Special report: 2008 Olympic Games
BEIJING, July 18 -- On Friday afternoon, a press conference was
held at the Main Press Center (MPC) in Beijing regarding the launch of official
posters of the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Zhao Yanxia, deputy director of BOCOG Culture and Ceremonies Department,
pointed out that Olympic and Paralympic posters are an important part of
promoting the appeal of the Games, as well as highlighting Olympic host cities,
acting as "a visual representation of commerce and culture."
Next, Zhao Meng, art director of the look and image of the Beijing 2008
Olympic Games, spoke about the design concept and creation procedure of the
official posters. He indicated that designers kept the ideas of a "Green
Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics" in mind when creating the
images, while embodying the philosophy of "One World One Dream." He also
emphasized that artists wanted to bring out elements of Chinese culture and the
passion felt by the Chinese about having the honor of hosting the international
event.
The several categories of posters were introduced to the media present at
the press conference. They are: "Sophisticated Beijing for a harmonious Olympic
Games," "Smiling Beijing and inclusive Olympic Games," and "Robust Beijing to
exceed the Dreams."
Zhao also described the creative process of the Olympic posters, starting
with the first stage, when on May 23, 2007, a special meeting involving 71
invited design institutes and studios was held for a brainstorming session.
During the second stage, 930 designs were collected for evaluation; in stage
three, a special committee organized in Tsinghua University reviewed the
submissions. In the end, after serious scrutiny and refinement, the team lead by
Professor He Jie, vice-dean of the Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua
University, was selected as the artist group with the best design. 16 poster
designs each for the Olympic and Paralympic Games were chosen.
Beijing Morning Post under Beijing Daily Group has been designated as the
official poster publisher. According to Zhao, about 100,000 posters will be
printed and made available to the public on July 20 at 10 yuan each. They may be
purchased at franchised kiosks.
(Source: beijing2008.cn)
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