The man whose family foundation paid for the new Utah 2034 installation at the Salt Lake City International Airport had to get used to the controversial design, too.
“I think the more we see it, the more we’re going to like it,” Steve Price, a member of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games board, told the Deseret News.
While he’s enthusiastic now about the unusual design that’s been widely criticized, Price said when it was first shown to the organizing committee board as one of several options, he wasn’t so sure.
“There were a number of logos. I was in the room when that one was selected,” Price said, agreeing with critics that the unique font intended to reflect the state’s landscapes and history is hard to read.
“It is,” he said. “I knew it when I saw it. I mean, it’s hard to read.”
But the “creative thinking” that went into the design unveiled at the airport in late November also stood out, Price said, reinforced by a video presentation. “You can see a canyon, you can see a ski run, you can see an arch. You can see all those things.”
A supporter of what’s known as the Cultural Olympiad, the official arts and culture program for the 2034 Winter Games, he said “artists see things we can’t see” while others may have to study the logo more closely to share their vision.
“I’ve seen it a lot. I know it’s Utah,” Price said of the logo that’s available on shirts, hats and other merchandise, even though “in the beginning, like maybe a lot of people, I had different impressions or reactions.”
Better memorable than legible?
Douglas Thomas, an associate professor in the Department of Design at Brigham Young University, likes the logo.
Seeing it for the first time last week on social media, Thomas said he thought, “OK, this is different. Maybe, like a lot of other people, it struck me as a little bit strange. Actually, I’m glad it’s different because it will be memorable.”
He said it was obvious “the design had been carefully considered. It was original, which I will say a lot of design that I see that comes out for large-scale public things feels safe. I thought this one was trying to be something that was distinct.”
And that’s what makes it good, the professor said, even though he agrees “it’s a fair critique to say it’s harder to read,” thanks to the use of shapes in the design rather than relying on a recognizable font.
“As an observer, I was less concerned about it being legible and more concerned about it being memorable,” Thomas said. “This is not a logo you’re having to identify as you’re driving down the freeway to make sure you’re getting to the right store.”
The new logo for the 2034 Winter Games is paired with one of the most recognizable symbols on the planet, the five interlocked Olympic rings, he said, so it doesn’t need to be as clear as, say, a corporate logo that’s trying to establish a new enterprise.
The Utah 2034 logo is also temporary. It’s set to be updated or replaced in four years, when the commercial rights now held by the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles expire, with what’s expected to be a more elaborate logo that will be used through the Winter Games.
The transitional logo “doesn’t have to exist for the next century,” Thomas said. “What I think is interesting about this logo is that it does mark our moment. It fits with some of the things that are at the cutting edge of the graphic design world.”
Comparing the risks designers took with getting a trendy haircut that may someday be out of style, he said the public needs to recognize the logo is not permanent. Still, the professor said “new things take getting used to. I, for one, cheer it on.”
The airport’s new Olympic installation
After the Nov. 24 ceremony making the new logo public, Price said he stayed at the airport to watch the public’s reaction to the 12-foot-high, state-shaped illuminated installation marked with each of Utah’s 29 counties and a Great Salt Lake restored to a historic high level.
“There were probably 70 pictures taken in 20 minutes. It was pretty remarkable, looking at the number of people taking pictures and selfies and asking people to take their pictures,” he said, noting the piece was designed to showcase the logo with people standing in front of it.
“That’s why the height and the width,” Price said of the “Utah Together Spectacular” installation. “It’s wide enough that you can all fit in. The Utah 2034 is tall enough you can see it above your heads. You can see the shape of Utah.”
The installation, produced by the Salt Lake City-based sign company YESCO, will be changed in 2029 to reflect the final logo for the 2034 Games, he said, adding it’s too soon to say how much different that might be.
“We have to grow. We have to change,” Price said. “But this shape of Utah gives us tremendous flexibility.”
The airport installation serves as a “fantastic recognition” of Utah’s next Winter Games, said Fraser Bullock, the organizing committee’s president and executive chair.
“The sign connects people to the 2034 Games as a great reminder,” he said. “Regarding the logo, it will become more familiar to them and perhaps inspire some curiosity to go online and understand its origin.”
The piece was paid for by the organizing committee with funding from a donation by the Price Family Foundation, Bullock said. He said the cost is “confidential,” but was reduced “by a significant discount from YESCO, which is deeply appreciated by us.”