Lance Wyman, the New York-based designer behind the iconic Mexico ’68 Olympic logo, has called the London 2012 Olympic branding “brash and outlandish” before claiming that it failed to reach its potential and was outshone by the big production.
Wyman, who is due to speak at this year’s Designival in Liverpool, has stated that “design did not take centre stage” with London 2012 branding, adding: “it may not have had the ear of the people running London 2012, like the Atlanta Olympics, it’s like there wasn’t an overall philosophy.”
Widely revered as the best and most famous piece of logo design in Olympic history, the 74-year-olds cutting remarks are bound to cause upset amongst the London 2012 design team as he accused them of bowing down to “politics and commercial interests”.
Joining Wyman at Designival is founder of SomeOne, Simon Manchipp, who was involved with the design of the sports pictograms for the London 2012 Olympics. The two designers are due to go head-to-head at the event which takes place on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 November at Camp And Furnace, Liverpool.