The Rio Olympics Logo: Spec Work?

The folks of Tátil Design, located in Rio de Janeiro, won a competition among 139 other agencies to design the Rio Olympics Logo.
The result is a logo with a very vibrant and happy tone, emphasizing the mood and the spirit of the cariocas.
Tátil created the typography for the logo in house. The characteristics of the mark resulted in a three-dimensional piece, and a sculpture, that one can actually walk into.
With the upcoming World Cup (2014) and the Olympics (2016), Brazil is living a boom of products and services related to these two mega-events. Both Fifa and the Olympic Comitée optioned for competitions for choosing their logos. While the logotype for the Olympics was very well received by the general public, the World Cup Logo was target of harsh critics from the design community.
More important than that is the discussion over this approach to choosing an agencie. According to AIGA, there’s no doubt, it is a kind of spec-work, since the agencie must submit their work in hopes of getting paid for it.
What do you think? Is this an acceptable way of choosing a business partner? Would you, or your agencie participate in a competition like that?
Posted by Rodrigo Teixeira on January 12, 2011
Filed Under Branding, Graphic Design, Identity, Illustration, Typography | 6 Comments




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