visual material to draw on.