Tokyo has a logo for its 2020 Olympic games, and what a confusing one it is.
The flat symbol, unveiled by the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, comprises four geometric shapes—a red circle, a black rectangle, and gold and silver triangles, each with a concave hypotenuse—forming a "T," and "L," and an "r." We can assume that "T" stands for Tokyo, and that the red circle is a reference to Japan's rising sun, also pictured on the country's flag. The significance and symbolism behind the rest of the imagery prove baffling.
The insignia is by Kenjiro Sano, whose design résumé includes local packaging and product designs, and it’s radically different from the frenetic, zany, and script-like logos we’ve seen for recent Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, London, and Beijing. Instead, Sano’s buttoned-up logo is a throwback to logos from the 1960s and 1970s, like the simple gold-and-red icon for the Tokyo games in 1964, and the rising sun and snowflake combo used for the Sapporo games in 1972.
Japanese designers are renowned for elegant, efficient, minimalism. Consider Muji's restrained approach to homewares, Uniqlo's consistently pared down fashions, and the simple ingenuity of Shigeru Ban's architecture. Unlike Japan’s other design exports, Sano’s logo for Tokyo is less but not more.
