What the work is
Otl Aicher led the design team for the 1972 Munich Olympics. The programme connected sports pictograms, Univers typography, colour-coded functions, posters and the event emblem.
How it was made
Grid systems helped give the pictograms related proportions. The team also used a shared palette across signs, printed material and staff clothing, while posterised sports photographs connected photographic imagery with those colours.
What works
The system made difference legible within a common framework. Individual sports and functions could have distinct signs while still belonging to one event identity, reducing the need to solve each application independently.
What does not
Pictograms aim to cross language barriers, but recognisable form is not proof of universal comprehension. The useful test is whether a viewer can distinguish the represented activities and find the relevant information in context.
What it influenced
The Munich pictogram approach influenced the United States Department of Transportation’s 1974 public-signage symbols. That is a specific connection between the event programme and a later system for everyday wayfinding.
Is it worth your time
Worth studying for complex information systems. Compare several pictograms with a poster and a staff uniform. The relationships between these applications reveal how rules can support variety without dissolving the identity.
