Pictograms have traditionally served as visual aids for the respective sports at the Summer Olympic Games, but the Paris 2024 organizers have attempted to reinvent them at this edition
With the Paris Olympic Games 2024 nearly upon us, every single aspect of the sporting extravaganza is a matter of intense discussion and debate among the faithfuls. Among the myriad elements of the Games, are also the pictograms unveiled for each edition. (More Sports News)
Pictograms represent the visual grammar of each discipline in action at the quadrennial multi-sport event. They have formally been around for more than five decades, and were officially introduced at Tokyo 1964 to help athletes and spectators find their way around easily.
According to the Olympics website, the Mexico 1968 Summer Games marked the beginning of corporate design in the Olympic Games, in which "all elements such as the emblem, fonts, colours, pictograms, publications, merchandising, etc. harmonise and convey a clear message".
The pictograms have traditionally served as visual aids for the respective sports, but the Paris 2024 organizers have attempted to reinvent them at this edition.
What used to be literal representations of athletes playing each sport, are now 'coats of arms' that are meant to serve as rallying cries for sports lovers. These new designs are more like badges or crests, with a symmetry akin to playing card designs.
The Paris 2024 pictograms were launched in February 2023. In all, 62 pictograms have been designed for the Olympics and Paralympic Games in Paris. While 47 of them are for each of the 47 sports disciplines in the Olympic programme this time, 15 are uniquely for Paralympic sports. Eight are common to both.
As mentioned earlier, the reinvented pictograms of Paris 2024 illustrate each of the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines in a unique coat of arms, that pays homage to the complexity of each of these sports and what makes them original. You can check out five of the Paris 2024 pictograms below.
All the 62 pictograms can be accessed HERE.
Each pictogram can be broken down into three elements - tool, playing field and axis of symmetry.
To depict the action on the field (or indoors), the pictogram incorporates a specific tool of the sport it represents — like racquets for tennis, arrows for archery and bicycles for cycling.
They also feature a distinctive aspect of the pitch or track used for each sport.
Finally, the pictograms are designed around an axis of symmetry to reinforce their 'coat of arms'-like nature.
