Evolving the look of the Olympic brand

This new visual system has been created to bolster the Olympic brand’s core values, while enhancing consistency, recognition and impact across all IOC platforms, communications and publications.

Anchored by the Olympic rings – the famed symbol designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 – the Olympic Games have long been one of the most widely recognised brands in the world. But with the gradual evolution of this brand over the last 100-plus years, the IOC recognised the need to create a comprehensive foundational identity, designed for use across all mediums and channels.

“For 125 years the Olympic Games have conveyed a message of inclusivity, universality and hope,” explains Marie Sallois, Brand Management Director at the IOC. “It was time to bring together these timeless values in a comprehensive Olympic brand identity that's present not only during the Games, but also from flame to flame.”

Featuring fresh elements such as three custom-made typefaces and a series of graphic devices and illustrations, the new brand look offers a comprehensive design system that balances consistency and flexibility. Every element has been designed to reflect the hopeful, universal, inclusive, vibrant and progressive qualities of the Olympic brand, for use across publications, digital, environment design and more.

“The evolved brand pushes further the Olympic brand identity through a vibrant extended palette based on the Olympic colours, inspirational illustrations and tailor-made typography,” explains May Guerraoui, Head of Brand Management at the IOC. “It’s about leveraging a new design system to communicate the brand values with emotion.”

The new design system is already in use across a wide range of internal and external IOC channels and projects, with digital platforms such as Olympics.com and the Olympics app currently undergoing a complete brand overhaul to align with the evolved identity and connect with audiences in new, more impactful ways.

The full brand rollout is expected to be completed by the Olympic Games Paris 2024, with all future editions of both the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games set to feature the evolved brand identity.

New brand elements are also expected to be released in the future. In the coming months, a new set of Olympic sports and universal pictograms will be debuted, providing a language-neutral, gender-neutral icon system for the Olympic identity. New illustrations will also progressively be added to enrich and update the current brand assets while allowing for continuing engagement with artists and creative talent.

The evolved brand identity was created by Canadian agency Hulse & Durrell, in collaboration with the IOC and a team of international artists, typographers and designers.