The Motz of Butz: No medal for the CI of the Swiss Olympic team
From a country with a rich tradition of graphic design, the athletes competed in the Olympic Games wearing Jekami uniforms. By Theophil Butz, graphic designer, advertising agency owner, source of inspiration, and—for over a year and a half now—also a grumbler for *Werbewoche* readers. Please send relevant information to [email protected]
What we are talking about here: The 2012 Olympics may be over, but what remains is the good or bad image of the individual countries. No other country apart from Switzerland has such an extraordinary and simple identity: the Swiss cross, white on a red background. We all know that. Only the designers of the sports jerseys have forgotten it. The cross replaces words like Swiss, Suisse, Schweiz etc. That's why the cross has to be the first and most important symbol. Adidas and Nike figured this out long ago. The footballers have reached the pinnacle of this hodgepodge appearance. They simply left out any reference to Switzerland. (In my opinion, football should be left out of the Olympics anyway).
Dear design manager, would you also suggest to VW to sometimes put the logo, sometimes a lettering or sometimes nothing on the cars? Certainly not. Only in sport is there no consensus. My thesis is that every country is like a branded article, where the aim should be to present as good an image as possible. That's why it's important to use a clear and uniform design. I believe that those responsible for sportswear assume that everyone in the world knows that the color red means "Switzerland". This mistake is also made by brand owners who think that everyone has now seen the campaign and something new needs to be generated. Switzerland is also a brand. And it should be consistently cultivated and used. Yes, I'm talking about one of the most ingenious logos - the Swiss cross.
Incidentally, there are very precise design instructions for this: in 1989, the Federal Assembly laid down the current form in the Federal Decree on the Federal Coat of Arms of December 12, in which the aspect ratio of the arms is 7 to 6: "The coat of arms of the Confederation is an upright, free-standing white cross in the red field, with equal arms that are one-sixth longer than they are wide."
Just as Swiss warriors painted a cross on their armor to distinguish themselves from their opponents during the Crusades in the early 12th century, all Swiss Olympic fighters should have adhered to this rule uniformly. This would have given our country a greater image bonus. I believe that we Swiss are wrongly unproud of our nationality. Roger Federer or the German Swiss Airline exploit this advantage brilliantly. My view is that the British have made the most of the Games to promote their image, including with the symbol of their Union Jack.
