Pictograms for the Games of the XX Olympiad Munich 1972 Poster
- M72C
- Jun 9
- 7 min read
[ M72C : 0286 ]
Piktogramme für die Spiele der XX. Olympiade München 1972. Poster showcasing the pictogram system of Munich 1972
– Size. A0 : 840 mm x 1190 mm (33" x 47") approx –
Design. Alfred Kern / Gerhard Joksch / Otl Aicher –
Print. B&W on metallic silver – Year. 1971
The Pictograms. Opening Ceremony / Closing Ceremony / Youth Camp / Olympic Village
Stadium (1, 2, 3, 4) / Sports Hall (5, 6) / Swimming Hall (7, 3) / Boxing Hall (8, 9) / Volleyball Hall (10) / Cycling Stadium (11) / Hockey Facility (12)
Wrestling/Judo Hall (13, 9) / Weightlifting Hall (14) / Fencing Hall (15) / Basketball Hall (16, 9) / Regatta Course (17, 18) / Shooting Range (19) / Archery Range (20)
Participants / Female Participant / Changing Room / Ticket Office / Programs / Interpreters / Stewards / Official / Registration Office / Training Ground / Spectators
Accreditation / Guest of Honour / Congress / Conference
Weapons check / Doping control / Weigh-in room / Air connection / Fitness room / Weight training / Gymnasium / Massage / Relaxation room / Indoor swimming pool / Lifeguard / Packed lunch
Sail Measurement / Sailmaker / Sail Laundry / Sail Drying Room / Mast Crane / Boat Crane / Boat Trailer / Boat Workshop / Boat Survey / Boat Scale
Barefoot Walkway / Celebration Area / Regatta Support Boat / Tall Ship Meeting / Open-Air Museum
Press / Television / Radio / Film / Writing Room / Results Service / Interview Room / Film DevelopmentMeeting point / General restrooms / Women's restrooms / Men's restrooms / Waste / Fire alarm / Electricity / Entrance / Exit / Elevator / Cloakroom / Quiet
No smoking / Do not touch / No animals / No through traffic
Airport / Port / National railway / Subway / S-Bahn / Bus / Tram / TaxiGarage / Gas Station / Car Repair / Parking – Fire department / Police / Customs office / Vehicle readiness
Post Office / Post Office Information / Telephone / Emergency Call / Letters / Telegram / MailboxTelex / Telephoto / Special postmark / Parcels / Stamps / Postal issue / First day covers
Disabled / Red Cross / Doctor / Paramedic / First aid / Medical bath / Pharmacy / Drugstore
Washroom / Drinking water / Bath / Shower / Sauna / Hairdresser
Information / Lost and Found / Data Viewing Station / Television StationClub / Golf / Table Tennis Room / Billiards Room / Cinema / TV Room / Reading Room / Dance Room / Disco / Theatre / Prayer Room / Childcare Centre
Ticket Office / Restaurant / Bar / Cafe / Snack Bar / Snack Bar / Kitchen / Groceries / Fruit
Vending Machine / Vending Machine / Beverages / Dairy Products / Ice Cream / Confectionery / Tobacco Products / Beer Garden / Self-Service / Waiter Service
Storage room / Luggage storage / Dry cleaning / Laundry / Drying room / Ironing room / Electricity hook-up / Water hook-up / Workshop
Books / Flowers / Newspapers, books / Photo supplies / Souvenirs / Stationery / Rain and sun protection / Medal sales / Tourist information / Bank, currency exchange / Kiosks / Boat rental
Full text. One of the central functions of the visual identity will be to assist the numerous visitors from diverse linguistic backgrounds with information and communication during the Olympic Games in Munich.
The impossibility of formulating all notices, dates, and explanations in all the languages spoken during the Games made it necessary to find a universally accessible basis for understanding. The language of signs offered itself as a solution to this problem. It is not a new concept in the context of the Olympic Games. In Melbourne, a system of signs was first devised, with the individual sports represented by vignettes. This sign language was further developed and expanded in Tokyo: Here, symbols replaced the vignettes, translating not only the sports but also information from the service and tourism sectors into a non-verbal language
This development corresponds to the generally observed tendency to accommodate the global expansion of tourism by increasingly transferring verbal descriptions into a system of signs and replacing the multitude of languages with signs wherever signs are unambiguous.
