Misha the Bear was developed by renowned children's books illustrator Victor Chizikov for the 1980 Moscow games, and Sam the Eagle was designed by the Walt Disney Company for the 1984 Los Angeles games. The oddest Olympic mascot was probably Izzy--short for Whatizit--the computer-generated mascot for the 1996 Olympic Summer games in Atlanta. Although nobody knew what Izzy was, people universally agreed that he was pretty cute.
Munich was the first city to introduce a mascot to the Olympics when they hosted the Games in 1972. Their Bavarian Dachshund named "Waldi" was a hit, and the idea of introducing a cute Olympic mascot for the Games stuck. Today, choosing an Olympic mascot has become a big deal for the host city. When Seoul hosted the Olympics in 1988, they asked their citizens to come up with a name for their mascot, an Asian tiger. From the resulting 2,000 names, "Hodori" was chosen for the Olympic mascot.
Professional Designs Go for the Gold
Olympic mascots are among the many artistic elements, including athletic logos, which enhance the entertainment value of the sporting events. Professional sports teams take their logos pretty seriously because a well-designed logo helps them sell a lot of merchandise. Some logos even become a part of pop-culture, such as the Los Angeles Raider's logo throughout the 1990s.
Because a lot of merchandise dollars are riding on a compelling logo, the business of creating them can be a golden opportunity for a design firm. Competition among graphic design firms can be fierce because the contracts generally pay well and give the designing firm a lot of public exposure, which in turn drums up a lot of future clients.
Hoisting the Design Torch
With a graphic design or art degree, you may consider getting a job at a graphic design firm that develops sports logos. Graphic design jobs often pay much better than other artistic work, and the profession can offer more job security over the long term than other visual arts careers. If your logo design is chosen to represent a sports team or event, your work will be seen by thousands of people, which can definitely boost your career profile.
So if you want to create the next Cobi the Dog, the official mascot for the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, or Athena and Phevos, the hand-holding mascots for the 2004 Games in Athens, it's time to grab the baton and head into professional graphic design.