A snowflake. An Indian motif. A torch. A mountain. A cityscape. Maybe even a skier.
That's what can be seen in the new logo for the 2002 Winter Games unveiled Friday, according to the team that came up with the abstract gold, orange and purple design.However it's viewed, it's supposed to embody the theme chosen for Utah's Olympics: contrast, culture and courage. The theme, also made public Friday, was based on the results of a questionnaire distributed statewide last year.
Several hundred Utah dignitaries had the first look at the logo at a 5 p.m. invitation-only event at Abravanel Hall Friday night. A 30-foot version of the logo was revealed shortly after 6 p.m.
Gov. Mike Leavitt and Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini both praised the new logo during brief ceremonies at symphony hall, which is where the International Olympic Committee will meet in 2002.
Leavitt said he was pleased it "features with prominence the Utah landscape and some of the symbols of our Utah heritage."
Corradini said the logo "embodies the energy, excitement and vibrancy of the people of our city."
Asked later if the logo reflected Utah's pioneer heritage, the governor said the Games theme "clearly embodies what made this state successful," citing courage as a value celebrated during the pioneer sesquicentennial.
For Lillian Taylor, a member of the Salt Lake Organizing Board of Trustees, the logo "represents who we are . . . we have several cultures in this state that are part of making Utah what it is."
Olympian Randy Will, head of the bobsled program at the state's Olympic bobsled and luge track near Park City, said including the word courage in the theme means a lot to athletes. "We're enthused," he said.
Contrast, culture and courage "are the beliefs of the community," said Kay Stout, who headed up the logo project at Landor Associates, a San Francisco-based design firm that teamed up with Salt Lake City's own EvansGroup.
She said contrast, represented in the purple section of the logo, stands for love of the environment; culture, the orange section, for pride in the state's heritage; and courage, the gold section, for admiration of Olympic ideals.
"They are all equally important," Stout said.
Some of the 1,200 preliminary sketches focused on only one of the three elements, such as the mountains or athletes.
Selecting the colors helped bring it all together, said Dave Thomas, who led theproject at EvansGroup. The colors were first suggested by a German designer who had traveled the state.
Stout and Thomas declined to label the logo but did have names for the unusual colors used: sun yellow, red rock orange and mountain blue. Usually, primary colors are used in Games designs.
Mary Gaddie, SLOC director of Games presentation, said both the design and the colors make a bold statement. "People are either going to love it or they're going to hate it," Gaddie said. "I hope they love it."
The logo and the theme will be used through the 2002 Winter Games and have been registered as a trademark around the world since being approved by SLOC trustees earlier this year.
The design team's next project is to come up with a mascot, which will make its debut during the closing ceremonies of the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, next February.
Utahns will be able to buy T-shirts, baseball caps, collector pins, pennants, mugs and other products emblazoned with the new logo beginning Saturday.
Rod Hamson, licensing director for the organizing committee, said retailers have ordered $1 million wholesale in new Olympic products that they expect to sell over the Labor Day Weekend.
That's double what was sold immediately after the 2002 Winter Games were awarded to Salt Lake City in June 1995. That merchandise, of course, bore the logo used during the bid.
No more merchandise with that logo - a bright red, blue, yellow and green graphic that symbolized the city's proximity to the mountains - is being manufactured. Retailers hope that will keep buyers interested in those items.
Ted Nagata, who created the bid logo, said Friday he liked the replacement. "I was hoping I could say I didn't like it," Nagata joked. "It's a very traditional shape, a snowflake, but the way it's treated is very unusual."