The emblem of the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, officially the XV Olympic Winter Games, is a stylized, pentagon-shaped form that reads simultaneously as a snowflake and a maple leaf. It is constructed from five large and five small letters “C,” which symbolize Canada and Calgary respectively, and sits above the Olympic rings.[1]
Design and History
The symbol was designed by Gary W. Pampu in 1979 to accompany Calgary’s bid for the Games, nearly a decade before the event took place. Unlike many later Olympic host cities, Calgary kept the bid symbol unchanged after it was awarded the Games.[2] The Olympic Museum’s collection records Pampu as the creator of the Games’ emblem on official merchandise.[3]
The visual identity system surrounding the emblem was developed closer to the Games by the design firm Justason & Tavender, working as an expression of the motto “Come together in Calgary.”[2] The firm is credited as the designer of the official Games poster, which featured a view of Calgary beneath the Olympic rings, the snowflake emblem, and the bilingual title “Come Together in Calgary / Rassemblez-vous à Calgary.”[4]
Meaning and Symbolism
The emblem’s design derives its form from the coming together of Calgarians and Canadians, expressed through overlapping and concentric small and large letter Cs. The notion of “coming together” is also manifest in the double image of a maple leaf, the national emblem of Canada, and, as a simple expression of winter, a snowflake.[5] The large Cs represent Canada, while the small Cs represent the city of Calgary.[1]
At the bid stage, the symbol was presented in the national colours of red and white, with versions for printing in and over black as well.[5]
Typography and Design
The typeface Univers was used for the title at the bid stage, and the composition was completed by the five-colour Olympic rings in a stacked configuration.[5] Justason & Tavender later substituted Univers for Futura and introduced a custom-drawn “88” that mirrored the overlapping circles of the Olympic rings. However, multiple versions ended up in use during the Games, with the Univers version being the most frequently applied.[5]
Justason & Tavender also took the concentric letters from the symbol and developed a modular system of endlessly reconfigurable elements, including circles representing the world and rings symbolizing the Olympics. An extended palette of colours was introduced, including the official Olympic colours, environmental colours representing the geographical diversity of Canada, and a set of “Architectural Colours” used to support navigation around venues.[5]
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