Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, which will start on July 26th in Paris, the Olympic Museum presented a new visual identity to distinguish itself within the Olympic Movement. Founded on the initiative of the then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1993, the museum houses exhibitions dedicated to the Olympics (from Ancient Greece to the present day) and sports in general.
The institution’s collection includes approximately 100,000 items such as artifacts, books, images, and films. According to the Olympic Museum, all of this aims to bring together ordinary people, athletes, and artists from across the world. Now, the museum’s mission has received a fresh expression thanks to Studio Blackburn based in London, UK.
Aiming to assert itself as an independent organization, the museum is also striving to establish a strong emotional connection with its visitors through its identity, both in its physical exhibitions in Lausanne and on its website and social media. Moreover, the institution’s digital presence will be strengthened through new visual elements and technology. The overall branding concept developed by Studio Blackburn portrays the museum as a place connected to people worldwide, despite its physical location.
The studio proposed simplifying the logo’s structure, resulting in dropping the article “the” from the museum’s name. Simultaneously, it was crucial to preserve an atmosphere that could help the organization emphasize its role within the Olympic movement and cultural community.
The new identity system, according to the studio, embodies the spirit of Olympism through a diverse array of visuals, including static and animated images, which aim to make the brand recognizable and iconic. Given the Olympic Museum’s location, this system supports Switzerland’s official languages, French and German, as well as English as an international language. With flexibility, it also incorporates a rich set of graphic elements that evoke feelings of respect and joy.
The elements of the old logo were extensively reworked. Now monochrome, the emblem retains the Olympic rings as a consistent symbol, while the three columns below were reduced in size but retained their forms. Additionally, the Greek columns, symbolizing excellence, respect, and friendship—core values of Olympism—inspired the typography of the wordmark, particularly the letter “M”. In contrast to the previous version, where the rings, columns, and wordmark were loosely connected, the new iteration offers a more coherent and cleaner design.
By reducing the color palette and aligning the elements, the logo functions as a unified whole, creating an interplay. Without “The”, the two-line wordmark feels lighter and complements the two-part icon. Moreover, the “M” resonates with the columns, lending elegance and balance to the entire logo.
In fact, the Olympic Headline typeface, utilized for the wordmark, has been in use by the Museum for several years. Developed by the Canadian agency Hulse & Durrell for the IOC, it is based on older corporate fonts of the organization. For the Olympic Museum’s brand identity, Studio Blackburn modified the “M” glyph to resemble the columns.
Overall, it is a strong branding strategy suitable for various applications, including merchandise, introducing a unique and unconventional visual language into the Olympic universe, known for its strict rules and tendency towards conservatism. It’s notable that this bold step was taken by a museum—an institution traditionally associated with art.
