About me

Markus W. Osterwalder Birthday: 03.03.1964 Country: Switzerland E-mail: info@theolympicdesign.com Status: married, 1 child Profession: graphic designer Occupation: partner of matrix-design & communication, Switzerland Languages: german, spanish & english Hobbies: reading; researching, collecting, designing, travelling and good food Sports: tennis, equestrian sports and swimming Olympic Memberships: • Member of the International Society   of Olympic Historians ISOH • Olympin (USA) • IMOS (Germany)

Welcome to TheOlympicDesign.com

Since the early 90’ies probably no other topic has interested me more than the development of the design of the Olympic Games. The biggest event worldwide with unparalleled media coverage is an illustrative example for how important great design is. The design does not only provide the event with a face but also reflects the image of the host town and country. There are excellent but unfortunately bad examples, too. All Olympic Games have their own characters – influenced by people, culture, history and politics of the host country- since the very first Games of modern time.

My purpose is not the athletic performance. There is plenty of literature already. What’s triggering me is the event as a whole – especially how the different departments of the Olympic Committee (OCOG) e.g. the “Design & Communication Department” or the “Marketing Department” are organising, planning and realising.

Ever since the Olympic Winter Games of Lillehammer in 1994 I have been visiting all the Games. By monitoring locally, reading, researching and collecting I was able to get an overview and to form a judgement about the quality of design. Whenever possible I contacted key people of the Communication & Design Department to talk about processes and problems in the development of the design. Sometimes even after the events.

Since the early 90’ies I have been collecting Olympic documents and objects. In the meantime my collection has reached a size of 12’000 articles and keeps further growing. By doing so I made a lot of new and interesting friends all over the world.

The scope of my interests covers the following topics:

Objects	Papers	Electronical Files
• Winners Medals • Winners Diplomas • Participation Medals • Participation Diplomas • Torches • Badges • Pins • Host Country Stamps • First Day Covers • Mascots • Merchandising • Uniform Volunteers • Uniform Torch Relay • Opening Ceremony Kit • Closing Ceremony Kit	• Design Manuals/Guidelines • Official Reports • Bid Books • Souvenir Programme • Daily Programme • Sports Regulations • Official Guides • Official Results • Books • Pre-Olympic Newsletters • Brochures • Opening Ceremony Progr. • Closing Ceremony Progr. • Opening Ceremony Tickets • Closing Ceremony Tickets • Sport Event Tickets • Accreditations • Volunteers Material • Paralympic Games • Official Posters • Sport Posters • Art Posters • Advertising Posters • Mascot Posters • Torch Relay Posters	• Graphic Files like:    • Bid Logos    • Olympic Emblems    • Pictograms    • Mascots    • Secondary Marks Logos    • Look of the Games    • Olympic Fonts • Olympic Music • Olympic Films

Teamwork

Finally I would like to thank Rosa-Maria Ventre, partner of matrix-design & communication, for the creation of this website and Milan Platzer, Mirabit IT-Solutions, for the technical realisation.