An analogue to this process can be found in the field of road traffic: Fifty years ago there were only four traffic signs; today there are over one hundred. This fact results not only from the technological progress of the automotive industry but also, and significantly, from the increased need for communication
Although it has been proven that symbols are far more effective than verbal descriptions for indicating certain situations, and all areas of information strive to do justice to this fact, the current state of development of an internationally used symbolic language can only be described as disastrous. A glance at the forest of signs in road traffic is enough to confirm this: While the more than one hundred signs are categorised in the road traffic regulations into groups such as mandatory and prohibitory signs, the visual identification of these groups remains limited to rudimentary approaches. Overall, the system is so inconsistent and unstructured that the signs intended as orientation aids actually contribute to confusion. The learning process and the behaviour programmed by the signs would be significantly facilitated if the individual signs were grouped into visually differentiated categories.The effectiveness of a sign depends on its assignment to specific situations and to a category of signs. A well-functioning system of signs requires a visual grammar.
This insight underlies the attempt to unambiguously define all groups of signs required for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich as grammatical groups. Thus, for example, in this system—unlike the road traffic regulations, which have three forms of negation: the horizontal bar, the slash, and the diagonal cross—there is only one form of negation: the horizontal bar. The decision to impose such a restriction is based on the consideration that one form of negation is quite sufficient and far more conducive to the unambiguous definition of the entire group of prohibition signs than the usual variety. The decisive factor in choosing the form of negation is primarily its predictable effectiveness, and secondarily, convention
Grammatical feature of another group is the spatial reference. It is proposed that all signs relating to spaces—such as entrance, exit, hotel, airport, garage—be marked by a border bar. A bar on the left or right side of the square base symbolises a wall, on the top the ceiling, and on the bottom the floor.
Criteria for other groups include, for example, the question mark for all information signs or the box for signs indicating insurance, lockers, and the like.
This grouping of signs based on various sub-signs is only one sub-problem of the system developed from semiotic or information-theoretic perspectives.Semiotics ascribes a syntactic, a semantic, and a pragmatic dimension to every sign.
Decisive for the syntactic aspect is the purely formal assignment of a sign to a specific group of signs—namely, the grouping under grammatical concepts and the purely formal quality of a sign. From a semantic perspective, a sign is expected to clearly indicate the meaning of what it designates.
For the pragmatic aspect, only the effectiveness and functionality of a sign are important.
Although the development of the sign system for the 1972 Olympic Games intended to meet the requirements of all three aspects equally, this goal is only partially achievable. A newly developed sign, for example, of high syntactic quality, may not always have optimal semantic and pragmatic quality due to its lack of familiarity
There are various possible paths to the formal development of signs; for example, one can start with shadow sketches or develop signs based on photography. The intention behind the conception of the sign system for Munich was to design the signs in such a way that their development would be conceivable, comparable to the development of the alphabet from pictorial language. Generally, it can be observed that the process of sign formation progresses from a representation to an abstract sign. Many of the signs in use today will probably undergo a similar process to the arrow, which, originally a war arrow with a point for wounding, has since acquired a completely different meaning and, entirely detached from its original image, now only indicates a direction.
A sign is all the more effective and memorable the less complicated its shape or structure is. Therefore, an attempt was made in Munich to reduce the formal structure of signs to simple geometric elements.
A sign language cannot simply be introduced by declaration. The expectation that it could be immediately universally understood and used is countered by the fact that, analogous to verbal language, this language must undergo a developmental process in which a growing number of signs gradually crystallise into general recognition and common usage. Only at the end of such a development can signs stand on their own; that is, it is not possible from the outset and in every case to dispense with verbal or other additions.
This resulted in the necessity of using various elements to aid the semantic and pragmatic dimension of signs in the context of the Olympic Games:
The pictogram, as the translation of a fact into a visually easily understood language, is supplemented by a verbal description, a naming of the fact in the main tourism languages of English and French, and in the language of the host country, in this case, German. This also complies with the IOC's requirement to consider three languages for the verbal signage of the Olympic Games: English, French, and the respective national language.
Further additional elements of the signage system are a specific colour and directional information. The plan is to stretch the signs or groups of signs in the light blue primary colour of these Olympic Games like a blue ribbon across the Olympic Park. The area of this blue ribbon should remain free of other information and visual elements.
An arrow serves as a directional indicator. In many cases, this directional information will need to be added to the information signs
The importance of sign language for the 20th century cannot be overestimated. While the 19th century was strongly influenced by the development of historical and philological sciences, the 20th century is characterised by the development of sign systems. This process is not yet complete. The fact that elements from the sign systems of Montreal and Tokyo were adopted in Munich, such as the specific arrow or the hand, reveals the intention not so much to create something entirely new, but rather to systematically develop what already exists.
– B. Sch
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