Classic Logo: Calgary Winter Olympics, 1988

Gary W. Pampu's 1979 logo and Justason & Tavender's visual identity for the Calgary Winter Olympics of 1988.

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The Summer Olympics of 1988 was held between the 13th and 28th of February in the Canadian city of Calgary with snow-based competitions taking place at the nearby Nakiska Ski Resort in Kananaskis Country and the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park in Canmore.

This would be Calgary’s fourth attempt to host a Winter Olympic Games and what would be its eventual winning bid was officially submitted in October 1979 when the Calgary Olympic Development Association secured the Canadian Olympic Association's support.

As with previous Games, a symbol had had been designed to accompany the bid. This was designed by Gary W. Pampu, nearly a decade ahead of the event. Unlike many other later Games, the symbol went unchanged after the bid was accepted. Other examples included the Sarajevo Winter Olympics and the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. However, just like Deborah Sussman’s work on Los Angeles, much of the character would come, not from the symbol, but from the visual identity system devised closer to the Games by Justason & Tavender. This was an expression of the motto ‘Come together in Calgary’.

Although it’s unclear as to whether this motto originated at the bid stage in 1979, Pampu’s symbol of intersecting letters had the same spirit. The design derives its form from the coming together of Calgarians and Canadians, with overlapping and concentric small and large letter Cs. The notion of ‘coming together’ was also manifest in the double image of a maple leaf, the emblem of Canada and, as a simple expression of winter, a snowflake.

At the bid stage, this symbol was presented in the national colours of red and white, with versions for printing in and over black as well. The typeface Univers was used for the title, and the composition was completed by the five colour Olympic Rings in a stacked configuration that characterised the symbols of many of the modern games (see: Tokyo 64 & Sapporo 72).

Justason & Tavender would later take from the symbol the concentric letters and develop a modular system of endlessly reconfigurable elements. This also included circles (a representation the world) and rings (the symbol of the Olympics). These graphic elements came together and were able to be more expressionist, a generator of feeling, channelling aspects of Deborah Sussman’s work four years earlier. Colour played a similar role in expanding the possible look and feel of the visual identity, livening up all aspects of the Games communications and environmental graphics such as banners and hoarding.

Justason & Tavender would substitute Pampu’s choice of Univers for Futura, and introduce a custom drawn 88 which mirrored the overlapping circles of the Olympic Rings. Despite this, some confusion was created. When it came to the Games, there were multiple versions that ended up being used, with the Univers version being the most frequently applied. Univers formed the basis of all others forms of communication with Futura occasionally popping up.

Enhancing the modularity and potential of the visual identity systems was an extended palette of colours. This included the official Olympic Colours and a set of environmental colours representing the geographical diversity of Canada and representative of prairies, foothills and mountains. A further set of colours known as the ‘Architectural Colours’, were used to support navigation and identification around venues and facilities. These colours were then also applied to and evolving the Olympic symbol designed by Pampu.

Acknowledging the pioneering achievements and contributions made by Otl Aicher and Gerhard Joksch to the Munich ‘72 pictograms, and continually evolving the system afterwards, these were used as the basis for the Winter Games with only minor adjustments to the basic principles. This included a change from square to circular containers, and the addition of the new palette, which brought these inline with the modular compositions.

The overall effect of the Calgary 88 identity was more of refinement rather than reinvention. Channeling, using or building subtly on what had come before across all available channels of communications. These would be somewhat diminished over the coming years, but somewhat reinvigorated in 2012 by Someone for the London Olympic Games.

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