On a quick weekend trip to Chicago last summer, I noticed signage promoting Chicago for the 2016 Olympic games. Since Chicago is a mere 3-4 hours away, I thought this was super exciting and I was dying to know more!  The Olympic Committee is set to pick the winner today. Currently, there are only four cities left in the running; Rio, Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago.  Above are all of their "bidding logos." As I was first viewing them, I remembered the controversial London 2012 logo.  Have you seen it?

According to ABC News, Jonathan Ellis generated more than 28,000 electronic signatures from  around the world with harsh comments of dislike.  The logo was said to have cost nearly $800,000!  Can you imagine spending that kind of money and receiving that kind of feedback?  Not only that, can you imagine being the designer who had spent all of this time and energy only to hear negative critiques?  A logo of such magnitude takes endless research, brainstorming and sketching because the world is going to see it.  And since the world will see it, researching the many different customs of the world is an important step in order to avoid offending  anyone (or an entire country).  For example, while white can represent  cleanliness to Americans, it can represent death to Asians.  There are tons of little things like this that a designer could potentially run blindly into.  Can you imagine the pressure?!  The logo has to be pleasing and understood by every culture.  

The pressure is on for the 2016 logo -- I'm excited for the final decision to be made today and to see what the public thinks about the final logo!  From what I've seen so far, I don't think it can be any worse than 2012.  I'm rooting for Chicago, but I'm probably a little biased.