Design Assembly: Rugby World Cup 2011
Lindsay Yee looks at the design elements associated with the Rugby World Cup 2011.
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If you have been living under a rock for the last five years, the Rugby World Cup being hosted here in New Zealand and has generated much press; from Stadium issues, accommodation problems and large balloon gimmicks. This event is been seen as a huge event for New Zealand in terms of Rugby and tourism.
The ephemera that features for this event are varied, but share similar elements obviously the first being the logo. The 2007 Logo mark is the same as the first World Cup logo in 1987 and has continued since, although there are changes in colour and a slight change in typography. The new 2011 mark, has been redone and to most who see it would not notice the change, but this was a needed change.
“The new event mark keeps many of the elements that the global sports community has come to associate with the tournament including the rugby blue and union green colouring and the stylised rugby ball insignia. However, the new design brings a fresh perspective to these elements befitting a dynamic tournament that continues to grow in popularity,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.
For me this is a huge improvement, while not perfect, the previous logo was overly cluttered, the typography was clunky. These issues are resolved in the new mark, a more streamlined mark and a typeface that suits the logo much better. This new mark will also be used across other Rugby World Cup (RWC) events, the Women’s RWC, RWC sevens and RWC qualifiers.
Obviously, a reason the logo is less cluttered is the removal of the host country name, this now has its own logo-type. And like most things designed to be New Zealand-like, the Koru is the starting place.
“Creative consultants and local artists worked with us on the design to ensure it reflected New Zealand’s proud Maori culture. The inspiration for the design was the Koru — the fern frond — a traditional Maori pattern that expresses potential and determination and for the tournament — growth and new life through Rugby,” added Mr Lapasset.
The New Zealand 2011 piece of logo type (pictured) is actually quite well crafted, the iconography — although extremely cliched — the combining of the koru pattern and the rugby ball is well integrated into the logo-type. I am not a fan of the style of the characters and a few details feel like they could be worked on a little bit more, but overall a quite successful mark in terms of execution.
A strong graphic that features prominently on all pieces associated with the RWC is the Mangapore graphic (pictured top). It has quickly become recognisable as the main graphic element in the New Zealand Rugby World Cup campaign.
RWCL Managing Director Mike Miller said “The Look for this Tournament is a stylistic interpretation of the Hammerhead Shark (Mangopare) and the Fern shoot (Koru) that are synonymous with Maori culture. There is no doubt the artists have cleverly interpreted the relationship between Rugby, the event, the country and their culture. RWCL is delighted with the outcome and believes it will create a striking back drop to Rugby World Cup 2011.”
By Lindsay Yee - Courtesy of Design Assembly / conversations on graphic design.
