Pictograms are graphic symbols that have some sort of meaning behind them. They are visuals of sports while representing them in a creative
way. This year, human pictograms were shown for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Athletes made shots of all 50 competitions in a short amount of time. This required equipment and for teammates to work together to get the correct shot. The teammates were dressed in blue and white and were wearing round masks and mittened gloves to mimic figures. This was a great success as they rapidly posed to replicate each pictogram.
Opening Ceremony
In less than five minutes the 41 Olympic sports were shown throughout 50 disciplines. The creativity behind this goes to Japanese graphic designer, Masaaki Hiromura. He is responsible for creating two-dimensional pictograms. “I have tried to express the dynamic beauty of the athletes through these pictograms while respecting the legacy bequeathed by the pioneers of the Japanese design industry in their designs for the Tokyo 1964 Games,” Hiromura said in a statement.
Some of the New Sports
- Surfing
This can competition relies on the weather and shortboards are used for the Tokyo Games. Five judges will grade each ride focusing on the degree of difficulty, execution of moves by the surfer, speed, variety, etc.
- Skateboarding
There are two categories for this competition. The first is the park competition where competitors are in a bowl-like course and will send themselves in the air doing tricks. The street competition is a flatter course that has obstacles, curbs, rails, etc. for the competitors to compete in.
- Sport Climbing
This competition is a form of rock climbing that is broken down into three forms of competition. Speed climbing is how fast the competitor goes without any falls. Leading climbing is scaling as much of a 15-meter wall as they can in the given amount of time while the wall overhangs 6 meters. The last competition is bouldering which is a challenge for the athlete to overcome the greatest number of obstacles.
The other two new sports added were surfing and baseball. There were also changes in the competitions throughout all sports.
History
In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, pictograms were first introduced. The designers created a set of stylized graphics to rise above barriers and communicate effectively without confusion. Since 1964, pictograms have evolved to draw more attention to the audience. The first games were held in Asia and the pictograms were used to easily identify the sports. Pictograms allowed for a non-verbal way of representing each sport that was in the Olympics.
Social Media Reacts
The pictograms were shared on all social media platforms. People all over the world are still talking about this. Comments such as “I am obsessed with these human pictograms,” and “what is your favorite sport,” were common captions fans were posting. From Facebook to Twitter, this was shared on all platforms with such positive feedback. The audience seemed to enjoy the engagement while also being impressed.
Click this link to see how the human performance was done. Or click here to view the original elements.
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