OUGD405 - Study Task 1 - Symbols

Olympic Pictograms Eval
04 / 12 / 15

After presenting my developmental sketches which lead up to this design above, the crit liked how I'd experimented with the different stances of the weightlifter as I was unsure which position would prove most effective as a quick-look, easily recognisable pictogram for Olympic Events. 

The primitive geometric design was well complimented as it was abstract and really attempted to represent the pictogram in terms of simple geometric shapes rather than an actual physical form. It was still recognisable to my chosen event however at this point I knew I needed to refine the design and consider different approaches, as the abstract idea had no context. This brought me onto my idea of portraying the pictograms with only the events equipment on display. This could work but was criticised for the reason that it would not work with track sports like long distance running, for example, which would be more difficult to represent with only a related item or piece of equipment.

I have captured the victorious moment of the competitor raising the barbell above their head through my last design, and the crit much preferred how I had presented the weights against the earlier designs. It appears more realistic and is quicker and easier to recognise as weightlifting. They liked how I had considered the negative space around the pictogram and directly focused on the specific area of the competitors body for efficiency. I chose to focus on just the upper body to keep the pictogram concise, however initially I felt the chest was too blocky and drew the focal point to that rather than the activity that was being practised. Therefore I worked into and removed some space to create a vest on the competitors chest, but some preferred it without and suggested I simply just refine the arms and shoulders and add more muscular definition to draw attention away from the blocky-ness. 

The only other change that was suggested to me was to try including the rest of the body within the pictogram and having it coming out of the bottom. However my argument against this would be I deliberately kept it central to create this consistent regular negative space, with the strong red acting as the base layer. The bold vectors paired with the strong red make it very clear and recognisable at varied scales as well, and make it appropriate to both digital display and print and other varied medias.