Retro Olympics: 1972 Munich olympic design

August 8, 2008 5:07 AM

The Munich Olympics through Otl Aicher and his teams’ iconic designs. Amazing posters, cute mascot and even tickets that look great. Not to forget the medals.
posted by dabitch (13 comments total)

Nice work, still looks fresh. I'd love to have some of those posters. As a comparison, look at the work for the 1984 Olympics in LA.
posted by Mcable at 5:36 AM on August 8, 2008

and don't forget mexico68.
posted by not sure this is a good idea at 5:49 AM on August 8, 2008 [2 favorites]

Speaking of Olympics, I was just at my local okonomiaki joint for dinner, and the TV was on there, so I caught the opening festivities, live. Holy jeebus, what a show. That was pretty impressive.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:50 AM on August 8, 2008

Thanks for that, dabitch. This is a chronicle of beauty. Shame today we are hit with so much kitsch! The cats that designed this were not too far from the Bauhaus.
posted by The Salaryman at 6:07 AM on August 8, 2008

Thanks for sharing. I love how things were so much more streamlined then.

I just realized that this Otl Aicher is the same Otl Aicher who married Inge Scholl (sister of Hans and Sophie Scholl) and very peripherally involved in the White Rose resistance.
posted by JustKeepSwimming at 6:43 AM on August 8, 2008

Lovely stuff...

Here's 112 years of poster design. And I'd like to apologize on behalf of my country for the 2012 one...
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:57 AM on August 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Beautiful, thanks dabitch!
posted by carter at 8:05 AM on August 8, 2008

Looking at fearfulsymmetry's link to all the posters, I have to say that the recent trend (1992, 2000, 2008) of the scribble-stylized human figure is kind of silly. The 1996 stylized statuesque figure seems much more olympic.

Also, did they consult those color trend predictors for the 2012 poster? They look like American Apparel belts and tights.

The Munich and Mexico posters, on the other hand, are amazing.
posted by matematichica at 8:30 AM on August 8, 2008

Beautiful. Damn, do I want that cycling poster.
posted by everichon at 9:23 AM on August 8, 2008

London 2012 logo. (Hangs head in national shame)

Thanks for showing us how it should be done, dabitch.
posted by athenian at 10:37 AM on August 8, 2008

everichon , you get the cycling poster, I'll start collecting the vases!

Mexico68 was pretty dang nice as well. How I wish the Olympics could keep a high design standard these days. And thanks for the extra Otl Aicher trivia JustKeepSwimming.
posted by dabitch at 1:04 PM on August 8, 2008

Fascinating post. I was just thinking this weekend about the visual identities of Olympics past. Fonts, logos, mascots, and such and wondering - specifically with the 72 Munich games in mind - how far back there existed cohesive branding / marketing campaigns for the Olympic games.

Turns out the 72 games look kind of like I imagined them to. Very ABC Wide World of Sportsy.
posted by BoatMeme at 1:32 PM on August 8, 2008

Granted, it opened 10 years later, but I really do see the '72 graphic design influencing the icononography of Disney's EPCOT Center.
posted by StrangeTikiGod at 6:05 PM on August 8, 2008