The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic medals have been revealed. They use a very extensive fabrication process which results in medals that are definitely not to be forgotten. The medals range from 500-576 grams.
Judging by these medals and the ever-evolving 2012 London identity, it’s clear that designers are using the olympic games as a playground to explore the limits of the profession. Designers have actually been doing this for a long time. Michael Bierut of Design Observer reflected on my three favorite Olympic systems, Otl Aicher’s 1972 system, Lance Wyman’s 1968 system, and the 1984 system in L.A. by Deborah Sussman/Jon Jerde.
So what do you think of these medals? Are they too much? Too extravagant? Ugly? Gorgeous?
See them on the Vancouver 2010 site.
Also, the Royal Canadian Mint who made the medals has some good info about these.
(via Quipsologies)
Also, don’t miss the process video for the Vancouver Olympics Identity.
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The design is great, but I don’t like the waves. To me, it looks like all of my plastic food containers that have been warped from the heat of the microwave & dishwasher Or maybe they got run over by a train.
12:19 pm
i know they needed to differentiate the two olympiads, but i don’t really like the square ones. the waves don’t bother me as much on the circular ones for some reason, but on the others, then i do agree that they look a little…mutated. i need to see them hanging around someone’s neck.
12:30 pm
The Olympics are self destructive. With the threat of global warming we cannot afford such flagrant displays of excess and overconsumption. The best way to avoid 300,000 tons of emissions is for people to simply stay at home.
http://selfdestructivebastards.blogspot.com/2009/10/olympics-are-self-destructive.html
11:03 am
I approve wholeheartedly. The waves are gorgeous. It would be one thing if they were a template for all medals but as a one-off special design to celebrate the Vancouver Olympics, they just work.
Canada Guy: I’m as concerned about global warming as the next guy. I live in a downtown high-rise, loaned my Ford Focus to a friend who really needs a car for her job helping homeless families get the skills they need to achieve self-sufficiency, and bike or take public transportation almost everywhere I need to with only the occasional Zip Car excursion.
But your math doesn’t make sense. I’m not sure where you came up with that number, but even taking it on face value, you’re bitching about 300 tons of carbon(?) emissions spread out over four years when 389,570 tons are emitted in America each year by soft drinks.
We have to do better, but I think there are much more deserving targets out there. My bet is that the Olympic Games, simply by virtue of the fact that they involve so many people from so many different parts of the world, probably do far more to foster a global environmental consciousness than they cost in CO2.
At least they could. I think you’d be better off pushing for funding for increased advertising time than spamming websites with FUD that do more to turn off people still on the cusp than win adherents.
How much energy do you expend sending your robot trolling around every nook and cranny of the internet for the word Olympics? How much energy is emitted by monitors in the time it takes to read your post?
Do you really think they’re just going to cancel the Olympics because you decided to spam some blogs?
Talk about a waste of energy.
2:46 pm
i think the medals are amazing. to be able to work metal like that is really cool.
7:38 pm
I love the cultural totem engravings with the “waves” that symbolize the ocean that supports the livelihood of B.C. past and future.
9:30 pm
Hideous.
8:28 pm
I really like the medals. It’s nice how they portrayed B.C. through the medal design and how when put together they make a portrait.
9:36 pm
i love them. the waves really goes well with them
10:50 am