tokyo 2020 unveils kinetic sports pictograms to illustrate the olympic games

the tokyo organising committee of the olympic and paralympic games has revealed over 70 new pictograms depicting every sport in tokyo 2020. the pictograms are designed to subtly communicate the characteristics and athleticism of each sport.

images courtesy of tokyo 2020

the pictograms were animated by japanese motion designer kota iguchiare and cover 33 olympic sports and 22 paralympic sports. using the blue of the tokyo 2020 emblems and five other traditional japanese colours — kurenai, ai, sakura, fuji and matsuba — the illustrations have been designed to display athletes’ vibrant movement.

olympic games sport pictograms were first introduced at the tokyo 1964 games, which arose from a need to communicate visually to an increasingly international group of athletes and spectators.since then, pictograms have been created for every edition of the games. in 2020, 33 sports will feature in the olympic games and some sports will use more than one pictogram.

these will include two sets of 50 designs – ‘free type’ and ‘frame type’. the free type unframed pictograms will be used on posters, tickets and licensed products, and the frame type pictograms will be used for more functional purposes on maps, signage at competition venues, guidebooks, and on websites.

‘it is a real honour to have participated in the design of the tokyo 2020 sport pictograms,’ says japanese designer masaaki hiromura, who designed the olympic games tokyo 2020 sport pictograms. ‘I have tried to express the dynamic beauty of the athletes through these pictograms, while respecting the legacy bequeathed by the pioneers of the japanese design industry in their designs for the tokyo 1964 games.’

‘the 2020 designs took us almost two years to complete and they embody the thoughtful input of the many people involved. I hope that these pictograms will inspire everyone and help generate excitement for the different sports at tokyo 2020, and that they will colourfully decorate the tokyo 2020 games.’