I thought they were going to use Tankard's Bliss?

Reminds me a bit of Eskapade, which you posted about, Hrant.
Seems like Fraktur inspired fonts are becoming the next big thing.

I first became aware of the current British re-style back at 1998-2002. I began noticing it first in architecture and then in civil projects such as bridges and the London Eye. I think that the 2012 Olympics are a continuation of that re-style.

Interesting to compare the overall designs philosophies/concepts of Beijing's Olympic with that of London's.

n.

Savage, primitive, crude, wild or unsophisticated it might be – but it is instantly recognisable at virtually any scale, against any background, in any colour.

Proof (nearly) against the depredations of sponsors, partners Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all.

It isn’t pretty, but it does the job extremely well, the more I work with it the more impressed I am.

Tim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-t707wAfk

I have mixed feelings. When I first saw the logo I didn't even recognize it as "2012", I briefly thought it was an abstract icon of an athlete. Still don't love it, but I admire the designers' willingness to be bold and do something different and controversial.

http://typophile.com/node/34223
http://typophile.com/node/34381

You know this was all started by the US in '84, right? (I know because I was there.)

hhp

Yes, in the mixed-doubles luge, with Brigitte Nielsen.

hhp

I was confident of coming out on top, but in luge weight is critical, and Gill's own Great Dane was a hair larger.

hhp

New Johnston, specifically the Transport for London, Monotype, version NJFont Signing is used for much of the English wayfinding, the French is NJFont Book. And is appearing on any surface in London (and the UK) from now.

Tim

>I was confident of coming out on top, but in luge weight is critical, and Gill's own Great Dane was a hair larger.

hhp

Cool! Sorry hrant, but I must have been stoned or something 'cause I don't remember '84 all that much.

Training with Brigg must have been wayyyyyyyyyyy more fun than your Olympian climax considering time trials and all. And besides, as we all know, when Gill is at the top of his game his technique is second to none.

No shame in that.

n.

A security poster in Arabic associated with the Olympics has been rendered unreadable, apparently due to a font substitution:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18911599

You know: London is ONE swinging place.

The first time I'm in the Tube, there are signs everywhere which say "Way Out," and then they point the way out to the way out stuff.

Which pretty much reinforces what I said in the first place…

I like the way the swimmers are introduced, walking out against a snazzy graphic backdrop, stopping to pose briefly in their cool threads (the US dusters are awesome!) and goggles, with their names behind them (in Gareth’s font). But AFAIK, they don't have their fave beats playing, like hockey players (was it?) in the all-star game.

I should get a setup like that for my front door.

Hardly about design at all, but the funniest thing I've seen for ages.

Olympic 2012 well organized by London. Awe-sum opening ceremony. I liked it...

@Ryan : it's a bespoke typeface by French type designer Christophe Badani for the French Federation of Basketball : http://www.typophage.com/actualites/44-fontes-exclusives/209-typographie...

London 2012 is shaping up to be really awesome super special.

In a time when there is very little groovn' up the folks back home in the U.S.A. their Olympic athletes are coiming up big against their main foreign debt holder ... China. And already there's been many Olympic records shattered, especially in the pool.

I can't wait for the dust to settle after this weekend, there's a couple dozen gold medals up for grabs now that the track is open.

Thank God for women's beach volleyball.

I keep up to speed here ... http://www.london2012.com/

n.

Sure, it's hot to watch the women, be it in the sand or track'n'field. But I still gotta wait two years more for my favourite disciplines in an Olympic setting: Biathlon and cross-country.

A nice timeline:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/olympic-powers

hhp

What's "interesting" is how US media flip-flops on how to show the country ranking (number of golds, versus total medals) depending on what would put the US on top; I've personally seen it change from day to day. A tactic reminiscent of its Cold War arch-enemies.

And actually interesting, from last time:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7576446.stm
Armenia is in there, twice. But this time we're doing very poorly.

hhp

The official stuff is always golds-first.

Contrast these two:
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/medals
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/medals/historical-medals-beijin...
Is ten more medals overall really better than 15 more golds? Denial only accelerates decline.

But hey, your cheer worked! :-)
http://www.armenianweekly.com/2012/08/05/armenian-athletes-win-silver-an...

hhp

Am I the only one annoyed that athletes names in 2012 STILL are not displayed with correct diacritics? Not to mention arbitrarily cut off and forced into a Western name order. How hard is it in the age of unicode and near-infinite storage to get this right?

Birdseeding, that would be awesome especially the arabic names.

n.