Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo design ruffles feathers abroad

They should have kept the Tokyo 2020 Olympic presentation logo. Much more Japanese like.

I just looked up the logo for the Theatre de Liege, and they really do look too similar for it to be coincidence.

And, knowing that the original logo is a T and an L, I can't stop seeing an L formed by the black vertical bar and the gray foot at the bottom right of the Tokyo logo. Why is that gray part even there? The gold part and the red sun combine to form the top of the T, but what is the gray part doing?

"But if you look closely, they do look alike"....lol. Such a predictable response.

Change the logo Japan !

C'mon now, lets not be cynical - Japanese designers have never copied a foreign design/product! They always just...ahem... improve on it and make it more unique!

'T' and 'L' stands for Theatre Liege which makes sense but Tokyo o'Limpics? although with all these stumbles, it's becoming appropriate.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga with a sheepish grin: 'Well I guess it varies from person to person. In any case, the government will refrain from official comment' .......Foot in mouth...

The Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA) are world leaders in contemporary design. how did this happen?

Although it's a simple design, it looks far too similar to be kept. Surely there are other designs they could use

Like the stadium, they need to go back to the drawing board with this one, as well. Pull it together Japan, this is embarrassing.

Isn't the similar design sort of like free publicity for those companies?

ha, I just googled the Liege Theatre logo, its almost exactly the same. Logo design 101: When you come up with such a basic design you have to assume that someone is probably already using it, you need to do a search and ask around. Tokyo 2020 is quickly becoming a farce.

Knowing the way things work here, someone probably outsourced the logo for fiverr.com and pocketed the rest of the budget for logo design.

For a big event like Olympics this logo I tried hundreds of times to convince myself but in vain

I can't see the letter T at all. I see a great big "I" with a floppy hat behind, a red clown nose, and big clown shoes. Very appropriate.

To me, the Hey Studio logo, which ironically includes the words "Rebuild Japan", looks closer than the theatre one. Its a very similar design, and an almost identical colour scheme. If there is a design patent or some other kind of copyright on it, presumably it doesn't matter if the new design was produced by copying. Even coincidental use of something very similar is infringement. "I didn't know" doesn't work as a defence.

Well, if you add some colors and tweaked a teeny bit from the Liege Theatre logo...

http://www.rtbf.be/culture/scene/detail_la-prochaine-saison-du-theatre-de-liege-explorera-les-identites?id=8973391

It's hideous. Just awful, made even more so by the serif font for "Tokyo 2020".

On the bright side, I'll save a fortune snatching up all the unsold ugly T-shirts to gift my relatives.

Well, if you add some colors and tweaked a teeny bit from the Liege Theatre logo...

Not just the logo part, but he even copied the font for the words underneath, lol. You can see that here: http://kotaku.com/the-rip-off-controvesy-over-the-tokyo-olympics-logo-1720796383

Funny how people in another thread were saying how Japanese the design is, but now we know it is a complete rip-off of a foreign design.

supercub:

It's great. People who think it doesn't look very Japanese clearly don't know a thing about Japanese design. That emblem is absolutely quintessentially Japanese in its aesthetic.

Hopefully the guy sues, because you know Japan won't change their decision unless their hand is forced. And I really want them to change this logo, since it doesn't represent the Olympics or sports in any way. Good logo for a theater, but not a sporting event.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-31/composite-of-tokyo-2020-logo-and-theatre-de-liege-logo/6664154

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 logo is 2 logos. 1/2 Very similar visually, but very different concepts.

The Tokyo Olympics 2020 logo is 2 logos.

Yes, one copied from a Belgian, and one copied from a Spaniard.

It's funny, the Japanese are always accusing the Chinese of copying branded stuff.

Can Japan join the TPP with all this plagiarism being officially overlooked?

The government should resign and let the people manage the games instead.

Unlike China, Japan is very unique and originally creative!!!

It would help if the story included a photo of the Belgian theatre logo.

http://jto.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/n-olymplogo-a-20150731.jpg

Yeah, an 'I' looking like an 'I' and a circle like a circle. Just my unprofessional opinion, but Sano's design looks (more) like a 'T' than Debie's. Debie's design expressed an 'L'. 'T' stands for Tokyo, Team and Tomorrow. 'L' for Liege. What's the fuss? Was it deliberate, or just a trendy typographical similar design?