The Alternative Olympics

Here we feature one of the most comprehensive branding projects produced in recent years by Jonathan Mount in 2019 as part of his final year submission. The brief was an industry set project by Forepoint Preston.

Students were asked to brand the Alternative Olympics, the UK’s premier sporting celebration for the obscure and traditional heritage events found in the UK. Events included Nettle Eating, Shin Kicking, Worm Charming, Conker fighting, Bog Snorkeling and Black Pudding Hurling. The aim was to create a new vision for the Alternative Games using iconography, type and a strong visual identity. To modernise a long established event with a fresh new look for the 21st century.

Rationale – The County Games is one of the UK’s longest established sporting events dating back to the middle ages. It’s first revival during the 1850s brought five of Britain’s counties together in a celebration of the unusual and obscure.

Many of the sporting disciplines are no longer considered “mainstream” but at the heart of every modern sport is a traditional event pre-dating it. This bringing together of county teams to the centre of Britain was at the core of the games with events being held at the Forest of Bowland up until its decline at the turn of the 20th century. 

It was rumoured that Pierre de Frédy, the Baron de Coubertin himself witnessed the games during the late 1800s and inspired him to establish what we now know as the modern olympics. The modern county games now includes eight teams with competitors vying for victory across eight events. 

The games are no longer exclusively held in Bowland with competing counties now hosting each games on an alternate basis but for 2020, the games return to the heart of Britain, to the ancient royal hunting grounds of Bowland and the ancient home of the games, Dunsop Bridge.

The Brand Mark

Using the basic shield shape and arranging in a circle with the workmark underneath completes our logomark. Much like the interlocking rings of Olympic tradition, the county shields arranged facing toward each other really brings a sense of community and oneness for the games.

The two primary wordmarks using both standard and inline Gill variants

The basic Heraldic shape at the core of the logo, developed & simplified

The colour palette is taken from the respective county flags of each competing team

Complimentary type families

The Rationale for the Games

The team colours slide show

The arena signage for the different events

The competitors Tabards

Event participants can wear squad tabards in the appropriate colour of their team be it a 2 or 3 colour pattern. From left to right, the teams are the Rossendale Hurlers, Egremont Grimacers and Gawthorpe Haulers.

Wayfinding

The Medals

Event participants compete to win the coveted shield medals. The event for which the medal is awarded appears on the obverse of each below the shield circle. In the examples here, the events are coal carrying, bog snorkelling and shin kicking for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Mockups showing obverse and reverse with ribbon colours for winning team

Advertisements

A campaign to get people intersted in attending. Each poster shows a competitor at rest and composed. The passion for the events they compete in is shown through the copy and tattoo.

In context

App 1

App 2

A tour de force in every sense. A great example of how a project can be carried through with great copy writing, imagination and belief. As a student of Graphic Communication this project should be considered a touchstone…the closer you analyse the symbolism the better it gets…and it doesn’t get much better that this project. Enjoy!