In early February, the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee unveiled the visual identity of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, as well as its revamped pictograms. A visual identity that the organizing committee wanted to be singular, thought in collaboration with the agency W.
A little more than a year separates us from the Olympic Games of Paris 2024. While the draws to purchase tickets started recently, it was also time for the organizing committee to unveil the overall visual identity of the competition. An important anchor point to project oneself and have a more concrete idea of these next Olympic Games.
To decide on the pictograms of the events as well as the visual identity present in the stadiums and in the cities, the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games counted on the W agency, selected in 2020 as branding agency of the event. In concrete terms, she is in charge of creating and developing the various visual identities (graphic, verbal, motion) and educational tools (style charters, brand book, graphic charters), in collaboration with the Paris 2024 brand management, headed by Julie Matikhine.
No more pictograms, but “blazons” for the Olympic Games
Under the aegis of Tony Estanguet, triple Olympic champion and president of this edition, the visual identity of the Games has gradually become clearer: “What we want is to offer the most beautiful setting for the world of sports through Paris 2024, by having a visual identity that makes sense.” And pictograms are one of these embodiments. Introduced at the Tokyo Games in 1964, they have become the means of proposing a universal language of sport. For this edition, we will no longer speak simply of pictograms, which by definition are schematic signs intended to inform the public, but of “coats of arms”. This is the first time they have been “modernized” so to speak to join a communication based on the identification of “communities” more than “simple spectators”.
Coat of arms of the 2024 Olympic Games
Thus, the 47 Olympic and Paralympic disciplines are all represented through 62 “blazons”, including 8 common ones. This position confirms the will of the organizing committee to distinguish itself from its predecessors, creating a synergy between athletes and fans who, through these coats of arms, come together to become a strong sporting community. An idea perfectly in line with its slogan “Let’s open the Games wide.” “The creation of these coats of arms required precision, a sense of detail and accuracy. Our desire was to make these coats of arms coincide with a way of living the sport” explains Julie Matikhine.
The crests of the 2024 Paralympic Games
A visual identity in reference to French culture
Imagined by the agency W, the global visual coherence of the Games, fruit of a reflection and a work of two years, was thought in order to “contribute to the traceability of the Games”, to quote Julie Matikhine. With artistic references to art deco and historical monuments of Paris, this visual identity was intended to be unique and representative of France. Based on four pastel colors – red, green, blue and purple – guided by a pink thread, this “look” will gradually dress the structures, with the goal of having one site per district ready by the end of March. In the city, the cobblestones around the venues will also take on the colors of the Olympic Games.
Maïa Pois
