A week after launching the new name and logo for Utah’s 2034 Winter Games to mixed reviews, the state’s Olympic organizers said the public will come around to the unusual design.
“We had a lot of energy around the logo last week and we’re seeing a lot of really good comments as people understand the story better,” Brad Wilson, CEO of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, said at Monday’s steering committee meeting.
Later, Fraser Bullock, the organizing committee’s president and executive chair, told reporters there soon will be an effort to explain to the public “the connection of the logo to Utah, and that it represents our beautiful state in such a magnificent way.”
That’s expected to entail the use of the Utah 2034 social media channels to more widely disseminate what he called the “background and inspiration” behind the logo, which has been called hard to read and something more at home in a “Flintstones” cartoon.
Even Gov. Spencer Cox has been less than complimentary, saying last week that not only does he understand the criticism, the “very bold” logo is just a little too much for an old-fashioned conservative like him.
Bullock said it’s “generally true” the public typically gets behind even an initially unpopular Games logo.
“Once people get the back story, they get the familiarity, logos tend to be embraced,” he said. “So that’s what we hope to accomplish.”
The new logo is considered transitional, to identify Utah’s next Olympics and Paralympics that follow for athletes with disabilities through 2029. That’s when organizers will gain commercial rights now held by another U.S. Olympics, the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
At that point, a new logo could be selected.
“It’s a journey. We’ll continue to be creative and listen to feedback,” Bullock said when asked if the backlash made a switch more likely. He said there’s time “to look at all the opportunities we have in front of us, whether we continue with that logo or whether we do something different.”
He said there was no discussion about the logo at Monday’s private meeting of the organizing committee board.
The story behind Utah’s new Olympic logo
During the steering committee meeting that was open to the media, members had little to say about the logo.
Only Abby Osborne, chief of staff to Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, commented on the design that’s sparked lots of discussion on social media since being unveiled Nov. 24 on a new installation at the Salt Lake City International Airport.
Osborne, a member of the organizing committee board, said she showed the logo to her own teenage children and their friends over the weekend.
“Overwhelmingly, the kids actually loved this logo,” she said. “My 15-year-old daughter said, ‘It’s so edgy, I love it, Mom.’ She’s an athlete and it really hit well with the kids, just for what it’s worth.”
One of the designers responsible for the logo, Utah native Nate Morley said “people have very, very strong feelings about sport, about the place that they’re from and they want to represent them, about culture, and certainly about the Olympics.”
Morley, a founder of the Los Angeles-based Works Collective that helped create the “LA28″ Games logo, said the shapes used in the Utah 2034 design were inspired by the state’s landscapes and its history, including Indigenous drawings and Salt Lake City’s street grid.
The intent was to “be representative of all that Utah is and the diversity, not only of its people but its landscapes and all of the things that it is and can be,” he said, comparing parts of the logo to snowy peaks, winding canyon roads, rock formations and other elements.
Molly Mazzolini, the brand adviser who oversaw the development of the black and white logo, said Team USA Paralympians were consulted “on ways we can ensure legibility, high contrast for those with visual impairment.”
The Utah 2034 logo also appears on merchandise, such as T-shirts and baseball caps. Merchandise sales, limited to online and some Olympic venues, were described as “promising” in a group chat during the steering committee meeting.
New logo, new name for Utah’s next Games
It’s not just the logo that’s new, it’s also the name for the state’s follow-up to the 2002 Winter Games. Then, the host was officially Salt Lake City. While the city played a major role in the bid, now only the state’s name is part of the stylized Utah 2034 logo and social media channels.
Jack Hollis, a retired Toyota Motor North America executive who serves on the organizing committee board, expressed support for the new name.
“I think by changing the name, you set off the spark and the momentum to start around what it means to be Utah 2034,” he said, adding it helps with “everyone understanding that Utah is a leader in the nation” and “sets ourselves up for 2054 ... to bring the Games back.”
The logo that replaced the words, “Salt Lake City Utah,” can be flanked by the Olympic rings and the Paralympic’s “agitos” symbol with Salt Lake City or another venue community appearing below.
And what had been the slc-ut2034.org website is now www.utah2034.org; Instagram is @Utah2034; Facebook is Utah2034; X, formerly Twitter, is @Utah2034; and YouTube is @Utah2034.
Within 48 hours of the name and logo change, Mazzolini said there were nearly 600,000 views on the organizing committee’s Facebook and Instagram pages, with the number of Facebook followers jumping 100%.
“We wanted to create awareness. That’s Phase 1,” she said, adding that the next phase is “the process of building. We’re building credibility. We’re building within our community so there is unity within this look and logo as we continue forward.”