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Beyond 2012: how a shape-shifting logo told the story of British design post-Olympics.

When Design Council UK, along with the designers who helped shape London 2012, won their battle with the Olympic Committee for the right to talk about their work, they wanted a way to celebrate and to bring the British Olympic design story to a global audience post-Games.

Launching at a spectactular event that brought together design figures, policy-makers, and Olympians, the platform needed an identity that would capture the creative spirit of the Games without direct reference to the London 2012 brand (strictly forbidden under Olympic Committee rules). ​​​​​​​By mapping the characteristic angles of the London 2012 logo and using them as the foundation for a shape-shifting, animated logo, we were able to do just that.

Within Olympic Committee rules, and holding its own within the Design Council family, the shape-shifting logo successfully captured the transformative energy of the Games and expressed London 2012’s integrated design approach; the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

The name, Beyond 2012, looked forward rather than back, the variable strapline enabled specificity, and the website told the individual and collective Olympic design stories — raising the profile of British design with a public audience at home, as well as with industry and government overseas, long after the Olympic stadium doors closed.