The Tate Britain in London is now showing the official posters of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which kick off their opening ceremony tomorrow evening. As the host city, London commissioned 12 leading contemporary artists to impart their own unique visual perspective to the Summer Olympics – interesting, but in some cases, quite obtuse.
Alfaro is a tiny town in the renowned wine-producing La Rioja province in northern Spain. The region has been making wine since the days of the Phoenicians, with the earliest record of grape-growing dating to 873. This year to celebrate La Fiesta Barroca, Palacios Remondo created two commemorative wine collections that pay tribute to Alfaro, home to its winery. Palacios Remondo commissioned Estudio Dorian to design the packaging around a Baroque theme. The collection includes six labels for each wine, with the extravagantly Baroque ornamentation contained in the simple letterforms. The result is an understated elegance, clean and contemporary yet suggestive of a rich heritage.
Current TV, the media company started by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt, has launched a new logo designed by Wolff Olins and animation house GHAVA. Replacing the static pixelated identity created by Meta Design and Peter Saville in 2005 (contemporary for its time), the waving Current logo is meant to be viewed in motion, or at least to imply that it is in motion. Unlike traditional logos, the Current identity takes advantage of the technological capabilities of the broadcast medium. Dropped out of whatever background is behind it, the name undulates like a flag, leaving the borders and proportions loosely defined. The logo itself uses a familiar compressed modern gothic font and foregoes any use of proprietary colors. As flat graphics, it’s pretty simple. What makes it special is that movement isn’t used as an afterthought, but as the essence of its uniqueness.
On Friday, Peru officially launched a brand for the country, by stringing its new logo across the front entrance of the New York Stock Exchange. Gone are the old logo and slogan, “Land of the Incas.” In its place is a new identity developed by the British firm, FutureBrand, which also created Australia’s country brand in 2003.
The adoption of the spiral letter “P” wordmark represents the country’s bold move toward raising its identity internationally, not just as a tourist destination, but as the source of a broad line of export goods.