Rebranding Tokyo 2020

Anime Olympic Campaign

The first idea that I have taken forward is to produce an advertisement campaign for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games aimed at the younger audiences of the event. To target this audience, I have used imagery from the very popular and renowned anime culture of Japan. Generally speaking, Anime is enjoyed by people of all ages around Japan however on a more global scale, it is enjoyed more by the younger demographic.

Below I have found a couple of surveys that represent peoples opinion on what age bracket watches anime cartoons most. The top survey interestingly shows that people think more people between the ages of 18-25 watch it as opposed to the 12-17 bracket. Even so, the younger age bracket is still strongly represented. The survey below that shows that people think the 13-17 age bracket watch anime more often opposed to 18+.

These surveys inspired me to produce my own survey. I shared the survey on Facebook to get a range of different ages answering. The results below support my previous findings and confirm that, in this country, Anime is thought of as a younger persons preference.

Design Production

I have produced a series of posters that combine stock images of previous olympic games with typical anime scenery and imagery. The idea being to compare Olympic athletes with anime characters or superheroes. The intended effect is to glorify them and to encourage young people to admire and look up to the athletes like they would their favourite super heroes.

These images would be used on large billboards to achieve the intended effect.

Show campaign in different places eg bus stops, flags etc

Minimal Olympic Branding

Informed by the research for my essay, I have taken forward a second idea for rebranding the Tokyo 2020 olympics. The second idea is to create a campaign that, when seen, viewers will recognise that the event is held in Japan almost instantaneously. This idea stemmed from my research into the Tokyo 1964 olympic poster design shown here on the right.

The minimal and clean design of the official poster is unrecognisable as anything else other than Japanese design. The poster consisting of a single large red circle as the focal point with a slight gradient on top of the olympic logo and type in gold. The overall design is only made up of 3 simple components and yet is undeniably one of the most iconic olympic poster designs.

This poster has inspired me to produce a similar campaign for the 2020 olympics and bring this typically Japanese style into the 21st century. The previous idea has a target audience of younger demographics, however this idea will appeal on the intended global scale of any olympic event. My essay touched on the appropriateness of olympic branding and the successfulness of catering for such a global audience. My designs will also consider this as it is a project that will be seen by all cultures around the world. I will be taking influences from Japanese design including Japanese poster art and other examples of minimal design.

Existing Poster Designs



Rick Hinck's minimal poster designs for the World Cup's best goals

For the World cup, Rick Hinck recreated the best moments form world cup history through clever minimal design. Using mainly dots and thin lines, he has managed to recreate iconic moments from the event. Although there is little detail or imagery, it is immediately clear what the posters represent. As these posters were designed for a sporting event, they are a great source of influence for my own work.

Giro d'italia poster design



similar to the world cup posters, these designs were made for the famous Italian bicycle race held each year. Again, these posters are made up of only a few components and yet the intended message is certainly put across. The key component for me is the illustration of the country itself. As such a recognisable shape, this gives the reader an immediate idea of where and what the poster is advertising as the eyes are then drawn to the large cyclist.

As well as sports posters, I also had a look at minimal poster design from else where. 

Similar to the poster design for the Tokyo 1964 olympics, this poster plays on typical Japanese design and composition translating the Japanese red circle into more of an ambiguous shape with characters written horizontally underneath.

The simplicity of this design lies in the large black circles that partially cover the design including the title. The colour palette is limited to black, white and greys. 






















Taking influence from these successful examples of minimal sports posters, I will produce some of my own for Tokyo 2020.














Design Production

Above are my final resolutions for an idea on event posters. I chose to produce posters specific to some of the olympic sports using a minimal approach inspired by Japanese design and minimal sports posters. The posters would be used to signify when or where certain sporting events are held around the olympic park.

To take this idea further, I will be designing banners, flags and bus stop adverts as this is included in any olynpic branding project.