What? Why? Who?
At 46, Guo Chunning has some impressive achievements in the world of commercial design. He is president of Beijing-based Armstrong International Corporate Identity (AICI) and the designer of the Olympic logo called 'Chinese Seal-Dancing Beijing'. Guo's submission was chosen from nearly 2,000 entries to represent the spirit of the Greatest Show on Earth. He explains where he found inspiration and how the Olympic emblem changed his life.
How did the design process for the logo came about?
In July 2002, I was invited to attend a meeting organised by Bocog. The committee was soliciting designs for the emblem and He Zhenliang, honorary chairman of China's Olympic Committee and BOCOG adviser, said the logo had to embody Chinese cultural characteristics as well as the spirit of the Olympic movement. It's a tough task as the logo must be understood by people from different nations. One Chinese character was my first source of inspiration for the logo. The character was 'jing', which stands for Beijing. I think Chinese characters are the most important bearers of China's thousands of years of culture. Chinese characters have the unique beauty in that they are a pictograph, compact and abstract.'
But when I saw the logo for the first time, I thought the character was 'wen', which stands for culture.
Yes, a lot of people misinterpret the character as 'wen'. It's really a personification of jing. The character was shaped into an athlete running to victory, or dancing against a red backdrop. The use of a seal in the logo is another ingenious idea. With thousands of years of history, seal art is a crucial part of Chinese culture. It's also the seal of the nation, the promise Beijing makes to the world to stage a great Olympics.