I wanted to write about a logo designer or design company who I consider a big player in the design world, so I chose to write an article about Wolff Olins.

Wolff Olins are a company of 140 people founded in Camden Town, London by Michael Wolff and advertising executive Wally Olins.  Although the original founders left the company in 1983 and 2001 respectively, the company has continue to grow and now has offices in London, New York and Dubai.  The company have an impressive portfolio with some massive clients many of whom have hired Wolff Olins to transform their image from the past into the present, or even the future.  No article about Wolff Olins can be written without a mention of what is probably their most notorious logo – I am talking of course, about the design for the London 2012 Olympics.

London 2012

This logo has caused a lot of controversy and at a cost of £400,000.00 it most certainly had Britain talking.

Like it or love it, this is the London 2012 Olympics logo.

According to various reports this has even caused a number of epileptic fits which of course, added to the controversy.  If you look carefully you can work out the ‘2012’ that makes up this logo, but you do have to look carefully and I have spoken to lots of people who completely missed that.  Worth a years work and £400,000.00?  I’m not sure, and many people have their own designs they would rather see in it’s place but personally I am used to it now and really…it’s not that bad!

To avoid me diving into a full article about the Olympic logo, I will move on to some other Wolff Olins designs.

Sony Ericsson

This logo embraces the shiny, glossy web 2.0 style that of course has been around for some years now (which is another subject all together).  The circular image was used as a replacement to a heart within a successful Sony Ericsson £8m marketing campaign in 2006/2007.

Tate Modern

Another logo that caused a degree of controversy due to its apparent disregard to common design ‘rules’.  Instead of simply designing one logo, Wolff Olins designed a number of logos for Tate which caused some to question the strength of branding with multiple logo versions.  The logo also lacks sharp defined edges preferring instead to go with a blurred or smudged and even fading effect.   The question here is doesthis unusual design style cause the logo to be more memorable?  The thing to remember here is that the art gallery in question is one that displays modern and sometimes controversial pieces.  The logo also gets people talking about art, so with that in mind perhaps the logo series is just perfect.

Unilever

Wolff Olins wanted to turn Unilever into a brand that would be noticed, not one that would simply be lost amongst packaging.  To achieve this, Wolff Olins had the idea of ‘adding vitality to life’.  If you look closely at the Unilever logo, you can see how the design team used the vitality thought process to create a logo from many individual pieces.  They have taken items from nature, sun, water, air, earth, science, food and used them in an inspired way to create the large ‘U’.  Each element is designed in a simple but effective way and combined so well that the overall effect is rather beautiful.  Simply glancing at this logo doesn’t allow full appreciation of the design.

MacMillan Cancer Support

MacMillan cancer nurses have been a invaluable source of support for many years to those suffering with cancer.  Now, MacMillan have taken on a new role to help families of those dealing with the disease, and to make cancer an openly discussed subject, rather than something people just whisper or are afraid to mention.

The rebranding introduced not a logo, but a complete style.  The new MacMillan campaign sports informal text and simple imagery, creating a relaxed feel and removing any notion of stuffiness that may have previously existed.  This is a rebranding case which supports the organisation in opening up to a whole new group of people and creates a fresh feeling.

In terms of practicality with this brand, I can see no instance where the large, chunky and casual lettering would not lend itself to a great marketing design.  The possibilities are endless.

Wolff Olins have taken a fair amount of criticism in the past, but to continue as a forward thinking company which breaks moulds and set trends, this may well be unavoidable.  After all, trend setters can never walk past without a few heads turning.