The Story of NBC's Olympic Logos Through the Years

Designs informed by an athlete's mentality

Mitch Monson’s approach to creating logos for NBC’s coverage of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games is grounded in an athlete’s mentality.

The executive director at Sibling Rivalry relies on research, preparation and focus to inform his firm’s approach. All three are time-intensive and involve hard work plus juggling priorities—keys to winning in both sports and business, Monson says.

“I have been an athlete and a sports fan my whole life,” he says. “A lot of my creative inspiration and recharge happens when I am in remote parts of the world snowboarding in the backcountry. The silence and the focus of those moments inspire and energize everything I bring to the work we do.”

For Sibling Rivalry’s Olympic idents, the goal is two-fold: to instantly connect the logo with its host city and ensure American viewers feel emotionally invested in “the dynamic athleticism and human spirit of the Olympics.”

Monson chatted with Muse on the eve of the Paris Games.

MUSE: The Paris 2024 font is reminiscent of works during the Art Nouveau period. Why did you choose this style?

MITCH MONSON: Art Nouveau felt like a natural fit for the Paris Olympics. There’s a romantic feel and athletic flow to the letterforms that represent the city and connects it to the games. The style is prevalent in the city, especially in Hector Guimard’s Metro station entrances that were created around the time of Paris’ first Olympics in 1900. The 2024 Paris typography is custom, but takes influence from the typographic styles of the early 20th century. The mark aims to modernize these influences to connect the 1900 and 1924 games to 2024.

What was the inspiration for Tokyo 2020?

The Tokyo mark is inspired by the architecture of Torii Gates, the typography of Kanji, and a distinct “human” connection that we created. This was the first time we really found that true connection in one of our Olympic designs. It brought the kanji character for “human” and our deep custom “TOKYO” letterforms together in a foundational way. With the Tokyo Games being referred to as the turning point of mental health in sports competitions, this “human” connection became even more relevant.

What does the background symbolize in the PyeongChang 2018?

We leaned heavily into the geometric alphabet of South Korea. That informed the subtle details of the type design. The repetition of shape evokes sweeping mountain peaks, traditional folding hand fans and the lines of pagodas.

And Brazilian culture informed Rio 2016?

For Rio, but also for every one of our Olympic logos, we deeply research the culture of the host city, as well as the architecture, fashion, art, film, industrial design and graphic design of the region. This is where we find important connections and the foundation of what makes our identity relevant.

Since Rio was our first opportunity to really “break with tradition” of past Olympic identities, we pushed vibrant, dynamic and celebratory colors, shapes and typography.