Take a look at these two logos. Don't they seem a little … similar?
The organisers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally coming around to this line of thought, announcing Tuesday that they're scrapping the logo designed by Kenjiro Sano only days after defending it.
Olivier Debie, a Belgian designer, claims Sano's logo bears a close resemblance to his own work for the Theatre de Liege, and has filed a lawsuit against the International Olympic Committee.
Tokyo Olympic organisers only came to Tuesday's decision after it was revealed that Sano, at best, seems to be a serial borrower. The Associated Press points out that a number of his designs bear at least a resemblance to earlier creations.
A few weeks later, Sano acknowledged that eight of 30 designs his studio did for promotional tote bags for major Japanese brewery Suntory were copies of other works. Among the bags pulled down were a vertical image of the top half of a lightly-toasted baguette and an arrow-shaped wooden sign board saying "Beach."
A zoo in Nagoya in central Japan has sought an investigation into its Sano-designed logo after being told it resembled that of Costa Rica's national museum. Sano's office denied the allegation. The similarity stems from the zoo's circle of six green dots, representing buds, on the end of spokes. …
Big debating about Sano's design including Tokyo Olympic logo and others. pic.twitter.com/K9Elik2ngj— GIGAN (@giganmag)
August 14, 2015
Sano also faces an allegation that his design for a planned public library and museum in Ota City, northwest of Tokyo, resembles a logo by American designer Josh Divine. Both use big black circles and thin black lines on a white background, though the orientation is different.
But their hand was truly forced after they released an earlier version of Sano's Olympic design in their defence of him. Even that design seems borrowed, from a 2013 poster for an exhibit by renowned German typographer Jan Tschichold.
This is just the latest fiasco for a Tokyo Olympic effort that seems increasingly frazzled.
Citing cost overruns, organisers announced in July that they were scrapping the designs for the $2 billion Olympic stadium and starting from scratch. They're now a year behind schedule on that project and might not meet the IOC's January 2020 deadline for completion.
The stadium was supposed to be ready for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, but now organisers will have to find another venue.
Washington Post
