This online exhibition of Olympic Posters took our breath away. Doesn't each poster perfectly capture its era? And what a great way to get a sense of trends in graphic design — so much changes in four years! And not that you needed
more ebay search terms, but wouldn't it be awesome to have one of these.
Nick from A Time to Get, who clued us into this exhibition, actually scored an original 1968 poster on ebay! So there is hope! Do you have a favorite Olympic year?
You can see the full run of Olympic Posters, from 1896 to the present, from the online exhibition, The Olymperials.
FIRST ROW
• 1 Montreal, Summer 1976
• 2 Berlin, Summer 1936
• 3 Moscow, Summer 1980
• 4 Rome, Summer 1960
• 5 Seoul, Summer 1988
SECOND ROW
• 6 Chamonix, Winter 1924
• 7 Los Angeles, Summer 1984
• 8 Grenoble, Winter 1968
Oh, totally 1976, the year of Nadia Commenici
view mschatelaine's profile
Montreal 1976 rocked. So did Mexico in 1968 and Moscow in 1980. But imo, Montreal did a better job for Expo 67, when it comes to promotional posters and graphic design (see postcards here : http://expo67.morenciel.com/an/postcards.php)
Vancouver 2012 ... I'm not impressed so far.
view stepanka's profile
I used to have a Montreal 1976 Olympic poster of the colored rings if anyone wants me to search it out. And as a side note I actually qualified for the 1984 Olympic Trials in Synchronized Swimming...
view Elizabeth II's profile
I want one of the Saul Bass olympic posters, I think it was 1984? Lot of the other vintage ones are amazing too.
Same thing goes for airline posters etc. Loved it when they used to use illustration instead of just slapping photos on everything.
That 1976 biking one above is pretty great too.
view jmorey's profile
Vancouver is 2010, London is 2012. And I agree re: the 2010 ones. There's too much going on and it's hard to sort out what it's all about.
view truenic's profile
For a poster/graphics junkie like me, this is a terrific post.
The 1960's posters stand the test of time. The 80's... not so much.
view dianalily's profile